Firefighters Continue Containing LA Wildfires as Region Now Faces Serious Mudslide Risks
Given the new mudslide risks, hopefully area officials will begin preparing to prevent something that poses a real “climate crisis”.
The Palisades and Easton fires have been smoldering in Los Angeles County for ten days. The good news is that firefighters are making solid progress containing both fires, aided by unexpectedly favorable weather conditions.
However, it is a race against time for full containment. The National Weather Service’s latest forecast calls for more dry Santa Ana winds to move through the area early next week.
Currently, more than 170,000 people are still under evacuation notices. Although the fires are better contained, regional officials indicate evacuees won’t be able to return to their homes for at least another week.
Palisades Fire
The Palisades Fire remains active, covering 23,713 acres with 31% containment. This historic fire has destroyed over 3,500 structures and damaged at least 600, resulting in 10 deaths and 3 reported civilian injuries.
Fire Crews are working to establish and improve fire lines, extinguish hot spots, and construct containment lines to limit further structural damage. The ongoing search and recovery efforts are delaying the return of evacuees and other post-disaster recovery operations.
Meanwhile, people are now aware that the regional firefighters were warning Mayor Karen Bass of the dangers of slashing the fire department budget weeks before the disaster.
21 days before the Palisades Fire broke out, Los Angeles Fire personnel jammed into a LA Fire commission meeting with a dire warning about the consequences of Karen Bass’ budget cuts.
“The residence of Los Angeles are going to pay the ultimate sacrifice, and someone will die.” pic.twitter.com/RpHN9yOziq
— Kevin Dalton (@TheKevinDalton) January 16, 2025
The scope of the poor policy choices and priorities is coming out as a steady stream on social media.
Here are a few examples of the incompetence around the Palisades fire:
– The first air response took 45 minutes (a single helicopter)
– The primary reservoir was empty since February
– No extra fire engines were pre-positioned near the Palisades pic.twitter.com/kwX9lgsFrI
— Shaun Maguire (@shaunmmaguire) January 17, 2025
Some of the top-level responders are accepting responsibility for their decisions.
This is what leadership looks like. This level of honesty, and humility, and love for Los Angeles and the state of Califonia is missing from both Karen Bass @MayorOfLA and @GavinNewsom. Both of these politicians should be removed from office. https://t.co/pch8EVe4ek
— Justine Bateman (@JustineBateman) January 17, 2025
And a petition to recall Karen Bass has hit 86,000 signatures already.
Every friend I have, Democrat or Republican, is united in the campaign to recall Karen Bass. Someone said that I was being political, but I promise you if a Republican had left that 117,000,000 gallon reservoir tank completely empty, I swear I would feel exactly the same way.
— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) January 12, 2025
Eaton Fire
Currently, the Eaton Fire has killed 17 people, is currently 65% contained, and has already burned 14,117 acres.
Containment efforts are steadily progressing, and the fire is expected to stay within its current footprint. Firefighters are continuing to work on construction while improving containment lines in steep, inaccessible terrain.
At present, over 7,000 structures have been destroyed, over 800 damaged, and more than 14,000 remain threatened. In addition to the civilian deaths, 6 firefighters have sustained injuries.
Footage of the embers being spread in the Santa Ana winds shows the urgency of quelling both blazes ahead of next week.
Ring camera footage of the Eaton Fire as it ravaged entire neighborhoods. This gives you a good view of how easily and rapidly the fire spread. Embers travel far out from the main fire, causing exponential spread.
🎥 from 205Fire on IG pic.twitter.com/WmUSZIGd0e
— Hurricane Journal (@hurricanejrnl) January 17, 2025
The scale of the disaster from this blaze is shocking.
Another angle of Altadena, starting from the famous Christmas Tree Lane, panning west. Destruction as far as I can see… #EatonFire pic.twitter.com/keQn8h45Jt
— Chris Cristi (@abc7chriscristi) January 17, 2025
LA Home Survives Fire, But Destroyed by Mudslide
Wildfires burn away low vegetation and trees, whose roots typically stabilize soil, leaving large areas vulnerable to erosion.
These massive fires also create a layer of slick debris, including ash and charred remnants, which create an ideal surface for sliding. As an added bonus, wildfires can produce water-repellent (hydrophobic) soil conditions, leading to increased runoff when the inevitable rains hit.
Subsequently, the Los Angeles area is now in jeopardy of facing serious damage from mudslides.
How serious is the potential issue? One home that survived the Palisades Fire was split in two by a mudslide.
A $2 million oceanfront home that mercilessly survived the destructive Pacific Palisades fires was split in half by a mudslide — raising new concerns about similar potential disasters amid the deadly infernos.
The Los Angeles home, which is based near the Pacific Coast Highway, was destroyed when water runoff from firefighters battling the deadly inferno and crumbling hillside caused a landslide, according to KTLA.
…Director of Los Angeles County Public Works, Mark Pestrella, warned residents on Thursday during a press conference to be “very careful” of returning to their homes if they are located on or near hillsides.
“A warning to all the residents, no matter where you live in (Los Angeles) County, if you have slopes behind your homes, or if you’re located on top of a slope, these slopes have become fragile,” Pestrella said.
LA home spared during fires split in half by mudslide, raising new concerns for officals https://t.co/14dlQoWjui pic.twitter.com/DwwrrWtobi
— New York Post (@nypost) January 17, 2025
This rainy season lasts through March, so if a significant Pacific storm hits these shores, the region could be devastated again in very short order. Furthermore, the risk of mudslides after wildfires can persist for several years following a fire event, so the threat will continue until the incinerated growth is restored.
Hopefully, area residents, emergency responders, and officials will make mudslide prevention their priority, as this is a true “climate crisis”. However, as doing so would require actual work and results, I have my doubts.
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
All California needs now is killer bees. Or grizzly bears. Or King Kong pox.
Anything but a flood. God promised no more of those.
California at one time had grizzly bears. There’s one on the state flag. As for the erscene ones, I don’t know when the last one disappeared from California. I just know that this human one left in 2005.
The last Ursine was shot in 1924 up near Yosemite.
Hey, guess what just showed up on Comet TV?
“A monstrous storm devastates Los Angeles, leaving the streets flooded and infested with sharks.”
I had no idea they were getting into the news business.
Grizzly Bears would help the overpopulation problem.
The people of Los Angeles are fully deserving of the same federal aid as any other location in the United States would receive for any other natural disaster.
Except that this disaster is almost completely due to bald faced malfeasance on the part of elected officials. From ignoring the ballot measure years ago to build more reservoirs to not properly managing forests to the empty reservoir to broken down fire engines, to lesbians that think its the fault of victims to be stuck in a fire.
I happen to think that not one red cent should be released until the governor, the mayor and the entire leadership team of the LAFD have submitted their resignations.
I know that sounds pretty rough but actions have consequences and California had more than enough chances to prevent this disaster.
They blew it.
(Aside: “climate change” had nothing to do with this fire. Nothing at all.)
I would argue that even if Climate Change had something to do with these fires, these leaders were the ones telling us to worry about it. Where were their extra strong preparations for such fires?
Leftists policies, misplaced priorities, incompetent leadership.
With proper pre-positioning of firefighter resources, damages could have been mitigated to 20%.
Gonna be rough in the LA.area, even past the fires and likely follow on of mudslides. The rebuilding process is gonna be a nightmare. Not just onerous gov’t red tape but finding a contractor, subs and materials to get it built, finding an insurance company willing to write new a policy and at what inflated.cost for all those things. I suspect many will take what they can get from their IN claim and sell the land which probably is worth more than the structures. These folks will move on to another area of the Nation and the corporate buyers will come in to pick the carcass clean aided by local gov’t quest to restore the tax base quickly and multi unit v single family homes will rise up.
I think that’s it. Then the multi-unit structures that are built in the Palisades will burn in the next big fire — and of course there will be big fires, and LA/CA won’t have learned a thing. As President Trump would tweet, “Sad!”
The multi family dwelling with low income and illegals bussed in because it’s not fair they can’t live there. Of course the requisite bus line and rail will have to be expanded to serve them.
I suspect that loss of the tax base and the effect on the LA budget is something that has gotten little press coverage, so far.
That was after they had reacted promptly to a fire in that same exact area on New Year’s Eve and put it right out. This time … nothing.
Why the heck would these be “new” concerns? This is obvious stuff – as so much vegetation was burned down the soil it was in is now loose and ready to move. This is one of the general, WELL-KNOWN after-effects of fires on wooded slopes. Mudslides were one of the things that should have at the top of people’s minds the minute these fires started.
I’ll bet my 401k that the State will take over a bunch of the land those burned homes sit on especially next to the ocean, change zoning laws to make it impossible to rebuild all the burned down single family dwellings and just sit on permits until they expire and nothing can be built.
Residential property appraised at $2M. Land value $1.5M. Structure $500K.
The home insurance won’t cover the land value. You’re stuck paying property taxes on unbuildable home lot in a known landslide debri zone.
I first saw LA as a little boy about 1950. We were visiting relatives. The only thing I remember was a house sitting in the middle of the street and traffic going around it.
So if LA has new mud slides, it’s not climate change.