Part 150: A Firestorm in Los Angeles – Humanity and Environmental Disaster

Published January 11, 2025.

Jan 11, 2025

The Eaton Fire roars to life above Altadena California on Tuesday January 7 as residents prepare to evacuate their homes by author (GoPro Hero 11 Black).

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By Zachary Ellison, Independent Journalist

I knew. The fires have now consumed numerous homes and businesses in Altadena, Pasadena, and Sierra Madre as part of the Eaton Fire, and in Pacific Palisades as part of the Sunset Fire were predictable. There had been clear warnings that the weather was going to be adverse and that the underlying environmental conditions were dangerous. I had even written as much, and I wasn’t alone in warning that such a thing could happen. So why did it? And where do we go from here? The powerful winds that awoke me at about 4:30 am on Tuesday, January 7, were just a prelude. The windows rattled, and trees came down in the neighborhood. Sleeping was hard, and it became a surety that the power would go out, and soon it was gone.

Still, I went to downtown Los Angeles for another turbulent hearing on the LA Alliance for Human Rights lawsuit, driving past a downed tree. The hearing held by Judge David O. Carter ran for nearly four hours. A brief hearing on the Montrose Chemical Corporation Settlement was scheduled preceding the main event on homelessness, matters that have dragged out for decades and years. At one point during the Montrose hearing, which relates to barrels of toxic insecticide, DDT, dumped off the coast of Palos Verdes and drained into San Pedro, the City Administrative Officer for Los Angeles, Matt Szabo, attempted to walk out of the courtroom only for the 80-year-old judge to order him to the front along with an attorney for Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. They were put on notice that the potential for future contamination of seafood remains extremely high. Szabo apparently didn’t even know of its potential danger.

The Los Angeles Times coverage had been beyond clear, and I, as a student of Southern California environmental history, had even written about the DDT problem, and I’ve also written about the history of wildfires and worsening environmental conditions for over a decade now. At least 11 people are dead now from the two blazes, with many thousands of structures pitifully destroyed. At least one hero has emerged, and not just the people recording themselves fleeing at the last minute before a flame front sparks fires to launch from wildlands and then from building to building. Edgar McGregor, who publishes MyEatonCanyon.com, a hyperlocal news website, undoubtedly saved lives by warning connected people throughout the Altadena community that the cataclysmic weather event was thoroughly dangerous. Edgar is a good man.

When news reached the courtroom of Judge Carter that the Pacific Palisades were on fire, some attendees were almost bemused. After talking about homelessness in Los Angeles for years now, a troubling problem that claims lives on a daily basis, the idea of rich people’s homes going up in flames can be almost reassuring. I didn’t have a suit coat; I had dropped them off at the cleaners the Friday before, scheduling pick-up with a slightly unnerving degree of timely uncertainty given the weather forecast. Judge Carter called out for journalists to raise their hands to carry forward his message of financial accountability. I raised my hand. After the hearing, I didn’t quite rush back to Altadena like I should have. Fire broke out at 6:30 pm.

I stopped at the new Starbucks on Hill to catch the news. My girlfriend sounded nervous. She was right to be worried. I had to delay my plan to write up that day's court hearing, the headline of which from Aaron Schrank was that the Los Angeles Homelessness Solutions Agency (LAHSA) had recovered approximately $13 million out of $50.8 million in advances made to service providers. Doug Smith from the Los Angeles Times had attended the hearing too, a legendary journalist in Los Angeles whose wisdom I respect. LAHSA has now wisely delayed the annual homeless count scheduled for January 21-23 for at least 30 days. Not all displacements are equal in the City of Angels, much less the County of Los Angeles. Soon we too were about to be displaced.

One of the largest canyons in the San Gabriel Mountains, beloved Eaton Canyon is a natural wind funnel, stretching down from Eaton Saddle between Mount Lowe and Mount Wilson past Henninger Flats and Echo Mountain through Idlehour Campground and ultimately down to the popular waterfall. Last summer into the autumn, I had begun picking up the copious amounts of trash present, inspired in part by the daily efforts of Edgar McGregor to maintain the areas. McGregor’s forecast noted the potential for winds of up to 115 miles per hour. A relatively young man, we had met under the Chuck Ballard Memorial Bridge at the mouth of the canyon, above loom transmission towers for Southern California Edison (SCE). It was at this location that the fire began. Assuredly, there will be many questions about why SCE didn’t more fully deenergize.

Much like in the Pacific Palisades, where an “independent investigation” has now been ordered into the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power along with LA County Public Works by Governor Gavin Newsom into why a reservoir was empty, which may have hampered firefighting efforts. It’s unclear when the requested “comprehensive review” will be complete. Truthfully though, when winds are high, there’s often little firefighters can do except get people out of the way into safety. Even that can be challenging because often people simply aren’t prepared to evacuate their homes or willing. At least one Altadena resident is reported to have died with a garden hose in hand. You can’t fight a wind-driven wildfire with a garden hose directly; the flames are so intense that it all but vaporizes flammable objects in its path. Modern houses are incredibly flammable. People don’t even comply with clearance requirements with regularity, nor do they have a plan for escape. For some, the garden hose strategy works, but for others, it can be totally deadly.

We could see the wildfire spreading from the front yard. Ash fell in the darkness as the winds howled, and we learned that structures were catching fire. Using several popular smartphone applications such as Watch Duty and Police Scanner Radio and Fire, we could determine the firefighters weren’t going. Eaton Canyon was just about 2 miles away. I could hop in my car and be there before the air conditioning really kicked in. Catching the free shower in the 40-foot waterfall with delight even as it grew cold. The bridge over Eaton Canyon leads up to Henninger Flats along the Mount Wilson Toll Road. It’s unknown whether this essential infrastructure still stands; a few months prior, I had met with recreationists trying to keep Henninger Flats Campground open even as the Los Angeles County Fire Department had pulled out of the location. Reportedly, the first residents to spot the fire reported it and warned neighbors to escape, saving lives. Soon, we would have to decide after much deliberation to also evacuate.

Loading belongings and hosing down the yard and property briefly, evacuation comes hard. Those with disabilities have particular trouble getting out of the zone, but it’s not the disabled, much less the old and stubborn who refuse to leave, or the young and foolish. Driving out into the darkness, people were relatively orderly in leaving. We had heard sirens heading toward the fire. I knew that no air assets could be deployed and that our chance of avoiding any destruction was relatively light, but even I didn’t quite expect the full destruction that would come, including to a vibrant business district on North Lake Avenue. Months later, after celebrating the blockage of the so-called Poly Fields development, activists with Altadena Wild had gathered at Café de Leche to celebrate under a hand-painted billboard to the cause. The greatest concern hadn’t just been increased traffic but wildfire. Now the fire was with us fully!

The location of the planned development as well as the café have both been destroyed. One neighbor had resolutely chosen to say, telling me he wouldn’t leave the home where he had spent his entire life. He promised to watch the block. Sleep was hard, listening to the scanner late into the night, knowing your town was burning. All of those nights I had driven up Altadena Drive, winding under the trees, memories gone. Returning the second day after only a few hours of sleep, the fire was mere blocks away. A friend's apartment was totally incinerated; just up the street, the Chevron gas station at North Lake Avenue and Altadena Drive was on fire, and firefighters were fearful of a larger explosion. Smaller blasts could be heard, and fresh plumes were visible over the treetops. Even with an N95 mask, the smoke was choking; falling ash would get into your eyes; goggles worked but were imperfect. After clearing flammable materials away from the home itself, I was exhausted and blacked out indoors for a bit.

The smell of an urban firescape is different from that of a wildfire—much less woody and more chemically. The ash that it generates is toxic and taints the water table. By day 3 of the Eaton Fire, some people in the area were already at work cleaning up; some foolishly used leaf blowers, kicking up ash. Warnings had to be issued to stop and to desist from consuming or bathing in water. Every time we would open a vehicle to load belongings, ash would enter, and so I used a hose to wash the vehicles off. Soon more ash was layered on it. Making a second trip back after leaving for good—at least for now—a return trip had to be made to further prepare our residence for abandonment, and with the Altadena Golf Course reigniting, dense, metallic-feeling smoke filled the streets. High up on Mount Wilson, you could just barely make out a yellow fire glow. The Angeles Crest Highway and the Angeles National Forest were shut down.

As of yet, no investigation has been announced into Southern California Edison (SCE). The utility has previously faced strong criticism and litigation over its failure to prevent wildfires. Already attorneys are circling SCE. Past lawsuits have been filed by both Federal and County governments. Perhaps it’s time to stop suing the utility and instead pay it to place its lines underground? Technically, this won’t be possible everywhere. Digging in the San Gabriels isn’t easy, and in many cases may be cost-prohibitive, but eliminating risk starts with reducing it. SCE is already doing this, but clearly, in the era of climate change, which creates fluctuating conditions between wet and dry along with extreme weather events, it needs more help.

Altadena will never be the same. The cause of the Sunset Fire in Pacific Palisades remains under investigation. Certainly, there are some questions about the Eaton Fire, originally named the Close Fire, but the report in Pasadena Now by journalist James McPherson seems highly probable given the providence and documentation. Several other smaller blazes have erupted in Sylmar, Agoura Hills, Woodland Hills, the Acton area, and the Hollywood Hills. Two arrests have been made for suspected arson in Woodland Hills and Azusa and nearly two dozen for looting, primarily in the Eaton Fire area. The National Guard has been deployed. At least 13 people are still missing. The number of structures destroyed into the many thousands is astounding, and the politics are whirling. Billionaire real estate developer Rick Caruso took to the air waves to criticize officials. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass had to rush back from politicking in Ghana. Blaming leaders is easy, but the truth is that this is on all of us; our collective failure to mitigate climate change, much less plan for such disasters more effectively, is increasingly frustrating.

The firefighters sounded disconsolate in the early morning. The Eaton Fire was continuing to scorch down homes into urban Altadena. One could be heard: “It is what it is.” Another leader resolved to draw the defensive lines at Woodbury Road west of Lake and on New York Drive east of Lake, and they mostly held, minus a few spots. Another seeing more than a dozen homes burning in the Canyon Crest neighborhood was astonished. Firefighters don’t like losing more than anyone else, but expecting them to sacrifice lives for property is patently unrealistic. Firefighting, perhaps more than even policing, is a confidence business. Police officers go into dangerous situations, but firefighters literally charge after fires seeking to suppress them, using techniques such as setting backfires to burn out vegetation in their path, as was done at the summit of Mount Wilson, where world-class astronomy facilities and communication towers are located. Decades of fire suppression have contributed to the overgrowth of chaparral landscapes.

This uniquely dangerous dynamic is in part why recent fires have been as destructive, along with drought conditions and record-setting winds. Firefighting is inherently tactical, an art form as much as a science. Yet as a society, and particularly in California, we’re underinvested in training the next generation of wildland firefighters, much less all-purpose City and County firefighters who spend most of their time on medical calls. We’re also underinvesting in home modification. The Montana-based nonpartisan research institute Headwater Economics, working in conjunction with CalFire, found in June 2024 that retrofitting most homes to be more fire resistant would cost anywhere from $2,000 to $15,000, with a “full retrofit to the highest level of protection…cost[ing] nearly $100,000.” The report states that “simple and effective actions such as installing flame- and ember-resistant vents, placing metal flashing along a deck, keeping gutters clean, or using noncombustible mulch in the yard” can be done at “little to no cost.”

Most jurisdictions have requirements on brush clearance, but requirements for home modification aren’t in place even in high-fire-risk jurisdictions. Almost the entirety of our policy infrastructure is reactive rather than proactive, and for too many this is proving to be a fatal mistake. Standing at the best of Eaton Canyon, the cause for concern was obvious. Many didn’t think that Altadena, much less Pacific Palisades, would go up like a matchstick, but I’m not so surprised nor shocked that this has happened. I was kind of expecting it, especially after the winter rains this year bypassed Southern California. The next big threat is from mudslides.

I’m not sure when it will be safe to go back, and were a major storm to appear in the forecast, it would be more than prudent to preemptively evacuate rather than wait until the last minute. Undoubtedly, once the media settles down, these hard questions will simply once again pass us by. The Los Angeles Times interviewed two experts on the topic, with journalist Thomas Curwen noting they “have found their straight-talk admonitions often disregarded or dismissed.” The first stated, “It may be the fire equivalent of a Category 5 hurricane,” and the other pleading, “I’m compelled to continue pursuing this issue because it is so solvable if we determine to do it.” The limits of our ability to comprehend, much less to change course, may not be so much a problem of report publishing or interview giving as it will be of policymaking and persistence.

Standing next to the burned-out husk of Eaton Canyon, naturalist and journalist Edgar McGregor video recorded himself in the smoke for his 1,993rd day of picking up trash: “We will recover here in Altadena... This is a truly devastating scene, but it’s happened before,” noting some species of plants depend on fire to grow. The canyon’s nature center, previously destroyed in 1993 by the Kinneloa Fire, was once again virtually demolished. Recovery will undoubtedly take some time. Pulling around the corner in our car, a group of the neighbors had gathered to play hacky sack on the lawn even in the toxic smoke. What were they thinking? Will we ever learn? Personally, I’m optimistic that a full calculation of the economic destruction here is even possible; it will almost certainly ebb into the billions, and it’s dumb luck more people didn’t die, and also credit to our first responders who made the best of a bad situation.

Ruth Roofless contributed to this story. Please subscribe to her at: Ruth Roofless

Link: Homelessness officials recover $13M paid to service providers; judge pushes for more transparency

Link: Montrose CERCLA

Link: MyEatonCanyon.com

Link: Wildfires delay annual Los Angeles homeless count

Link: Newsom orders investigation into dry fire hydrants that hampered firefighting in L.A.

Link: Relatives ID Some Victims of Eaton Fire in Altadena

Link: With firefighters stretched thin, Altadena residents battle to save homes from flames

Link: Watch Duty Wildfire Maps & Alerts

Link: Police Scanner Radio & Fire

Link: The Moment the Eaton Fire Ignited

Link: Altadena Residents ‘Grateful’ Polyfield Plans Scrapped