Palisades Fire Threatens New Upscale Communities As Santa Ana Winds Return

The Los Angeles Fire Department continued battling four major blazes that have burned over 38,000 acres and destroyed over 10,000 structures. Another round of Santa Ana winds is expected from Monday through Wednesday, elevating fears that the fires will continue to spread. The Palisades Fire has placed Brentwood, Encino, Bel Air, Sherman Oaks, and West Los Angeles at severe risk. Additionally, Malibu has lost a third of its eastern edge to the Palisades Fire.

Here’s the latest size and containment of the four major fires:

• Palisades Fire: 23,654 acres burned, 11% contained
• Eaton Fire: 14,117 acres burned, 15% contained
• Kenneth Fire: 1,052 acres burned, 90% contained
• Hurst Fire: 799 acres burned, 76% contained

Fire Map (courtesy of LA Times):  

On Saturday, the Palisades Fire threatened the communities of Brentwood, Encino, Bel Air, Sherman Oaks, and West Los Angeles as the inferno continued to spread. Very tense moments unfolded as the LAFD battled out-of-control flames that almost crossed the 405 freeway into parts of Bel Air.

“Large-scale fires in Los Angeles may have been caused by a broken wire of one of the power lines”
– Bloomberg pic.twitter.com/k3ElpVWIHY

— Lord Bebo (@MyLordBebo) January 12, 2025

Los Angeles looks like an apocalypse pic.twitter.com/Xod6Dzw4kU

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) January 12, 2025

Today will be another challenging day for LAFD personnel. Strong Santa Ana winds are expected to return to Los Angeles and Ventura counties later this evening through the first half of the new week. 

The National Weather Service issued a red flag warning for the area, with wind gusts expected between 50 and 75 mph.

“The very dry vegetation combined with the prolonged extreme fire weather conditions will support rapid spread and erratic behavior of any new or existing fires,” NWS wrote in the warning.

The latest headlines from NBC Los Angeles:

• Almost 35,000 still without power in LA County

• Firefighters fend off Palisades Fire’s threat to Mandeville Canyon, Encino

• Malibu has lost about 1/3 of its eastern edge, mayor says

• 2 arrested for curfew violations near Brentwood home of Vice President Harris

• Death toll in Southern California wildfires climbs to 16

Latest Zero Hedge headlines:

• 10 Dead, 10,000 Structures Burned In Los Angeles Area Inferno As Fire Damage Could Exceed $150 Billion

• “Do Not Panic Buy”: Officials Urge Calm As LA Fire Crisis Disrupts Main Fuel Pipeline To Las Vegas

• “We’re Not Screwing Around”: LA Sheriff Declares Curfew Amid Arson & Looting Chaos

• California-Based Insurer Crashes Amid Billions In LA Area Fire-Damage Losses

• Arson Threats A “Major Issue” In Wildfire-Ravaged Los Angeles County

• California Imposes 1-Year Insurance Cancellation Freeze In Areas Ravaged By Wildfires

• Palisades Fire Crisis Intensifies Ahead Of Windstorm Event Early Next Week

• Three Military Humvees, Machine Gun Mounts, Stolen Outside Of Los Angeles

Early Sunday morning, on Truth Social, President-elect Trump criticized woke Californian politicians, calling them “incompetent” and claiming they “have no idea how to put” the fires out. 

“Thousands of magnificent houses are gone, and many more will soon be lost. There is death all over the place. This is one of the worst catastrophes in the history of our Country. They just can’t put out the fires. What’s wrong with them?” Trump said. 

The fires are still raging in L.A. The incompetent pols have no idea how to put them out. Thousands of magnificent houses are gone, and many more will soon be lost. There is death all over the place. This is one of the worst catastrophes in the history of our Country. They just…

— Donald J. Trump Posts From His Truth Social (@TrumpDailyPosts) January 12, 2025

Days ago, Elon Musk wrote on X the massive loss of mansions across LA has primarily been a failure of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass…

Exactly. Climate change risk is real, just much slower than alarmists claim.

The immense loss of homes in LA is primarily due to:

1. Nonsensical overregulation that prevented creating fire breaks and doing brush clearing.

2. Bad governance at the state and local level that… https://t.co/KByGVCjQ8N

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 9, 2025

Newsom, a far-left radical, was Community Noted on X. 

A ridiculous lie. We have doubled the size of our firefighting army, built the world’s largest aerial firefighting fleet, and increased the forest management ten-fold since taking office.

Time to serve these folks the facts. https://t.co/qITPcQDTKk

— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) January 11, 2025

Meanwhile, Mayor Bass is a Marxist. 

Karen Bass is a Marxist who praised Fidel Castro and Communist Party USA leaders.

Now her fire response makes sense. pic.twitter.com/JGyD7KK3xO

— Natalie Winters (@nataliegwinters) January 10, 2025

And the people in power in LA are far-left social justice warriors who made important decisions about governing through an “equity lens.” 

“What attracted me most to the role was social equity. It’s important for me that everything we do is with an equity lens and social justice and writing the wrongs that we’ve done in the past,” Janisse Quiñones, the head of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, recently stated on a local radio station. 

The LA Water Chief who is paid $750,000 a year: “What attracted me most to the role was social equity. It’s important for me that everything we do is with an equity lens and social justice and writing the wrongs that we’ve done in the past.” pic.twitter.com/FmlLFsHuba

— Autism Capital (@AutismCapital) January 11, 2025

There will be a major investigation into why the massive reservoir in Pacific Palisades was not filled, knowing about dry conditions, high winds, and elevated fire risk. Plus, Mayor Bass slashed the budget for the LAFD. 

JUST IN: The Pacific Palisades reservoir was EMPTY AND OFFLINE when the firestorm exploded, per LA Times

This is CRIMINAL.

The reservoir holds 117 million gallons of water, and would’ve given firefighters ample pressure to effectively fight the blaze.

Overpaid Dept. of… pic.twitter.com/afvRlbLJ73

— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) January 10, 2025

“This was supposed to be the water to put out the Palisades fire.”

The FP’s Austyn Jeffs visits the Santa Ynez Reservoir that has reportedly been empty since February 2024. pic.twitter.com/DwO5OrYhWk

— The Free Press (@TheFP) January 11, 2025

Meanwhile, Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass, used the typical Democratic Party playbook to deflect from the incompetence (DEI = DIE) of California politicians, using talking points that described California wildfires as “what a climate emergency looks like.”

Markey should be called “Malarkey Markey”… 

Cry more Edward. Climate scam is for money. It’s always about money.

Drill baby drill! Make the USA energy independent. pic.twitter.com/nIzDNPVhoA

— Molly Pitcher (@AmericanMama86) January 11, 2025

About man-made climate change.

Homeless man arrested for arson after setting fire in Pioneer Park in Los Angeles County.

The fire last night was quickly extinguished. Jose Carranza-Escobar admitted to setting the fire. pic.twitter.com/2f9ncl6Lt5

— BNO News Live (@BNODesk) January 11, 2025

“Incompetence in the limit is indistinguishable from sabotage,” Musk wrote on X on Saturday. 

Incompetence in the limit is indistinguishable from sabotage

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 11, 2025

This time, Democrats won’t be able to hide behind climate change farce. Real accountability is coming. People died, thousands lost everything, and even liberals in LA are turning on their far-left politicians who were never actual real competent managers, to begin with, just social justice warriors with ‘equity’ Marxism pom-poms. Remember, Marxists hate capitalism.