1/8/2025

(Los Angeles, CA) Three wild fires broke out on Tuesday in Los Angles county and have burned through hundreds if not thousands of homes and structures. Thousands have fled their homes and communities and there have been 2 confirmed fatalities and maybe as many as 5. Reports say more than 80,000 people have been evacuated.

Fires burning rapidly in Northern LA County

According to Yahoo News, nearly 1,500 firefighters are fighting the blazes but stiff Santa Ana winds are hampering their efforts in getting any type of handle on the firestorm. Every major news source is covering the devastation with up to the minute reports.

The Pacific Palisades fire started Tuesday morning and has burned nezrly 16,000 acres as of 6pm on Wednesday. The Pacific Palisades is a community between the Santa Monica mountains and the Pacific ocean just behind the Malibu area.

The 2nd fire that sparked Tuesday evening around 6:30pm, the Eaton fire is in the Pasadena and Altadena area where the historic Rose Bowl is located and nearby in Arcadia Santa Anita Race Track. That fire has burned more than 10,500 acres by 6pm Thursday.

The 3rd fire is called the Hurst fire started around 10:30pm and in Sylmar north of San Fernando and had grown to more than 2,000 acres as of 6pm Wednesday night.

Three other smaller fires have started since the 1st big firestorm. Fire officials say 0% of any of the fires are contained.

**As I was writing this another significant fire has broken out in the Runyon Canyon area in the Hollywood Hills. Officials are beginning to evacuate some of the residents and warning others to be ready to move out. This is near the famous Hollywood sign, Laurel Canyon and not far from Hollywood Boulevard.

Landmarks have avoided damage so far

The historic Rose Bowl where Ohio State just beat Oregon in the 2nd round of the college football play-offs on New Year’s Day is being threatened by the Eaton blaze and is in what’s called the red zone. The hope was the vast amount of parking lots around the historic venue would help buffer the bowl stadium from the flames.

The historic horse race track Santa Anita is east of the most of the fires and also has a large cement parking area and serve as a buffer. Santa Anita is now in what’s called a safe zonde but it is on the border of the warning area. If the winds shift and blow back toward the track that would change conditions in a hurry. But right now is doesn’t appear that is going to happen.

Trainers and horses remain at the track as it one of the facilities that can handle the large number of horses on site. Additionally, many ovf the nearby horse farms and training centers are up in those hills that are now burning. Those facilities are either already moving or moved their stock to safer locations.

NHL, NFL and ESPN ready for changes

The NHL cancelled their hockey match of Calgary at the Los Angeles Kings and will be re-scheduled for a later date.

The NFL stated today they will be monitoring the situation as it could move the Monday night Wild Card game Minnesota at the LA Rams at SoFi Stadium to Phoenix. There was no deadline offered at when  such a decision would be made. The Rams have been through this before when they had to move a regular season Monday night game in 2003 to Sun Devil Stadium due to wildfires.

ESPN pretty much shut down their Los Angeles productions cancelling their show NBA Today and restricting operations to essential personnel only.

You can follow any of the major news organizations for updates on the Southern California fires as breaking news and updates are happening on a regular basis.

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