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Los Angeles wildfires death toll expected to rise as Palisades and Eaton blazes remain uncontained

By North America correspondent Barbara Miller and Cameron Schwarz in Los Angeles, with Brad Ryan and Emilie Gramenz in Washington DC

10 January 2025

abc.net.au/news/california-los-angeles-wildfires-palisades-eaton/104802494Copy link

The death toll from California’s devastating firestorm is likely to rise, authorities say, as several blazes continue to burn out of control in Los Angeles.

The two largest blazes — the “Palisades fire” in the seaside neighbourhoods between Malibu and Santa Monica, and the “Eaton fire” around Pasadena and Altadena — were still completely uncontained on Thursday, local time.

Follow the latest developments in our live blog

On Thursday morning, the Eaton fire’s spread had been “significantly stopped”, LA County fire chief Anthony Marrone said. But in an afternoon update, he said it had grown and was “making a run towards the historic Mount Wilson area”.

Almost 180,000 residents remain under orders to leave their homes but “significant progress” has been made fighting fires in the Hollywood and Studio City areas and an evacuation order for the Hollywood Hills was lifted.

On Wednesday, authorities reported five deaths, all linked to the Eaton fire. But LA County Sheriff Robert Luna said he was “not satisfied” with the preliminary information he had received and it was too early to release a death toll.

“At one point, we’ll be able to do a more thorough search of these impacted areas — some of them look like a bomb was dropped in them — where we will be able to bring in canines and other things to help us, hopefully, not discover too many fatalities,” he said.

“That’s our prayer. But this is a crisis, and we don’t know what to expect.”

Between 4,000 and 5,000 buildings and vehicles are believed to have burned in the Eaton fire. LA Fire Department Chief Kristin Crowley said the number of properties damaged or destroyed by the Palisades fire was “in the thousands”.

“It is safe to say that the Palisades fire is one of the most destructive natural disasters in the history of Los Angeles,” she said.

The fires could also be the costliest in US history, according to analysts. JPMorgan analyst Jimmy Bhullar estimated the total economic loss at close to $US50 billion ($80 billion), the Wall Street Journal reported.

Thick smoke continues to blanket the city, making it difficult to breathe in affected areas.

But winds have died down, giving authorities hope they can begin to contain the blazes before strong gusts are forecast again on Thursday night.

The cause of the fires remains unknown. But extreme winds and tinder-dry conditions helped fuel them, and dry fire hydrants in some areas created difficulties fighting them.

President Joe Biden said wildfire agency Cal Fire had cut power to prevent more fires being started by downed power lines. But that had stopped water pumps supplying hydrants, he said.

“Cal Fire is bringing in generators to get these pumps up and working again, so that there’s no longer a shortage of water coming out of these hydrants,” Mr Biden said.

He said another 400 federal firefighters and 30 firefighting aircraft would be deployed, and more resources were coming from Canada. The federal government will fund the recovery for 180 days, he said.

Sacha Strebe, an Australian now living in Altadena with her family, lost her home in the Eaton fire. She said many LA residents were angry at the city’s lack of preparedness.

“We pay the highest taxes of many of the states in America, so to not see those taxes be put towards things that are prevention measures, to make sure that our houses don’t burn down in the way that they have so quickly, is really disappointing,” she told the ABC.

“I think it will get ugly. It will get very political, as it already has.

“And I don’t know if pointing fingers and blaming is the right thing to do, but there’s so many people that are just devastated right now.”

Looters ‘targeting vulnerable communities’

Authorities say they are now working to protect evacuated neighbourhoods from burglars, after 20 people were arrested for looting and related crimes.

Sheriff Luna said he was instructing officers to start enforcing evacuation orders to prevent more opportunistic theft.

“If you are in one of these areas and you do not belong there, you are going to be subject to arrest,” Sheriff Luna said. Later, he said an evening curfew would also be introduced in heavily affected areas.

LA County Board of Supervisors chair Kathryn Barger said: “We’ve all seen individuals who are targeting vulnerable communities by burglarising and looting homes.

“Shame on those who are preying on our residents during this time of crisis.”

The neighbourhoods affected by the fires span socio-economic demographics but include some of the most valuable real estate in America. Some of the biggest names in show business own property in the area.

Adam Brody, Billy Crystal, Ricki Lake and Eugene Levy are among the celebrities who have reported losing property in the fires.

Paris Hilton said her beach house had been levelled. “Sitting with family, watching the news and seeing our home in Malibu burn to the ground on live TV is something no one should ever have to experience,” she posted to social media.

In some areas, residents have been able to return to their razed homes to survey the damage. Some told the ABC they were shocked fire had managed to reach their properties, despite the evacuation orders.

“We never imagined, when I evacuated, that we would need to take more stuff with us,” said Marjie Blake, whose beachside mobile home in a park near the Palisades was turned to ash.

“We could have taken more, we just never imagined it [the fire] would get this far, ever.”

Their neighbour, who lost a Jaguar convertible and a Porsche along with his newly built home, said fire crews did not have water to protect the properties in the park.

“You always assumed the fire department was going to step in and there was going to be no problem, but unfortunately when they got to us, they had no water,” he told the ABC.

“So they pretty much walked in, told a couple of guys to get the hell out, and turned around and left because there wasn’t any water for them.”