On the morning of January 7, the first wildfire in Los Angeles broke out in a wooded area near Topanga State Park in the northwest corner of the city. Conditions allowed the fire to spread very quickly: 100 mph winds, extreme humidity, and a landscape that could burn after months without rain combined to send the fire ripping through the Pacific Palisades neighborhood, located between Santa Monica and Malibu. About 40 kilometers away in the Eaton area of Altadena, a second fire broke out. Along with several other small fires, the Pacific Palisades and Eaton fires have since burned more than 30,000 acres in Los Angeles County, destroying thousands of buildings and forcing 130,000 people to evacuate their homes. On Thursday morning, conditions in the Los Angeles area continue to present a high risk for blazes to start and spread. The fire has engulfed the entire neighborhood, and the fire is now threatening some of the city’s famous landmarks, including the iconic Hollywood sign. Thousands of firefighters have been working to try to extinguish the blaze. Several movie premieres—such as the Robbie Williams biopic Better Man, the Jennifer Lopez vehicle Unstoppable, and Wolf Man, starring Julia Garner and produced by Ryan Gosling—have been canceled. because the situation is dangerous. Thursday, California authorities ordered the evacuation of the Hollywood neighborhood after a fire a few hundred meters from Hollywood Boulevard. The uncontrollable situation also caused the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to delay the announcement of Oscar nominations by two days. US President Joe Biden received real-time information about the situation and offered “all the federal funds.” help needed” to extinguish the fire. “FEMA-Federal Emergency Management Agency-has approved a fire management grant to support the affected areas and help reimburse the State of California for the direct costs of fighting the fires,” the president said in a statement Wednesday. The fire was declared a disaster Despite efforts, the largest fires—Eaton and Pacific Palisades—were still at zero percent on Thursday, with firefighters running low on water Another destruction. They have been the most destructive in California history.
