Palisades Fire

In early January 2025, a strong high-pressure system over the Great Basin created a steep northerly pressure gradient across Southern California. The system triggered powerful Santa Ana winds, katabatic winds that can develop when cooler, dense inland air is funneled through mountain passes and canyons toward the warmer coastal regions. The area had experienced "eight months without any measurable rainfall", and much of the region had fallen into moderate drought conditions. A battalion chief for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) told the Los Angeles Times that the conditions were "the perfect recipe for a large wildfire". Residents were urged to "use extreme caution with anything that can spark a wildfire" and those near forests to be prepared to evacuate. a precaution against the loss of water pressure during the sudden demands of firefighting, especially at higher altitudes. Despite these efforts, 20 percent of fire hydrants eventually ran out of water in the more elevated parts of Pacific Palisades. == Progression ==

The fire was first reported at about 10:30 a.m. PST on January 7, 2025, covering around of the mountains near Pacific Palisades. It quickly spread due to a combination of severe drought in Southern California (the driest 9-month period on record), and a worsening Santa Ana wind event which created wind gusts up to . Within 20 minutes, the fire grew from to . The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) said the blaze had reached more than by 2:10 p.m., with over 250 firefighters fighting it as it started to reach homes. Just one hour later, an update from CAL FIRE stated that the fire had rapidly grown to . Gavin Newsom, the Governor of California, toured the fire on January 7, and said that many structures had been destroyed. The intensification of the concurrent windstorm at night forced the grounding of firefighting aircraft, further hindering efforts to manage the wildfire's spread. The National Weather Service reported the highest wind gust in Pacific Palisades on January 7 was at 6:30 p.m. Firefighters faced significant challenges combating the blaze due to the steep terrain of the Santa Monica Mountains and the strong Santa Ana winds. These conditions hindered both ground and aerial firefighting operations, making containment efforts much more difficult. Firefighters called in from close by states like Oregon and Nevada to continue fighting the blaze. The fire reached the driveway adjacent to the Getty Villa; earlier in the day staff activated the site's fire safety plan which included closing off fire doors, running HVAC and humidity management systems, and turning on irrigation sprinklers. Most of the staff was evacuated but the Getty's crisis operations executives and security staff patrolled throughout the night, taking shifts outside, where they suppressed wind-blown flareups with "at least 40 five-pound fire extinguishers." Hours later, 1,400 firefighters had been assigned to the fire which continued to grow as several injuries were reported, including a 25-year-old firefighter with a "serious head injury". Several beachfront properties in Malibu were destroyed by the wildfire. In a Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) press conference on the morning of January 8, LACoFD fire chief Anthony Marrone said that the fire had reached a size of more than and had destroyed around 1,000 structures. Robert Luna, the sheriff of Los Angeles County, said that 37,000 people were under evacuation order due to the fire, adding that 15,000 structures were at risk of burning. a figure which had grown to by 1:20 p.m. In another press conference which began at 3:15 p.m., LAFD fire chief Kristin Crowley said that 1,792 personnel have been deployed to assist in fighting the fire, adding that it was still growing and continued to demand "significant resources". Human remains were found at a property near the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD) following a welfare check conducted due to a missing persons report. An update from fire authorities on January 9 said that over 5,300 structures had been destroyed by the blaze. It had grown to almost . A man was detained on suspicion of igniting a fire in Woodland Hills, immediately north of where the fire was burning. In a press conference at 5:20 p.m., Crowley said there had been two deaths due to the fire. At 8:00 p.m., Newsom reported that the fire was six percent contained, after being at zero percent containment for more than 55 hours. A firefighting aircraft collided with a drone while it was over the fire, suffering a hole in its wing but landing safely with no casualties. At 9:15 p.m., authorities reported that the death toll from all fires had risen to ten, with the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner (DMEC) saying that the remains were still being identified. During an update at 8:00 a.m., Crowley reported that the fire was at eight percent containment, with 3,073 personnel fighting it. Another CAL FIRE report at 9:20 a.m. said there had been three civilian injuries and two civilian fatalities, a number which increased to three by 12:08 p.m. Another update at 2:33 p.m. said the fire was at and was still at eight percent containment, while an update from the DMEC said five fire-related deaths had taken place in areas affected by the blaze, namely Malibu, Pacific Palisades and Topanga. This number was later revised to three. In a press conference at 8:00 a.m. on January 11, Todd Hopkins from the Unified IC CAL FIRE Incident Management Team said that the fire was at 11 percent containment and had grown by overnight. He also said 105,000 people had evacuated as 426 homes were destroyed. At least one home in Mandeville Canyon had burned. A CAL FIRE status report at 9:39 a.m. said the fire had grown to ; by 4:37 p.m. it had grown to . The DMEC said that the death toll of all fires had risen to 16: five in the Palisades Fire and 11 in the Eaton Fire. Doug Stewart, the mayor of Malibu, said one third of the city had been lost, adding that homes along the Pacific Coast Highway and the Big Rock neighborhood were 'gone'. On January 12, a CAL FIRE status report at 6:33 a.m. said the fire had grown to . At 8:00 a.m., city officials held a press conference, where Crowley said 4,720 personnel were assigned to the blaze; Luna said that during a search of 364 properties three dead people were found and four people had been arrested for looting. At 5:00 p.m., the DMEC released an update stating that the death toll of all fires had risen to 24, eight of which were in the Palisades area. One of them died in hospital after succumbing to their injuries. By January 14, the death toll for the Palisades Fire had risen to nine, with a total of 25 deaths across the Palisades and Eaton fires. On January 16, the death toll rose to 10. At the peak of firefighting efforts on January 19, assets from across the western US and international crews from both Canada and Mexico were deployed: firefighting personnel totalled over 5,677 across 551 fire engines, 42 water tenders, 43 helicopters, 48 bulldozers, 101 hand crews and 17 other assigned resources. Canada sent Canadair CL-415 aircraft to assist with containing the blaze. On January 21, a CAL FIRE status report at 6:32 p.m. revised the fire's size to , adding that it was at 65 percent containment. On January 30, the final CAL FIRE status report at 5:35 p.m. reported the fire at 95 percent containment, having caused 12 deaths and four injuries, as well as destroying 6,837 structures. By January 31, the fire had been fully contained after 24 days. Newly released footage suggests that the Palisades Fire may have rekindled from the earlier Lachman Fire, which began on January 1. Experts believe that embers from the earlier fire smoldered unnoticed and reignited amid extreme wind conditions. == Evacuation ==

In a LAFD press conference on January 7, at 3:40 p.m., fire chief Kristin Crowley said that over 30,000 people were under evacuation orders, with more than 10,000 houses and 13,000 buildings under threat. During the conference, Marqueece Harris-Dawson, the president of Los Angeles City Council and acting mayor, declared a state of emergency in response to the fire. At 2:30 p.m. on January 8, an evacuation order covering part of Santa Monica was expanded to cover all areas north of Montana Avenue from the beach to 11th Street, with evacuation warnings for additional areas north of Montana Avenue and areas north of Wilshire Boulevard and west of 10th Street. On January 10 at 6:00 p.m., evacuation warnings extended northeast, with the warnings changing to orders within the hour for the area enclosed by Sunset Boulevard to the south, Encino Reservoir to the north, I-405 to the east, and Mandeville Canyon to the west. Communities in this area include parts of Tarzana and Encino in the San Fernando Valley. Evacuation orders were lifted on January 27, when the City of Los Angeles allowed resident-only access to the previously mandatory-evacuation areas. == Impact ==

Structures destroyed According to Wildfire Alliance statistics, the Palisades Fire destroyed 6,837 structures, per CAL FIRE's final report on January 30, 2025. Earlier estimates included 1,900 structures by January 8 (Wildfire Alliance) and 3,501 by February 4 (LAFD), reflecting ongoing assessments, making it one of the most destructive in Los Angeles's history after the Eaton Fire, which destroyed 9,418 structures and damaged 1,073 structures, per CAL FIRE's final report on January 30, 2025. Both surpassed the Sayre Fire, which destroyed 604 structures in 2008, and the Bel Air Fire which destroyed nearly 500 houses in 1961. Smoke from the fire and other nearby fires caused severe air pollution in the Los Angeles area, with residents advised to wear masks in areas rated as red on the air quality index. The fire completely destroyed much of Pacific Palisades; almost every structure in the area north of Sunset Boulevard burned to the ground. With the exception of the Palisades Village outdoor mall, most of the neighborhood's downtown was leveled. Destroyed or heavily damaged structures included the Community United Methodist Church of Pacific Palisades, Pacific Palisades Presbyterian Church, St. Matthew's Episcopal Parish School, Village School, and the landmarked Pacific Palisades Business Block building. on January 7 The Palisades branch of the Los Angeles Public Library was destroyed. The Los Angeles Unified School District schools Palisades Elementary and Marquez Elementary Schools were destroyed. Palisades Charter High School was "badly damaged", with around 40 percent of the campus being damaged or destroyed. The main classroom and administration buildings were successfully protected by fire crews, but buildings on the edge of campus, closer to Sunset, burnt down. The Theatre Palisades was destroyed by the fire, and vegetation at the Getty Villa caught fire although the building itself was unscathed. The house of Will Rogers and the stables at the Will Rogers State Historic Park were destroyed; park staff safely evacuated the horses and removed some of the exhibited memorabilia. The historic Topanga Ranch Motel at Topanga State Park also burned down. A total of 30 buildings across the two parks were destroyed including staff housing. Restaurants along Pacific Coast Highway that burned included Cholada Thai, Moonshadows, the Reel Inn and Rosenthal Wine Bar & Patio. The house on Alma Real Drive where Robby Krieger wrote The Doors song "Light My Fire" and the Robert Bridges House perched atop Sunset Boulevard were also destroyed. The modernist Keeler House was also destroyed. Other architecturally significant homes destroyed included the 708 House, a 1949 Richard Neutra house designed for Nancy and Benedict Freedman, the 1952 Southdown Estates development designed by A. Quincy Jones and Fred Emmons, and a 1969 Conrad Buff and Donald Hensman-designed house on Pacific Coast Highway. One house that survived the fire was destroyed by a mudslide. The house of art dealer Ron Rivlin was destroyed along with a collection of more than 200 artworks, featuring significant pieces by Andy Warhol and Keith Haring among others. Cary Elwes, Max Emerson, Anna Faris, Mel Gibson, John Goodman, Jennifer Grey, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Ed Harris and Amy Madigan, Paris Hilton, Anthony Hopkins, Bobby Jenks, Tina Knowles, Jhené Aiko, Ricki Lake, Larry LaLonde, Eugene Levy, Tiffany Michelle, Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt, Rosie O'Donnell, Eric Christian Olsen and Sarah Wright Olsen, JJ Redick, Melissa Rivers, Daniel Shemtob, Cobie Smulders and Taran Killam, Candy Spelling, Miles Teller, Milo Ventimiglia and Diane Warren. On NBC News Daily, actor Steve Guttenberg related his experiences trying to get to his house. He advised the public to leave car keys with the cars so they can be moved to make way for fire trucks. He and others volunteered in helping first responders. Gary Hall Jr. lost his home and all of his Olympic medals in the fire; a few days after, Thomas Bach, the president of the International Olympic Committee, announced that he would be provided with replica medals to replace them. Other effects The Los Angeles premieres of Wolf Man, One of Them Days and Unstoppable were canceled due to the fire. The property damage caused by the fire resulted in vast liabilities for home insurance companies. In particular, due to other insurers pulling out of the region, the California FAIR Plan had approximately $6 billion of exposure in the area covered by the Palisades Fire as of January 8, 2025. Air tankers dropped thousands of gallons of red flame retardant in the hills around Los Angeles as firefighters attempted to limit the devastation from multiple wildfires. == Reactions ==

California Governor Gavin Newsom traveled to Los Angeles to observe the initial fire response as well as to meet with state, local and federal officials; President Joe Biden was in Los Angeles for a White House event on January 7 commemorating the creation of two new national monuments. Concerns were raised about the 117 million-gallon Santa Ynez Reservoir in Pacific Palisades being empty months before the fire started. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass was in Ghana when the fire initially broke out, despite her prior pledge not to conduct foreign trips as mayor. Bass cut her trip short and she returned to Los Angeles on January 7 via U.S. military transport. Some celebrities and politicians swiftly voiced outrage against Governor Newsom and Mayor Bass. Most notably X Corp Chairman and CTO Elon Musk called the mayor "utterly incompetent". President-Elect Donald Trump voiced his concern on Truth Social with Governor Newsom saying "Governor Gavin Newscum refused to sign the water restoration declaration put before him that would have allowed millions of gallons of water, from excess rain and snow melt from the North, to flow daily into many parts of California, including the areas that are currently burning in a virtually apocalyptic way." Trump issued an executive order titled Emergency Measures to Provide Water Resources in California and Improve Disaster Response in Certain Areas and orchestrated the water release from Lake Kaweah and Lake Success four days after taking office while the fires were still burning. The water never reached Southern California because these reservoirs release their water to the Tulare Lake basin, not to Southern California. President Trump also visited a burned area at that time and held a press conference with Mayor Bass in Fire Station 69. Trump publicly argued with Bass, criticizing the amount of city regulation that he believed to be in the way of rebuilding burnt areas, citing the Mayor's unclear definition of "hazardous waste". Trump went on to say: "You mentioned hazardous waste," said Trump. "Well hazardous waste... what's hazardous waste? You're going to have to define that. We're going to go through a whole series of questions on determining what's hazardous waste? I just think that you have to allow people to go on their site and start the process tonight." == Investigation ==

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives deployed a National Response Team to investigate the origins of the fire. According to the Los Angeles Times, the two leading theories suggest a rekindling of a prior January 1 fire, or the ignition of a new fire entirely at the same location. In May 2025, ATF conducted a controlled burn in the Palisades Highlands in attempt to gather more information on the origins of the fire. Relationship to the Lachman Fire At 12:17 a.m. on January 1, 2025, it was reported that a small brush fire had started on the ridgeline along the popular Skull Rock trail. Known as the Lachman Fire, it reached before forward progress was stopped shortly after 3:30 a.m., with mop-up and patrol operations continuing for 36 hours after. Sources with knowledge of the investigation into the Lachman Fire also believe it was sparked by fireworks. Assistant Chief Joe Everett of the LAFD expressed skepticism about the possibility of reignition after the cold-trailing operation and 36-hour patrol that followed the Lachman Fire; nevertheless, this is exactly what the ATF investigation determined had happened. in connection with the fires—as both federal and local law enforcement officials cited a "significant development" in the criminal investigation into the blazes. Officials confirmed that West Melbourne police arrested Rinderknecht during a traffic stop conducted in the Sawgrass Lakes community near Interstate 95, the same area where Rinderknecht lived at the time. A traffic ticket that Rinderknecht received in Palm Bay from two months before his arrest indicated that he lived in the area. The complaint alleged that Rinderknecht was at the location of the fire at the time it started, no one else was there, no fireworks were in the vicinity at the time, and that "[t]he cause of the fire was determined to be the introduction of an open flame (likely a lighter) to a combustible material such as vegetation or paper." Rinderknecht was born in Indiana in 1996, but spent his early years out of the United States, near Marseille in Southern France, where his parents were Baptist missionaries. He holds French citizenship from his parents and speaks French fluently. The family later returned to the United States when he was a child and resided back in Indiana. Rinderknecht briefly resided in Grand Rapids, Michigan, according to a Hart, Michigan, resident who knew him. Rinderknecht—who had lived in the Los Angeles area since 2019 and worked as an Uber driver in the Hollywood area before moving to Florida after the fires—had no prior criminal history. According to a pastor from Lima, Ohio, who knew everything about Rinderknecht's family, Rinderknecht's mother was also a Florida resident. Following his arrest, Rinderknecht was charged with starting the blaze that began on New Year's Day 2025. Those flames were put out by firefighters, but sparks allegedly "smoldered underground [undetected] for days before [the fire was reignited by high winds and] spread above ground." He also asked ChatGPT, "Are you at fault if a fire is because of your cigarettes?" The suspect briefly appeared inside the George C. Young Federal Building and Courthouse in Orlando, where he was charged in federal court with felonious malicious "destruction of property by means of fire". All three of his siblings, two sisters and a brother, appeared in court, with one of his sisters sobbing after the judge made his ruling, as Rinderknecht was held without bond. He was transferred to the John E. Polk Correctional Facility in Sanford, Florida, afterward to face charges. ATF special agent Thomas Harrison later testified that Rinderknecht had moved into the home of his three siblings in West Melbourne in May 2025, and they lived there for five months. His family have since moved out and had started eviction proceeding against him out of fear for their safety. West Melbourne Police were twice called to the house in September 2025. During the first incident, Rinderknecht got into an argument with his sister and her husband and threatened to burn the house down. In the second incident, the suspect's father, who visited Florida from southern France, grew concerned when Rinderknecht said he had a firearm and would use it in self-defense. No arrests were made or charges filed in either incident. Other possible causes According to The New York Times, a lawyer was looking into the possibility of a downed power line causing the fire. A 2019 project by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) to replace old power lines for wildfire mitigation was temporarily stalled after it had damaged 183 Astragalus brauntonii plants, an endangered species. The department agreed to pay a fine in 2020 for the damage and won approval to resume the work, but it did not proceed. The Times discovered power line debris near the point of ignition, but noted that witness photographs show that the nearest power line was still intact after the fire began, and that many further damaged utility lines to the north were only consumed by the fire a day later. The LADWP responded with a public statement clarifying that the lines in question were manually de-energized around 2:15 p.m. earlier that day. == See also ==