New fire in Hollywood Hills adds to nightmare scenario in Los Angeles

A new blaze broke out on Wednesday evening in the Hollywood Hills, adding to the four wildfires (Palisades, Eaton, Hurst and Lidia) threatening the city from the west, east and north. The fires have left five people dead, scorched more than 25,000 acres, destroyed around 2,000 structures and placed over 180,000 residents under mandatory evacuation orders. The new blaze, called the Sunset Fire, advanced rapidly and threatened a densely populated area containing some of the best-known symbols of the city. Authorities, however, have temporarily managed to contain its advance. By early Thursday morning, evacuation orders for the Hollywood area were lifted, though firefighters remain actively engaged in combating the blaze on the other fronts.

Authorities quickly mobilized a pair of helicopters to assist in fighting the Sunset Fire, a key asset that had been unavailable for the other fires due to high winds Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning. The aerial combat helped slow the advance of the new blaze within a couple of hours. The area threatened by the new fire, which started at 5:30 p.m. and doubled in size in just a few minutes, included some of the most famous areas of Los Angeles, such as the Walk of Fame, the Hollywood Bowl, the Dolby Theatre and the TCL Chinese Theatre. The authorities’ appeal prompted early closures for businesses in the area, usually crowded with tourists.

“We want an immediate evacuation in the warning zone. There is no time to waste, this is a mandatory evacuation,” Margaret Stewart, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Fire Department, said on Wednesday afternoon. The orders are in effect for people living east of Highway 101, north of Mulholland Drive and south of Hollywood Boulevard. These orders are in addition to evacuation orders already affecting 70,000 people in Altadena and Pasadena (Eaton Fire), and another 60,000 residents in Pacific Palisades and Malibu (Palisades Fire).

At Runyon Canyon, one of Hollywood’s most famous parks and home to a trendy hiking trail, there were half a dozen firefighting crews putting out the blaze. Onlookers were arriving at the gate to take a look, along with influencers who were live streaming the event to their followers. Firefighters initially positioned their hoses through the park’s entrance gate on Fuller Street. However, shortly after 8:30 p.m., they vacated the area, citing the need to address more pressing concerns elsewhere.

“We are not out of danger,” Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley said on Wednesday afternoon, warning that most of the fires raging in the region would still be burning overnight. The Palisades Fire continues to pose the greatest threat and has caused the most destruction. Its flames have consumed more than 1,000 structures, mostly residences and businesses along the Pacific Coast, making it the most destructive in Los Angeles history according to the state fire agency.

More than a thousand firefighters have been battling the flames on the ground for 24 hours nonstop. But the two main blazes affecting the city remain out of control. The Eaton and Palisades fires were 0% contained as of Wednesday night, according to authorities. Emergency officials expressed hope that diminishing winds in the could offer a reprieve for crews combating the Hurst and Lidia fires, located north of the San Fernando Valley. Local authorities have confirmed that the red alert for the metropolitan area, home to approximately 10 million residents, will remain in effect until Friday.

The maximum wind speeds were projected at 28 mph, down from 60 to 80 mph earlier. These strong winds have been the main obstacle for firefighters on all fronts.

“This is as bad as I have ever seen,” said Pasadena Fire Chief Chad Augustin, whose team is battling the Eaton Fire, which had destroyed between 200 and 500 structures east of the city and scorched 10,000 acres as of Wednesday evening.

With calmer winds now permitting safer operations, the California government has reinforced its aerial firefighting efforts against the Eaton and Palisades fires. Sixteen helicopters equipped for night operations and seven air tankers have been mobilized to support ground crews in their battle to contain the blazes.

Augustin said his men were “exhausted” and welcomed the reinforcements that had arrived from other parts of the United States. Almost all of the Western states, including Arizona, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington, have sent firefighting units to join the small army of 1,700 firefighters battling the flames.

Early criticism

The fire has not been brought under control, but early criticism of the authorities’ initial response is already beginning to surface. The main target is the Department of Water and Power (DWP), the local utility. The company’s water tanks in the Pacific Palisades area ran out of water by 3 a.m. Wednesday, affecting the work of hundreds of firefighters, who had trouble drawing water from hydrants in the higher areas of the mountain.

The company said Wednesday that the supply was affected by a “tremendous demand” caused by users who fought the flames with their domestic hoses. “It was four times the normal demand for 15 hours straight, that’s what lowered the water pressure,” said DWP’s chief engineer, who said that before the event, all 114 tanks in the region were full.

The utility company suspended service to 183,000 people as a precautionary measure to prevent new fires, while an additional 230,000 residents were left without power due to high winds. Another 400,000 remain under alert for potential service suspension. Once the smoke clears, authorities will be able to better assess the extent of the damage to the city. Preliminary estimates from AccuWeather suggest that the economic impact of these fires could reach approximately $57 billion.

The Los Angeles School District, the second-largest in the nation after New York, suspended classes for Thursday across its more than 1,000 campuses, affecting half a million students. Authorities have announced plans to distribute food to support students from low-income families during the closure.

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