The center of the Palisades is on fire, from structures near Pali High to stretches of residences through surrounding streets — flames jumping from home to home even as firefighters try to extinguish flames.
The fire department will soon ask for all of its firefighters, including those off duty, to report to help — something officials said they hadn’t required in recent years.
Strong winds will only continue, making firefighting efforts a challenge. Aircraft is grounded, leaving personnel unable for a time to fight the flames by air.
It would be days before crews would reach even a small line of containment around the fire.
By 12:32 p.m. Wednesday, just a day after smoke was first spotted, the Palisades Fire had burned about 11,000 acres.
Much of this community would soon be in ruins — and in the days to come, the monster would nearly than double in size again.
A blended view using a Jan. 8 SWIR image with an older (prefire) optical image from Oct. 20, 2024. Intended to help provide context of where the fires are burning. (Satellite image ©2025 Maxar Technologies)
Joyce Lee contributed to this report. Story editing by Paulina Firozi.
Wildfires in Los Angeles
The latest: At least ten people have died as intensely powerful winds fan the flames of multiple wildfires around Los Angeles. The Palisades Fire has destroyed 5,300 buildings and forced more than 30,000 evacuations on the west side of Los Angeles County. Among the multiple fires are the Eaton Fire, the Hurst Fire, the Kenneth Fire and the Lidia Fire. Follow live updates on the wildfires and track their spread in maps.