Patty Burns, a 93-year-old with a brilliant memory, has lived in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles for more than 60 years. She always kept a black suitcase full of important documents ready in case of fire.
She needed it on Tuesday.
Her daughter, who lives just up the road, arrived on her doorstep that morning to see her off. The flames, driven by high winds, were already raging through the Santa Monica Mountains in what would become the deadliest wildfire in LA history.
Burns grabbed her medicine, paused to put on a pair of navy blue dangling earrings, then left the house for what would be the last time. “We’ve been afraid of it for years,” she said. “I’m constantly thinking about things I need to do around the house or things I need to get. But it’s all gone.”
The Palisades fires have burned about 20,000 acres, destroyed 5,000 structures and killed at least two people. Block after block has been razed to the ground, leaving an area that looks like the aftermath of a bombing. And four days later, fires still burning – in the Palisades and other neighborhoods throughout LA and its suburbs.
This week’s destruction further shook the city, which is facing numerous social and economic problems. LA is still struggling with a homelessness crisis and a lack of affordable housing. Its most visible industry – Hollywood – is grappling with the devastating impact of the streaming revolution and the consequences of prolonged strikes. Studios halted production in LA this week due to the fire.
And now LA faces costly recovery efforts in badly damaged communities across the city, with estimates of financial losses from the fires reaching more than $150 billion, according to AccuWeather. All while LA prepares to host the 2028 Olympics.
Known for its winding streets, fantastic ocean views, deep canyons, modern architectural masterpieces and Hollywood celebrity residents, the Palisades has been one of the most desirable addresses in the US for decades.
But this week, the winding mountain roads that make the area so dramatic have been turned into hellish evacuation routes. Traffic ground to a halt as flames loomed in the hills behind them. Dozens of drivers abandoned their Teslas and Priuses, choosing to flee on foot as the fire raced down canyons.
As firefighters battled to contain the Palisades fires, flames broke out in other parts of LA: first toward Santa Monica, where some residents were told to evacuate, then in Altadena, about 30 miles east.
Over the next two days, multiple fires broke out in the Hollywood Hills – dangerously close to the Hollywood sign and other landmarks – Pasadena and the San Fernando Valley.
The flames were fanned by dry, seasonal Santa Ana winds, and fuel was plentiful thanks to months of drought.
Efforts to control the flames were exhausted. Strong winds, which at times reached hurricane-force winds, grounded helicopters and “super scooper” planes used to fight the flames from the air. Palisades struggled at times with low water pressure, hampering firefighters on the ground who found fire hydrants running dry.
Nearly 400,000 LA County residents were either under evacuation orders or warnings as of Thursday evening. Many houses safely away from the burning hills filled with friends who had lost their homes or were unsure if they were still standing.
“This is like a rich person’s refugee crisis,” said Brydon Gerus, an app developer who also owns a branding agency. Gerus’ home in Palisades burned Tuesday, forcing his family to stay with friends in Brentwood.
“We only have the clothes we wear. That’s it,” he said. “We have to become more familiar with the idea that everything is going to disappear.”
California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency and President Joe Biden released federal funds to pay for temporary housing, home repairs and loans to cover uninsured property losses.
But the fires have already become political, with President-elect Donald Trump blaming Newsom for the crisis. And in LA, Mayor Karen Bass has been criticized for being part of a delegation to Ghana when the fires broke out, which critics say slowed the response.
The Altadena fires were very devastating, with between 4,000 and 5,000 buildings believed to have been damaged or destroyed. Among them was a new home recently purchased by Jake, a musician, and his wife, who were attracted to the up-and-coming area near the San Gabriel Mountains.
“We got married about a year ago and we were saving up. We literally just bought our house,” he said. “We spent the first night in the house a week ago. The boxes were not fully unpacked yet.”
They packed the “bags” when they heard about the Palisades fires. They evacuated after winds began whipping trees around their home on Wednesday, and discovered their new home had burned down on television.
Jake has home insurance from California Fair Plan, but he knows it won’t cover all losses. “We’re working on insurance claims and trying to figure out what to do next,” he said. “The whole town of Altadena was burned.”
In the Palisades, there is concern over the fate of several mid-20th-century modern landmarks, such as the Eames House, built in 1949 by Charles and Ray Eames. The couple and other architects, including Richard Neutra, built many of the groundbreaking case study homes in the Palisades that helped shape the modern, open style that became associated with the rugged Pacific coast.
“We’ve never had a fire of this caliber in terms of sheer size,” said Adrian Scott Fine, president and CEO of the Los Angeles Conservancy. “It’s pretty intense in terms of what we’re potentially looking at in terms of historic site losses, not just individual buildings, but entire neighborhoods.”
Some properties have already burned, including the Keeler House, a modernist building built by Ray Kappe in 1991, Fine said. But not only modern architectural landmarks are lost.
William Fowler, an app developer who evacuated from Topanga Canyon in the Santa Monica Mountains, said more modest places will be missed. He said the Malibu Feed Bin, a rustic barn-like structure where people bought feed and firewood, burned down, as did The Reel Inn, a fish and chip shop along Pacific Coast Highway.
“A lot of things won’t be the same,” he said. But he believed people would still want to live on the LA waterfront, despite the fire’s devastation.
“Everybody knows what the risks are,” he said. “People will want to build in the Palisades again.”
Cartography by Steven Bernard
