Wildfires in Los Angeles and surrounding wilderness areas have destroyed thousands of structures including residential and commercial real estate and caused two known deaths since its start on Tuesday.
Driven by high-velocity winds, the fire has spread to cover more than 11,000 acres, causing massive destruction and forcing more than 50,000 people to evacuate, as well as covering much of the LA metropolitan area in smoke and ash.
According to the LA Times, thousands of structures have already burned down in the Pacific Palisades neighbourhood, an affluent area tucked between Topanga State Park and the Pacific Ocean.
Modernist icon the Eames House (Case Study House No. 8) and Case Study House No. 18 sit in the south of the fire’s incident zone and as of Wednesday morning, staff had evacuated and taken several articles of furniture. While currently “at risk” the site has so far been unharmed by the fire, according to the foundation.
“We are closely monitoring the situation and the Eames Foundation has taken every precaution to protect the site,” said Eames Foundation executive director Lucia Dewey Atwood at 1:00 pm local time today.
“Yesterday, the foundation’s team worked quickly to remove a small number of objects from the house before they had to evacuate the building.”
As of today, the local firefighting efforts have been constrained by grounding orders for firefighting aircraft due to high winds and dwindling water resources. On Wednesday morning, LA fire chief Brent Pascua called the scenes at the fire “apocalyptic”.
“Total destruction” in Malibu
Hundreds of homes, restaurants and other structures have been consumed by the fire, including the Palisades Library and Palisades Charter High School, according to the New York Times.
The Pacific Palisades fire has spread as far north as Malibu and burning buildings were recorded along the Pacific Coast Highway as of this afternoon.
NBC news correspondent Liz Kreutz posted on X Wednesday afternoon that there was “total destruction” in Malibu along the Pacific Coast Highway.
Tens of thousands of structures remain at risk, including the home of US vice president Kamala Harris as well as several notable works of architecture including Getty Villa, which closed to non-essential personnel on Tuesday, after fire spread to the property. Current reports claimed the 1950s home of tycoon John Paul Getty, which also has a museum, “narrowly” avoided the fire.
The Julius Ralph Davidson-designed Thomas Mann house is also under threat.
Late this morning, fires in Eaton and Hurst also began. The fire in Eaton consumed more than 10,000 acres in a matter of hours, spreading into nearby Altadena and threatening Pasadena.
The Pasadena Jewish Temple was reportedly destroyed in the blaze.
Throughout the Los Angeles Metropolitan Area, hundreds of schools and businesses were closed. Local design studio Ravenhill Studio noted some of its staff was “under evacuation orders”, and big-ticket events such as an NHL game and the awards broadcast Critics Choice award were cancelled.
Blame has been levied at the local government and mayor, citing their slashing of the fire budget by $17.6 million last year.
Some pointed to the changing climate and out-of-date building practices as primary drivers of the disaster.
“American homes were built for an environment that no longer exists. This – like all of the disasters this century, from Florida to Hawaii – must be a call to action,” said CBS news correspondent Jonathan Vigliotti on X.
Fires in January are not unprecedented, but the fire season usually lasts between the summer months and October, but this year the city has been experiencing a drought.
Photo by Ariam23 via Wikipedia Commons
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