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Eaton Fire

Coordinates: 34°12′18″N 118°05′17″W / 34.205°N 118.088°W / 34.205; -118.088
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Eaton Fire
Part of the January 2025 Southern California wildfires
Smoke from the fire on January 8, with smoke from the 2025 Palisades Fire to its southwest
Date(s)January 7, 2025 – present
LocationLos Angeles County, California, United States
Coordinates34°12′18″N 118°05′17″W / 34.205°N 118.088°W / 34.205; -118.088
Statistics
StatusOngoing wildfire
Burned area>10,600 acres (4,290 ha; 17 sq mi; 43 km2)
Impacts
Deaths5
Non-fatal injuries>1
Evacuated>100,000
Structures destroyed200-500
Ignition
CauseUnknown
Map
Map
Eaton Fire (map data)

The Eaton Fire is an active wildfire burning in the Altadena area of Los Angeles County in Southern California. It began in the evening on January 7, 2025, in Eaton Canyon in the San Gabriel Mountains.[1] As of January 8, 2025, at 10:36 a.m. PST (UTC–8), the fire had spread to approximately 10,600 acres (4,300 ha). It is one of several fires being driven extremely powerful Santa Ana winds, along with the Palisades Fire.[2]

Evacuation orders have been sent out to the residents of Altadena, Kinneloa Mesa, La Cañada Flintridge, northern portions of Sierra Madre, Pasadena, Arcadia, and Monrovia, and northeastern portions of Glendale, including most of the San Rafael Hills.[3]

The cause of the fire is under investigation.[4]

Progression

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The fire is estimated to have begun at 6:18 p.m. PST in the vicinity of Eaton Canyon,[5] and was first reported around 6:30 p.m. near the corner of Altadena Drive and Midwick Drive in eastern Altadena.[6] It rapidly expanded to over 1,000 acres (400 ha) by 12:07 a.m., fueled by a strong Santa Ana wind event,[6] with wind gusts of up to 100 mph (160 km/h) reported at the nearby Mount Lukens Truck Trail north of La Cañada Flintridge.[7] By 6:30 a.m., the fire had further grown to over 2,227 acres (901 ha), with 0% containment.[6]

The fire continued to grow quickly, and by 10:36 a.m., the fire had grown to over 10,600 acres (4,300 ha), still with 0% containment.[8]

Impact

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As of 4 a.m. PST on January 8, 52,314 residents and 20,890 structures had been placed under evacuation orders, with a further 46,847 residents and 18,051 structures placed under evacuation warnings. Numerous homes and cars in Altadena were destroyed; up to "90 to 95 percent" of Altadena residents had been evacuated as of 7 a.m..[6]

As of 8:10 a.m. on January 8, one firefighter injury had been reported,[5] over 200 structures had been destroyed,[9] and two civilians had died in the fire, along with "a number of significant injuries."[6] Later in the afternoon, sheriff Robert Luna reported five civilian fatalities in a press conference, and the estimated number of evacuees was raised to over 100,000.[10][6]

By the afternoon of January 8, over 100 animals had been received at the Pasadena Humane animal shelter, many of which had received burn injuries.[11]

The Pasadena Unified School District, the Los Angeles Unified School District, and 23 other surrounding school districts, announced the closure of all schools in the district for Wednesday, January 8 in response to the fire.[12] Closures for January 8 were also announced by Pasadena City College, Fuller Theological Seminary, and the California Institute of Technology.[13][14][15] Many of these closures were extended to Thursday, January 9, and Friday, January 10.[16]

The historic Andrew McNally House was destroyed by the fire.[17] The Altadena Community Church and St. Mark's Episcopal Church were also destroyed by the fire.[18][19]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Jiménez, Jesus; Karlamangla, Soumya (January 8, 2025). "What We Know About the Wildfires Raging in Southern California". The New York Times. Retrieved January 8, 2025.
  2. ^ Fioresi, Dean (January 7, 2025). "Eaton Fire erupts in canyons above Altadena - CBS Los Angeles". www.cbsnews.com. Retrieved January 8, 2025.
  3. ^ "Incidents | CAL FIRE". www.fire.ca.gov. Retrieved January 8, 2025.
  4. ^ "Eaton Fire". California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Retrieved January 7, 2025.
  5. ^ a b Angeles National Forest [@Angeles_NF] (January 8, 2025). "#EatonFire Morning Update @LACoFDPIO @LASDHQ @ALDLASD @CVLASD @CHPAltadena @CitySierraMadre @PasadenaFD @PasadenaGov @MonroviaCA @ArcadiaCityMgr @TheCityofLCF" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  6. ^ a b c d e f Conybeare, Will (January 8, 2025). "Fast-moving Eaton Fire destroys homes near Altadena". KTLA. Nexstar Media Group. Retrieved January 8, 2025.
  7. ^ Mather, Katie (January 8, 2025). "National Weather Service reports wind gusts up to 100 mph in Los Angeles". Yahoo News. Retrieved January 8, 2025.
  8. ^ "Eaton Fire: Incident Update on 01/08/2025 at 10:36 AM". Cal Fire. State of California.
  9. ^ Tucker, Antoinette Radford, Holly Yan, Andy Rose, Lauren Mascarenhas, Elise Hammond, Aditi Sangal, Rachel Ramirez, Taylor Romine, Tori B. Powell, Emma (January 8, 2025). "Live updates: Los Angeles wildfires kill at least 5, Palisades and Eaton fires raging on". CNN. Retrieved January 9, 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  10. ^ Haskell, Josh; Hayes, Rob; Garcia, Sid; et al. (January 8, 2025). "Major brush fires burning in SoCal amid powerful windstorm". ABC7 Eyewitness News. Retrieved January 8, 2025. Five people have now died in the Eaton Fire, which continues to burn out of control near the Altadena and Pasadena areas.
  11. ^ Chow, Vivian (January 8, 2025). "Help needed as injured animals arrive at Pasadena Humane Society due to wildfire". KTLA. Nexstar Media Group. Retrieved January 8, 2025.
  12. ^ "Pasadena Unified School District Schools Will Be Closed Wednesday". Pasadena Now. January 7, 2025. Retrieved January 8, 2025.
  13. ^ "Eaton Fire/Wind Storm: Live Updates". ColoradoBoulevard.net. January 8, 2025. Retrieved January 8, 2025.
  14. ^ Davidson, Elijah (January 7, 2025). "Pasadena Campus Closed Tuesday, January 7 and Wednesday, January 8". Fuller Theological Seminary. Retrieved January 8, 2025.
  15. ^ Caltech [@Caltech] (January 8, 2025). "Due to the Eaton Fire in Altadena and strong winds in the area, Caltech's campus in Pasadena will be closed for all nonessential operations on Wednesday, January 8. For more information, visit Caltech's Emergency Updates page. https://caltech.edu/emergency" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  16. ^ "LA Unified to close campuses Thursday amid fires". Pasadena Star-News. MediaNews Group. January 8, 2025. Retrieved January 8, 2025.
  17. ^ null (January 9, 2025). "Update from Mimi Dwyer". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved January 9, 2025.
  18. ^ "With firefighters stretched thin, Altadena residents battle to save homes from flames". Los Angeles Times. January 8, 2025. Retrieved January 9, 2025.
  19. ^ "Episcopal church, 2 rectories destroyed by deadly fast-moving wildfires raging in Southern California". Episcopal News Service. January 8, 2025. Retrieved January 9, 2025.
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