What happened on Tuesday, Jan. 21 as forecasts began to show rain headed for the region

Amid firestorms and extended red flag warnings, the idea of a weekend rainstorm is a balm for Southern California’s soul. And the rain could help with the firefight, but forecasters say it probably will not end what has been a devastating fire season.

Southern California is not out of the woods yet when it comes to fire risk. The National Weather Service extended its red flag warning until 8 p.m. Thursday due to an anticipated boost in wind coupled with persistent low humidity. Dry and windy conditions have created an unyielding fire risk across the region.

Jurupa Valley fire crews battled a brush fire in the Santa Ana River bottom Tuesday evening after having extinguished a blaze in a similar location last week.

The fire was reported at 2 acres at 5 p.m. Tuesday and grew to 38 acres by 7 p.m., according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and the Riverside County Fire Department.

Although the worst of the Santa Ana winds appear to have passed, Southern California is not out of the woods yet when it comes to fire risk.

On Tuesday, the National Weather Service extended its red flag warning for Los Angeles and Ventura counties until Thursday evening.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has promised to increase patrols in Altadena to combat looting as residents begin to head back to their homes nearly two weeks after the Eaton fire swept through the region.

The newly formed Looter Suppression Team will provide more surveillance and a quicker response time to Altadena neigborhoods evacuated during the fire but potentially left unsecured by residents, the Sheriff’s Department announced Tuesday.

A 94-year-old Altadena man reported missing after being in contact with relatives was found dead in a fire zone, authorities announced Tuesday.

Edwin Cridland was last seen in the 200 block of Wapello Street on Jan. 7, the night the destructive Eaton fire erupted in Altadena. Cridland had contacted friends and family around 7:30 p.m., according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

He died of smoke inhalation and burn injuries, according to the county medical examiner’s office.

Dennis Chapman, a friend of Cridland, told KABC-TV that the massive wildfire had burned both Cridland’s home and the vintage vehicles he collected.

“He was a kind soul,” he told the news outlet.

A judge on Tuesday ordered Southern California Edison to preserve data, equipment and evidence related to the deadly Eaton fire, a decision praised by attorneys who sued the giant utility company and suspect the fire was started at the base of an electrical tower.

Issued by L.A. Superior Court Judge Ashfaq G. Chowdhury Tuesday morning, the ruling approved a temporary restraining order requested by attorneys for an Altadena woman whose home was burned in the fire and is now suing the utility company.

Maxwell Brodie vividly recalls the destructive wildfire he experienced as a kid growing up in the interior of British Columbia.

One night in 2003, lightning struck a tree at around 4 a.m., sparking a massive blaze that scorched Okanagan Mountain Park. Winds picked up, the skies turned orange and more than 30,000 people evacuated from his hometown. Brodie remembers helping his dad attach a soaker hose to protect their cedar roof from falling ash.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger Tuesday called for an outside investigation into the evacuation process during the Eaton Fire

It comes as The Times reported that it took many hours for residents in western Altadena to get electronic evacuation orders. At least 17 people died in that area.

“I have deep concerns,” said Barger. “There has to be a thorough examination of life-saving emergency notifications that took place on that horrific evening. From what I have been told, it was a night of pure chaos for both fire and first responders.”

“For me, it is important to gather all the facts so that we have a complete picture as to what happened. Such a report, she added, “will answer questions for Altadena but will also benefit the county as a whole moving. forward.”

Residents told The Times they were stunned how long it took to get the evacuation order, and by then many homes in the area were on fire.

Of the 17 deaths confirmed so far in the fire, all of them occurred in the area west of Lake Avenue, records show. More than 7,000 homes were burned overall in the fire.

California

Western Altadena got evacuation order many hours after Eaton fire exploded. 17 people died there

As the Eaton fire spread, many areas were notified of evacuation warnings and orders well in advance. In the heart of Altadena, where all 17 reported deaths occurred, evacuation orders came hours after fire did.

Jan. 21, 2025

Mayor Karen Bass issued an emergency executive order Tuesday morning to shore up Los Angeles burn areas and protect watersheds ahead of potential rain this weekend.

The forecast, which calls for some rain as soon as late Friday or early Saturday, comes as the Los Angeles area continues to battle a catastrophic firestorm that has devastated a wide swath of coastal L.A. and Altadena in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains.

A Times investigation has raised new questions about why it took so long to issues evacuation warnings to parts of Altadena west of Lake Avenue after the Eaton Fire. broke out. Among the findings:

• Records, radio logs and interviews show that residents living west of Lake Avenue were not told to evacuate via electronic alerts until many hours after the Eaton Fire started.

• Residents said they were stunned how long it took to get the evacuation order, and by then many homes in the area were on fire.

• Of the 17 deaths confirmed so far in the fire, all of them occurred in the area west of Lake, records show. More than 7,000 homes were burned overall in the fire.

Read the full story here.

WASHINGTON —  Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, the chief of the inaugural transition, acknowledged the difficulty of overseeing the handoff of power to Donald Trump in the site where his followers rioted in seeking to overturn election results but also said it was important for herself and other Democrats to acknowledge Trump’s 2024 victory.

“We had a job to do,” said Klobuchar, the chairwoman of the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, which worked for two years on planning the transition, in an interview Monday night. “And that’s why President Obama came and President Clinton, they were well aware of what had happened in that request. But that was our job.”

Los Angeles is a place that feels physically and emotionally fractured these days. For tens of thousands who are displaced, routine is a near impossibility. Others carry on with little visible change to their daily life.

Yet that doesn’t mean there isn’t a heavy inner struggle.

During his inaugural address on Monday, President Trump blasted what he called a government unable to protect its own citizens in times of crisis — including the people of Southern California affected by the still-burning Palisades and Eaton fires, which have destroyed thousands of structures and killed at least 27 people.

Trump used the examples of Southern Californians and “the wonderful people of North Carolina, who were treated so badly” after Hurricane Helene this fall.

The first stop former Vice President Kamala Harris made after leaving office and returning to California on Monday was Altadena, where she met with volunteers and firefighters working on the Eaton fire.

Hours after attending President Trump’s inauguration, Harris and former second gentleman Doug Emhoff landed at Burbank Airport and headed to a former auto repair shop in Altadena.

Two Los Angeles schools, Topanga Canyon Elementary and Canyon Charter Elementary, which closed as a precaution amid fires, remain closed Tuesday.

Canyon Charter Elementary in Pacific Palisades survived the fire, but has dealt with a power outage, which contributed to delaying its planned reopening Tuesday, according to a district statement released Monday.

The Topanga Canyon Elementary campus also will remain closed Tuesday due to red flag warnings in the area. Topanga elementary will remain re-located at Woodland Hills Academy and instruction will be in-person Tuesday there, according to the district.

The following schools are scheduled to reopen for regular, in-person instruction on Tuesday:

• Lanai Road Elementary
• Roscomare Elementary
• Kenter Canyon Elementary
• Community Charter Magnet Elementary
• Revere Middle School

All of these campuses had been fire evacuation zones.

District staff worked through the holiday weekend to prepare these schools for reopening.

“Ventilation systems have been inspected, filters have been changed and air systems will be running to provide an extra measure of filtration,” the district statement said. “Air purifiers have also been installed in classrooms, offices, and support spaces. The school interior and exterior have been cleaned, and an environmental consultant is inspecting the campus to ensure our actions are consistent with returning the school to normal activities.

“Despite such reassurances, parents have raised concerns about the safety of returning to campuses in or near burn zones.

During the relocation period, neither teachers nor students had been required to report to the designated substitute campus. Instruction took place over zoom whether the teachers or students were at the campus or not.

Attendance was low during the relocation period, per available data.

Two Pacific Palisades elementary campuses -- Palisades Charter Elementary and Marquez Charter Elementary -- were destroyed by the fire — and those relocations will continue indefinitely. Palisades Charter High School also sustained significant damage. The second semester at that school will begin online Tuesday.

Five campuses in Pasadena Unified sustained major damage or were destroyed by the Eaton Canyon fire. Other campuses, however, also were damaged or required major clean-up resulting in districtwide closure and gradual reopening.

Southern California is heading into a day of its most extreme fire weather with bone-dry vegetation and strong Santa Ana winds that officials warn could turn a small blaze into a massive inferno.

A “particularly dangerous situation” warning is set to go into effect Monday at noon and last through Tuesday at 10 a.m. for swaths of Los Angeles County and most of Ventura County — an unprecedented fifth time the National Weather Service has sounded the alarm this season for acute fire conditions.