Los Angeles leaders describe multi-day wind-driven firestorm; evacuations, sheltering and investigations continue

Los Angeles County and City officials held a joint press conference on Jan. 9 to update the public on a multi-day, wind-driven wildfire emergency that has forced about 179,783 people to evacuate, damaged or destroyed large numbers of structures and disrupted utilities across the region.

The briefing brought county and city leaders together with fire and law enforcement chiefs to describe response efforts, sheltering arrangements and recovery steps. "We will begin the process of rebuilding," Los Angeles County Chair of the Board of Supervisors Kathryn Barger said, adding the county opened the Pomona Fairplex as an additional shelter and will accept large animals there.

Why it matters: The fires spread rapidly under historic wind conditions, taxing local firefighting and public-safety resources and producing large-scale evacuations, utility outages and extensive property damage across the county and city.

Chiefs and incident managers gave updated incident sizes and containment figures. Officials said the Eaton fire remained estimated at about 10,600 acres with 0% containment; the Palisades fire was reported at about 17,234 acres with 0% containment; the Hearst Fire was reported at 855 acres with 0% containment; the Lydia fire in Acton was limited to about 348 acres and reported 40% contained; Woodley was reported at about 30 acres and fully contained; and the Sunset (Runyon Canyon) incident was reported at 42.8 acres with forward progress stopped. County officials said more than 879 firefighting personnel were assigned to the Eaton incident and that mutual-aid resources from other states were arriving to assist.

Officials described preliminary damage estimates but warned early figures are provisional. Los Angeles County Fire (as cited in the briefing) reported "several reported injuries and over 1,000 structures damaged and destroyed." Cal Fire incident commander Todd Hopkins clarified how preliminary aerial damage estimates are generated and what they mean: "a structure, it doesn't necessarily mean that it's a residential structure or a commercial structure. It could be a vehicle. It could be an outbuilding." Hopkins said ground damage-inspection teams will catalog each property on the ground and provide more precise counts to city and county officials.

Law enforcement and prosecutors outlined enforcement priorities. Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said deputies were conducting roving patrols, securing evacuations and making arrests to deter looting; he said 20 arrests had been made and warned that staying in an evacuation area can carry criminal penalties. District Attorney Nathan Hockman warned potential looters and scammers that prosecutors would seek maximum punishment: "if you wanna go ahead and loot ... you will be arrested, you will be prosecuted, and you will be punished to the full extent of the law."

Utilities and infrastructure updates: Janice Quinones, CEO and chief engineer of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, said about 200,000 customers had their power restored since the windstorm began and that roughly 95,000 customers remained without power. Quinones said DWP was working with mutual-aid crews and that restoration times were ranging from 24 to 48 hours for many outages, but could be longer in fire-impacted areas where equipment is compromised or access is restricted. Los Angeles County Public Works director Mark Pastralla warned municipal water quality had been affected by ash and debris, and a boil-water advisory for ZIP code 90272 (Pacific Palisades) would remain in effect for at least 48 hours. Pastralla and Quinones both emphasized that damaged debris can be hazardous and must be processed through coordinated county and city removal programs rather than handled by residents.

Shelters and services: Chair Barger said the county opened the Pomona Fairplex to shelter evacuees and accept large animals. Officials also noted that private companies and nonprofits were offering resources; the county planned to list support and recovery resources at recovery.lacounty.gov. Mental health supports and volunteer coordination were announced: county mental-health hotlines and Emergency Network LA were named as sources for coordinated volunteer assistance.

Forest closure and command teams: The U.S. Forest Service announced the Angeles National Forest would be closed until further notice to reduce wildfire risk and demands on responders. Officials said the state had activated Cal Fire Management Team 3 and assigned it to the Eaton Canyon incident to oversee victim search, damage inspections and debris-removal planning while federal management team 5 remains focused on firefighting operations.

Fatalities and investigation status: Officials warned fatality numbers were preliminary and subject to verification. Sheriff Luna said the department was involving homicide/death-investigation resources to validate reported deaths and that numbers could change as ground searches and canine teams complete their work. Fire and law enforcement officials repeatedly cautioned that preliminary counts and other figures were fluid while response operations continued.

Planned board action and next steps: Chair Barger said she intended to introduce a motion, with Supervisor Lindsey Horvath as co-author, to ratify the county's emergency proclamation at the next Board of Supervisors meeting; that motion had not yet been presented or voted on at the press conference. Officials directed that more detailed damage assessments and recovery procedures would follow once immediate threats subside.

Officials urged residents to follow official evacuation orders and public-safety guidance and said updated information would be posted on county and city emergency sites. "This is a time of grief," Horvath said. "The strength and resilience of Los Angeles County is more than anything we are seeing on the ground."