Good morning. It’s Monday, Jan. 13.
- Another round of wind threatens to fan L.A. flames.
- Rents skyrocket as fire victims search for homes.
- And Mark Zuckerberg calls for more “masculine energy.”
Los Angeles on fire
1.
Firefighters made progress on their sixth day of battle against wildfires in Los Angeles, keeping the Palisades blaze in check while gaining significant ground against the Eaton fire. As of Sunday, the fires had claimed at least 24 lives and burned more than 12,000 structures, officials said. The respite may be brief, however, as forecasts called for another round of Santa Ana winds that would deliver dry hot gusts of up to 80 mph between Monday and Wednesday. “The current outlook suggests little if any relief for the foreseeable future,” wrote climatologist Daniel Swain. Weather West | L.A. Times | LAist
2.
Analyses of photo and radio evidence suggested that the Palisades fire may have grown last Tuesday from the rekindled embers of a fire that began on New Year’s Eve, six days earlier. “The foot of the fire started real close to where the last fire was on New Year’s Eve,” a firefighter said in one radio transmission. The origins of both fires, according to government reports and neighbors’ observations, were on the same brushy hillside. S.F. Chronicle | Washington Post
- Investigators looking for the cause of the Eaton fire, which ravaged Altadena, have focused their attention on an electrical transmission tower in Eaton Canyon. L.A. Times
3.
Many people imagine fire spreading like a tsunami — a wall of flames that washes over a landscape. But ignitions tend to be triggered by showers of wind-driven embers, some flying miles ahead of the established fire. This misconception has led some to underestimate the efficacy of certain prevention strategies, such as fire-resistant siding and neighborhood brush clearing. The bottom line, fire experts told the Los Angeles Times, is that we have more control over fire disasters than we think. L.A. Times
4.
Altadena, nestled in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, is home to a community more varied than the wealthy enclave of Pacific Palisades. It once drew Black residents seeking refuge from redlining. Artists and writers followed. Altadena became a place with soul: full-moon parties, neighbors who check in on one another, a famous Christmas tree display. After the Eaton fire cut a terrible swath through town, it’s become a modern-day hellscape. Demmi Choo, who lost her home, fought back tears as she asked a question on many minds: “Will things ever be the same?” S.F. Chronicle | L.A. Times
- Altadena’s devastation, in photos. 👉 The Atlantic
5.
A review of rental listings in West Los Angeles found huge price hikes since the outbreak of the firestorm. On Saturday, a reporter asked a listing agent to explain the 86% price hike on a furnished home listed in Bel Air. “People are desperate,” the agent said before ending the call. California’s price-gouging law prohibits landlords from charging more than 10% above what they normally would after a disaster. State Attorney General Rob Bonta urged Californians to report suspected violations. “We’ll take it from there,” he said. LAist | N.Y. Times
6.
A sampling of commentary on the wildfires:
- Ross Andersen in the Atlantic: “A message is once again flashing down from L.A.’s sky, but this time, it is one that the whole world must see. This time, it will take more than a few local law changes to clear it away.”
- Patti Davis in the New York Times: “I’m still heartbroken, but I want us to be angry. Not a destructive anger, a righteous anger. I want us to stand up for an Earth that was created with perfect balance, with beauty and mystery and a divine artistry.”
- Tom McClintock in the Wall Street Journal: “Environmental leftists promised that laws such as the National Environmental Policy Act, the Wilderness Act and the Endangered Species Act would protect and improve the environment. Fifty years later we’re entitled to ask: How’s it going?”
- Colm Tóibín in the London Review of Books: “The sun began to go down. It was a livid red with a sickly fog all around it. It stayed just over the horizon for longer than necessary, showing off. We drove up to the hill to look at it.”
- James Rainey in the Los Angeles Times: “When I walked away from the old house Thursday morning, I finally had a good little cry. Not for the tired old place that had seen better days. But mostly for my parents, who had worked so hard for so many years to create a refuge from the hurly-burly of the outside world.”
7.
When reporter David Siders asked his neighbors where they placed blame for the disaster, few mentioned climate change:
“It was the wind, they said … picking through the rubble of their flattened homes, or hugging their neighbors in the middle of streets filled with sooty air. It was God, or population growth, or the way that Californians tucked their homes into the foothills. It was a lack of investment in infrastructure, or the fire hydrants that ran dry.” Politico Magazine
8.
The politicization of Los Angeles’ tragedy intensified over the weekend as several prominent Republicans, whose party is poised to soon be in charge of the federal response, echoed earlier threats by President-elect Donald Trump to tie disaster relief to policy changes. Wyoming Senator John Barrasso told CBS News he expected there to be “strings attached.” Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland told Newsmax that Los Angeles “mishandled the fire department so egregiously” that it should help pay to rebuild. Salon | Daily Beast
- On Friday, Gov. Gavin Newsom invited the incoming president to come to Los Angeles and meet with fire victims. “He’s the president-elect. I respect the office,” he said. Washington Post | Politico
9.
As local and state firefighters battled the Palisades fire, teams of private firefighters riding in white pickup trucks were also on the scene, keeping watch on individual homes. Among their clients: Rick Caruso, the billionaire developer who ran for Los Angeles mayor in 2022. His hired firefighters helped save Caruso’s development, Palisades Village, which now stands near ruins only a few steps away. Amid so much destruction, the role of private firefighters has some people asking whether additional resources might have saved more homes. N.Y. Times | L.A. Times
10.
Other wildfire developments:
- The Los Angeles Conservancy said that 32 properties it considered historic because of their architectural or cultural significance were consumed by the fires. “It is a mass erasure of heritage,” said Adrian Scott Fine, chief executive of the Conservancy. L.A. Times
- A reservoir in Pacific Palisades was closed for repairs when the wildfire erupted Tuesday. Newsom ordered an investigation, calling it “deeply troubling.” L.A. Times | NBC News
- A joyful surfer who tried to defend his home with a garden hose, an 85-year-old woman who didn’t want to leave her pets, and another woman who refused to evacuate, telling family, “It’s in God’s hands.” Here are the fire victims. 👉 L.A. Times | CNN | N.Y. Times
- While most of the homes in Neil Desai’s neighborhood in Pacific Palisades were destroyed, his was spared. Desai, 60, saved it and others by pumping water from his swimming pool with a generator. S.F. Chronicle
- While running for mayor of Los Angeles in 2021, Karen Bass told the New York Times that if elected she would cut back on her world travel and focus on the city. “That pledge has been spectacularly broken,” the Times wrote.
- Newsom signed an executive order on Sunday that suspended environmental laws for wildfire victims seeking to rebuild their homes. The permits and reviews are widely considered onerous. L.A. Times
Statewide
11.
Hundreds of people gathered on Sunday in Fresno to protest an immigration crackdown last week, dubbed “Return to Sender,” that resulted in 78 arrests in the Central Valley. Local lawmakers said their offices had been inundated with calls about fears among the region’s immigrant workforce. Employers said workers failed to show up for work. Some parents said they were planning to keep their kids home from school this week, said Fresno County Supervisor Luis Chavez. “The fear that exists now is 100% real.” Fresno Bee | CalMatters
12.
Most of Meta’s 72,000 employees learned of Mark Zuckerberg’s plans to overhaul the company’s approach to online speech along with the rest of the world. His latest change came Friday, when Meta told workers it would no longer work on diversity, equity, and inclusion. In an appearance on Joe Rogan’s podcast the same day, Zuckerberg lamented the rise of “culturally neutered” companies that lack “masculine energy.” The reaction inside Meta has been sharply divided. N.Y. Times
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