Palisades Fire live updates: Wildfires spread in Los Angeles, prompting mandatory evacuations, as Santa Ana winds expected to intensify

[essentialsaltes]

Power lines over Eaton Canyon saw surge in current before fire, Edison says​

[This] also comes after one of the firms suing the company, Edelson PC, released a new video that appears to show flashes from the Southern California Edison tower, possible arcing and sparks, just moments before the hillside is ignited, and the fire begins to quickly spread across the canyon and toward homes.

Direct video link

Update time

L.A. County sues Southern California Edison over Eaton fire​

The lawsuit is the latest to allege that Edison’s equipment caused the blaze, which destroyed about 9,000 homes and killed 17 people, making it one of the most destructive wildfires in California history. Residents have filed more than 40 lawsuits against the utility, focusing on transmission towers where the first flames were spotted. The cities of Pasadena and Sierra Madre also plan to sue Edison, according to a county news release.

Former Fire Chief Kristin Crowley loses bid to get her job back, winning just two votes (of 15)​

The Los Angeles City Council rejected former Fire Chief Kristin Crowley’s bid to get her job back, despite fierce support for her from the firefighters’ union.

And finally, although this probably had no practical effect on the wildfires, it was not a good look for the FD.

LAFD did not alert DWP to more than 1,000 fire hydrants needing repair​

The Los Angeles Fire Department did not inform the city’s Department of Water and Power until mid-February [right after a local TV news investigation exposed the problem] that more than 1,000 fire hydrants needed repairs, despite being aware of the issues months before.

[I don't think it was ever strongly asserted, but there was a whiff of attempted under-the-bus throwing with the talk of hydrants that didn't work.]

In August, the DWP had received an annual report from the LAFD documenting the status of the city’s hydrants, but none were flagged as requiring repairs, according to Janisse Quiñones, DWP chief executive and general manager.

Since the Palisades fire, the DWP had repeatedly stated that it had no pending reports of damaged hydrants. Only on Feb. 14 — after the KCBS report — did the DWP receive a listing of damaged hydrants, Quiñones said.

[DWP has the task of maintaining the hydrants, but LAFD has the job of monitoring them... and telling the DWP.]

ETA: one more

Technology wasn’t responsible for west Altadena alert failures, company says​

The failure to send evacuation alerts to west Altadena in the early hours of the Eaton fire was not the result of a technological error, according to the company that provides L.A. County with emergency alert software. [I mean, they're motivated to say it wasn't their fault.]

All 17 deaths from the fire occurred west of Lake Avenue, which did not get evacuation alerts until nearly 3:30 a.m. — long after the fire tore through the neighborhood, The Times previously reported.

[Another error where most of LA County, including your humble narrator, received an alert meant for a localized area, may have been a software error. Company says they can't reproduce the error, but it looks like the authorities correctly used the polygon tool to draw the correct area to be alerted on the map, but somehow the polygon didn't get implemented.]

 

[essentialsaltes]

When Trump says "Release the waters!", the Army Corps of Engineers says "How high?"

"Maximum!"

Trump says he opened California’s water. Local officials say he nearly flooded them.​

The Army Corps of Engineers moved to release massive quantities of water in Central California, panicking local officials.

Army Corps knew Trump order would waste California water, memo shows​

The Army Corps colonel responsible for releasing reservoir water at Trump’s direction knew it wouldn’t reach Southern California as he promised, a memo obtained by The Post shows.

Col. Chad W. Caldwell, commander of the Army Corps’ Sacramento district, wrote that the water that poured out of Lake Kaweah and Success Lake “could not be delivered to Southern California directly.” To do so would have required several steps of coordination with state and federal agencies to transport the water to a rarely used connection point, and it quickly became clear that was impossible in such little time, according to the memo.

[A valid order is a valid order. The armed forces have to do what the Commander in Chief says.]

The release was done to satisfy Trump’s executive order, Caldwell wrote. And the colonel had also been asked to send photos of the water to Washington, according to an official familiar with the request who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. Trump posted a photo of water flowing from Lake Kaweah on X the next day.

For the farmers in the Central Valley, it was not irrigation season, and this was their precious summer supply.

Caldwell soon heard from elected officials and others in the Central Valley, including Republican Reps. Vince Fong and David G. Valadao, “to ask why the water was being released as it was typical to reserve as much water as possible for the summer growing season.”

[Yo, the President ordered me to.]

Asked about this issue, Fong said in a statement: “Having the President of the United States actively engaged in California’s water policy is critical to our efforts to modernize and improve California’s water storage and conveyance system.”

[Must not criticize Dear Leader.]

 

[essentialsaltes]

Power lines over Eaton Canyon saw surge in current before fire, Edison says​

Four Southern California Edison lines over Eaton Canyon saw a momentary increase of electrical current about the same time the destructive Eaton fire is believed to have ignited on Jan. 7, the utility company told state regulators in a filing Monday.

Edison towers in the Altadena fire zone had known ‘ignition risk’ and needed repairs, records show​

Whether the company was responsible for sparking the Jan. 7 blaze remains to be seen, but company records uncovered by The Times show for the first time that Edison knew some of its towers at and near the likely ignition point were fire hazards.

With evidence still being gathered — and dozens of lawsuits pending — the utility has maintained it did everything possible to prevent a wildfire.

But records the company filed with the state show towers on three lines now under suspicion were considered a potential “ignition risk” and long overdue for critical upkeep.

Edison data reviewed by The Times show that as of Dec. 31, the utility had 94 open work orders along the three lines ... for a range of tasks, including clearing vegetation that could potentially ignite, fixing damaged or broken insulators, replacing loose connectors and doing tower repairs. Nearly three dozen of the orders carried ignition risk, according to the data.

Two of the lines were still active, delivering power to the area until after the fire broke out. A third line, which a company official said was built about a century ago, had been decommissioned in 1971, meaning it hadn’t carried electricity to customers for decades.

The mystery of how an unused line may have triggered an inferno has puzzled some following the case, but experts said it’s possible given the circumstances. [They suggest electromagnetic induction between the parallel used and unused lines.]

 

[essentialsaltes]

interesting 'from the ashes' update.

Santa Monica offices get unexpected tenants: Children from five fire-ravaged schools​

• Five schools displaced by the Palisades fire have — or will soon — reopen in Santa Monica. In all, they are taking more than 200,000 square feet of office space.
• The schools are an unexpected boost for an office leasing market that is still struggling from the aftereffects of the COVID-19 pandemic, which emptied buildings.

“It wasn’t on my bingo card this year to be doing school leases, but here I am — and you roll with the times,” said Alex Cameron, Los Angeles regional director at BXP, a commercial real estate company that has welcomed Village School and Seven Arrows Elementary School to two of its Santa Monica properties.

If there has been emblem of the market’s weakness, it is the long-vacant former Sears building near the Third Street Promenade. Soon, though, it will teem with teens: Palisades Charter High School is expected to reopen there in late April.

[In 2017] The developer ... launched a $50-million makeover of the property, built in 1947 and designated a historic landmark in Santa Monica, to turn it into a destination office project supported by restaurants or stores. [It was completed in time for the pandemic to empty out office spaces, and it's been vacant now for 10 years.]

The former Sears site spans more than 100,000 square feet and includes a sizable parking lot, making it the rare property that could accommodate Pali High’s large student body, which school leaders were intent on keeping together. The bulk of the money is coming from Pali High’s insurance policies and is required to be spent on its relocation, Magee said. “This is a ‘use it or lose it’ situation,” she added.

..

“It could best be described as a collective triumph,” said John Evans, head of Village School, which relocated its roughly 250 students to Colorado Center.

He said other tenants at Colorado Center — companies with space there include Hulu and Roku — have offered to help with the transition. “They’re [asking], ‘What can we do for your graduation? Would the kids like to have a career day over here?’ ” Evans said. “It’s just been overwhelming.”

 

[essentialsaltes]

Edison towers in the Altadena fire zone had known ‘ignition risk’ and needed repairs, records show​

Two of the lines were still active, delivering power to the area until after the fire broke out. A third line, which a company official said was built about a century ago, had been decommissioned in 1971, meaning it hadn’t carried electricity to customers for decades. The mystery of how an unused line may have triggered an inferno has puzzled some following the case, but experts said it’s possible given the circumstances.

Just weeks after the deadly Eaton fire ignited near three Southern California Edison transmission towers, the utility quietly changed an internal policy on how crews should ground idle electrical pylons.

The change attracted little attention at the time — due mostly to the fact that early suspicion about the cause of the blaze focused on two active transmission towers in Eaton Canyon.

But in recent weeks, speculation about the origin of the fire has shifted to a third idle transmission tower that had been unused for more than five decades.

Despite these revelations, Southern California Edison — and the state commission tasked with regulating utilities — have refused to disclose what changes Edison made to how it grounds idle transmission towers, or what prompted the company to make the change days after its crews were allowed to inspect the hillside where the blaze erupted.

 

[essentialsaltes]

I am desolated to report that many firearms perished in the blaze.

500 firearms are recovered from Palisades fire zone. LAPD wants to reunite them with their owners​

The guns are difficult to identify due to the fire damage, police said, but the LAPD’s Gun Recovery Unit wants to give their owners the chance to claim them.

“We recognize that these firearms may hold significant sentimental value to their owners, whether as family heirlooms, historical pieces or personal mementos, and we are doing our best to reunite them with their owners.”

 

[durangodawood]

I cant believe people would be so heartless as to leave their guns behind to perish like that.

 

[essentialsaltes]

FEMA doubles down on its decision to not test soil as part of wildfire cleanup​

Follow-up soil testing — conducted after every major wildfire in California since 2007 — is intended to ensure that properties are remediated to state standards and don’t still contain dangerous levels of toxic substances.

When FEMA failed to test soil for toxic substances after the L.A. fires, The Times had it done. The results were alarming​

Without this long-established precautionary measure, tens of thousands of wildfire survivors are poised to rebuild and eventually return home, not knowing if unhealthy levels of heavy metals are hidden in the soil on their properties. That leaves homeowners with a daunting choice: Pay for testing and potentially additional soil removal themselves, or live with the possibility of lingering contamination.

The Los Angeles Times set out to answer that question by launching its own soil-testing initiative, modeled after the state’s sampling methodology used in previous wildfires. Journalists fanned out across Altadena and Pacific Palisades to obtain soil samples from 20 properties cleared by federal cleanup crews and 20 homes that survived; the samples were transported to a state-certified laboratory where they were tested for 17 toxic metals.

Two of the ten Army Corps-remediated homesites in Altadena still had toxic heavy metals in excess of California standards for residential properties — including one where lead levels were more than three times higher than the state benchmark. The findings are the first evidence that — by skipping comprehensive soil sampling — federal contractors are leaving toxic contamination behind.

Testing also revealed elevated levels of arsenic, lead and mercury in the yards of three homes that survived the Eaton fire — although these homeowners did not have the benefit of a federal cleanup.

Historic communities, like Altadena, are particularly susceptible to poisonous fallout, due to aging housing stock that still carries the legacy of lead paint and other toxic building materials.

Ninety-six percent of properties destroyed by the Eaton [Altadena] fire — more than 5,300 in total — were built before lead paint was banned in 1978

L.A. County and the city have each issued several rebuilding permits, with no soil testing requirement. Hundreds more applications are awaiting review.

[LA County is doing some testing, but more for its own information on the general size of the problem, rather than testing for individual homesites.]