Firefighters race to contain Los Angeles wildfires with menacing winds forecast to return

Fierce wildfires threaten LA landmarks as firefighters battle flames and residents face devastation and evacuations.

Firefighters raced Saturday (January 11, 2025) to cut off spreading wildfires before potentially strong winds returned, which could push the flames toward the world-famous J. Paul Getty Museum and the University of California, Los Angeles. Meanwhile, new evacuation warnings left more homeowners on edge.

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A fierce battle against the flames was underway in Mandeville Canyon, home to Arnold Schwarzenegger and other celebrities not far from the Pacific coast, where swooping helicopters dumped water as the blaze charged downhill. Firefighters on the ground used hoses in an attempt to beat back leaping flames as thick smoke blanketed the chaparral-covered hillside.

At a briefing, CalFire Operations Chief Christian Litz said a main focus Saturday would be the Palisades Fire burning in the canyon area, not far from the UCLA campus.

“We need to be aggressive out there,” Mr. Litz said.

County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath said the LA area "had another night of unimaginable terror and heartbreak, and even more Angelenos evacuated due to the northeast expansion of the Palisades Fire.”

Light breezes were fanning the flames, but the National Weather Service warned that strong Santa Ana winds — the nemesis of firefighters — could soon return. Those winds have been largely blamed for turning the wildfires into infernos that leveled entire neighborhoods around to city where there has been no significant rainfall in more than eight months.