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The Eton and Palisades fires brought unprecedented death and destruction to Los Angeles. However, the damage caused by these fires was far from uniforms.
Some areas were spared and others were devastated. In many cases, the house stayed on blocks where others were levelled.
He said the uneven distribution of fire effects came down to several factors including topography, fire resources, home construction and mere luck.
The Altadena Public Library is located a few blocks west of North Lake Avenue, but remains closed. The library and surrounding areas are examples of the changing Altadena landscape. Dozens of homes have been destroyed, but many appear to have minimal damage.
The image below shows the area on January 6th (left) (the day before the Eton fire began).
The image shows pockets that are unaffected by the neighbours among dozens of destroyed homes. The iconic street just east of the library, Christmas Tree Lane was largely left intact, but the fire cut wide east, north and west.
“They’re pretty sweet green,” said Christian Mace, a biologist in the Los Angeles County Parks and Recreation Natural Areas, about the cedar trees in Christmas Tree Lane in January. “It made me think they were often estranged and that’s probably one of the factors that saved them.”
“They were not brittle when they dried. If you look at the bark of the cedar, they’re thick and slightly fire-resistant,” he said. “I don’t know any other way to explain their resilience.”
The neighborhood was one of the west of North Lake Avenue, where it did not receive evacuation warnings or orders until around 3:30am on January 8th.
Noeseth Elementary School was located near the Pinecrest Gate in northeastern Altadena. Radio records reviewed by The Times show that the fire was reported as early as 9:30pm on January 7th.
The neighborhood had received an evacuation order at 7:26pm, but West Altadena waited another eight hours.
The image below shows the areas around Noese Elementary School on January 6th (left) and January 14th (right).
The school, and many of our West neighbors, were destroyed. To the southeast, many houses stood in the direction of the fire beginning. The pool has changed from blue to black.
Experts told The Times that the fire started in the mountains, but quickly spread from house to house as the wind propels embers well beyond the line of fire. The house can set fire to people around it and lead to pockets of destruction.
About 35 miles away in the Pacific Palisade, a story unfolds in the same way as an uncontrolled, wind-driven flame tore through urban areas.
The summit, the luxury hilltop district of Santayne’s Canyon, is located just west of the Palisade Fire’s departure point. The area faced chaotic evacuation and several exit routes were blocked by traffic as a fire broke out on the morning of January 7th.
Still, many of the neighborhoods survived relatively unharmed. The photo below shows the summit on October 24th (left) and the summit on January 14th (right).
The damage inflicted on the area around the summit was significantly less than that found in the more densely developed regions of the Pacific column below the mountain.
After the firefighters moved, Nick Libonati at the summit continues to fight the fire and breaks into his home. Libonati was the first to report a fire in Pallisad.
He and his friends spent Wednesday night – the second night of the Pallisard Fire – at the scene where the fire was first reported. They used the pool water to put out hot spots.
“I think last night we saved my culmination,” he said. “Everything across the street – it’s gone. Torch. It’s completely crumbling.”
In Malibu’s large rocky neighborhoods, almost every beachfront home has been flattened by a Palisade fire. Just on the hill, about half of the house was still standing.
Counterintuitively, the houses near the water were attacked more violently than the neighboring houses on the arid hillside. Even on the waterfront, where some homes remained pockets, devastation appeared to have been caused by mass.
On the hillside, the house seemed randomly almost flat. The result was an unpredictable grid of destruction.
Bill Strange, a resident of Malibu, told The Times. They can build those big ol’ houses and do whatever they want. But they can never tame Malibu. We found out we are all tenants who are just here. ”
Times staff writers Janet Martos, Noah Goldberg and James Rainey contributed to this report.
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