Topline:
Containment of the Eaton Fire has risen to 89% as firefighter take advantage of a slight break from Santa Ana wind conditions. Meanwhile, the death toll attributed to the fire has risen to 17, according to the L.A. County medical examiner.
What we know so far: According to authorities, the fire started near Altadena Drive and Midwick Drive, and quickly grew. The cause is under investigation.
Keep reading... for more on evacuations, damage and fire conditions.
This is a developing story and will be updated. For the most up-to-date information about the fire you can check:
Containment of the Eaton Fire has risen to 89% as firefighter take advantage of a slight break from Santa Ana wind conditions. Meanwhile, the death toll attributed to the fire has risen to 17, according to the L.A. County medical examiner.
As of Thursday morning, sheriff's officials said in areas they patrol they are still investigating 24 missing person reports related to the fire.
Pasadena also declared a public health emergency, banning the use of power air blowers, including leaf blowers, until further notice because the devices stir up ash and particulate matter, worsening air quality.
As of Tuesday, 14,021 acres have burned. Meanwhile, officials are mapping where homes and businesses have been lost. About 9,400 structures have been destroyed, more than 1,000 damaged.
L.A. County's medical examiner has confirmed 17 deaths in the Eaton Fire, all at addresses in Altadena.
The fire sparked Jan. 7 in Eaton Canyon and quickly spread out of control — making it one of the deadliest fires in state history. The wildfire has injured many others, including five firefighters, and destroyed whole neighborhoods.
L.A. County Sheriff Robert Luna said Monday morning that 17 people have been reported missing. That number could change as more people were encouraged to make reports this weekend. Sheriff's deputies now have grid searches of the area underway, going door to door to determine damage and search for additional victims.
"It looks like a war zone. I’ve never seen anything like it," L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger said of the Altadena burn area.
The L.A. County Fire Department has confirmed more than 9,600 structures have been damaged or destroyed, but that number could go up or down as mapping continues.
At one point earlier this week, flames reached Mt. Wilson — which houses many antennas for broadcasters throughout the region, including LAist 89.3. Officials said Friday that no structures had been damaged or destroyed there.
A curfew is in place from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. for evacuation zones. Sheriff's deputies are patrolling those areas.
We know that Southern California Edison is concerned that its transmission lines may be blamed for starting the Eaton Fire. Lawyers representing insurance companies have already asked the utility to preserve evidence related to the fire, according to a filing with the California Public Utilities Commission.
And Pasadena Now interviewed a couple who took photos of a fire breaking out beneath an SCE transmission line near Eaton Canyon.
SoCal Edison has already done its own preliminary investigation and says it did not cause the fire. The company says it de-energized its power lines in the area "well before the reported start time of the fire," according to a press release. And the company told the CPUC that it detected "no interruptions or electrical or operational anomalies" on its transmission lines in the 12 hours before the Eaton Fire began.
Multiple lawsuits have already been filed against the company.
Some parts of Pasadena are still being warned to not drink tap water or use it in cooking. You can check if your address is impacted here. All other areas are safe.
The city warns that boiling, freezing, filtering or treating tap water in any way would not make it any safer. Instead, bottled water should be used for all drinking — including baby formula and juice, teeth brushing, dish washing, making ice, and for any food preparation.
The tap water advisory also applies to pets.
Pasadena and Altadena residents can pick up bottled water from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday at 450 North Lake Ave.
The city of Glendale, which had some parts under evacuation orders earlier this week, said their water was safe to drink as their water facilities are covered.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with those who have lost their homes and even their lives,” said Gordo, Pasadena's mayor. “We have experienced a tremendous tragedy.”
“This is an opportunity for us as a community, as a people, to band together to work to support one another,” he said.
Here are just some of the known losses:
Schools: Five schools in the Pasadena Unified School District suffered substantial damage, according to Superintendent Elizabeth Blanco. Eighty percent of Franklin Elementary burned, she said.
Nature Center: The Los Angeles County Parks Department issued a statement saying staff was “unable to activate our evacuation plan for the reptiles and valuable items at Eaton Canyon Nature Center.”
“We are devastated by the overwhelming impacts of these fires. Sadly, our beloved Eaton Canyon Nature Center, Farnsworth Park — Davies Community Center — on the National Historic Register, and the Altadena Golf Course Club House and adjacent buildings were destroyed in the Eaton fire. Currently, Charles White and Loma Alta parks in Altadena have fire damage,” according to the statement.
Pasadena City Manager Miguel Márquez promised this week that the city will rebuild.
“In this community we may get knocked down but we always get up,” he said. “We will heal.”
President Joe Biden approved a Presidential Major Emergency Declaration on Wednesday to support the response to the wildfires. He said on social media that he’s directed the Department of Defense to provide additional personnel, and 10 Navy helicopters with water buckets are on the way.
“To the residents of Southern California: We are with you,” Biden wrote on X.
Evacuation orders and warnings are changing fast, so check out the most up to date, interactive map here.
Residents are able to reenter some communities as of 3 p.m. Monday, including parts of Kinneloa Mesa. Officials warned that this process will take time, as all agencies have to be on board before an area is opened back up.
The city of Pasadena said on social media that it's receiving requests to check on family and friends who’ve been evacuated. You can call the Pasadena Police non-emergency line at 626-744-4241 — but only after you’ve tried to reach them in other ways.
You can also contact the Red Cross at 800-675-5799 or fill out an inquiry form.
Supervisor Kathryn Barger warned looters to stay out of the evacuation area. “To those who want to loot, the full weight of the county will come down on you,” she said.
Large animals:
Small animals:
Note: The Pasadena Humane Society said they had received more than 250 pets to shelter and said they were at near-capacity. It's also been collecting small animals who have to be sheltered elsewhere.
The organization said Thursday evening that it's received an "overwhelming" number of supplies, but now they need monetary donations most.
Pasadena Unified School District will be closed until at least January 17, Superintendent Elizabeth Blanco said in a statement Friday.
Most other districts in the area have also been shut down for days, due to a combination of bad air quality and a lack of staffing, as district employees themselves evacuate.
You can find a full list of school closures here.
Road closures are changing constantly, but Los Angeles County Public Works maintains an ongoing map: Here are all the road closures.
The Rose Bowl Stadium is currently being used by fire and police departments and other regional agencies for emergency response efforts, according to the city of Pasadena
All donations should be dropped off at:
Santa Anita Mall
400 S. Baldwin Ave, Arcadia
South Side, Lot B
Patricia Gerpheide evacuated from the Monte Cedric retirement community in Altadena early Wednesday morning with 200 other people.
She said when she woke up at 4 a.m. on Wednesday, the wind was blowing "dramatically hard" and she knew there would be problems.
"I looked out my window and across the street, there were two small fires burning and I thought it's so covered with smoke that no one will find them, so I thought I better get ready," she said. "By the time I had my things packed and ready to walk out the door, which was very quick, I looked out again and there were fires all over the place."
Michelle Zvonec, who lives in Sierra Madre, said the evacuation orders came quickly. She managed to take with her things of sentimental value, but said she didn't get as much clothes or even a jacket.
"I packed like I was going to go to a hotel room and come back and get more stuff tomorrow," she said. "It was really weird."
Part of Katie Fulford’s home was destroyed while her neighbors “lost everything.” She’s lived near West Grandview and Auburn Avenue for about a decade, but said she hasn’t been through a wildfire like this before.
“ That was my art studio, that was just about finished, and all my art for years and years and years is now pretty much gone,” she said. “ We all survived, that's the important part. I'll remind myself that when I'm feeling all the sadness.”
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If you have to evacuate
If you have more time:
Things to consider
Navigating fire conditions
How to help yourself and others
Understanding how it got this bad
Topline:
Fat Marmot Week, the brainchild of UCLA researchers, is happening next week to highlight one of the longest ongoing animal studies amid federal funding cuts.
What it is: Eight competitors will face off — five females and three males — and there’ll also be a “true” winner who’s announced at the end based on the lab’s observations on which marmot gained the most weight this spring and summer.
Where the idea came from: UCLA’s Dan Blumstein had the idea for Fat Marmot Week ever since Fat Bear Week went viral – but it took two of his graduate researchers, Katie Adler and Emily Renkey, to organize it this year and see it into fruition.
About the marmots: Their names range from Dawn, who is reportedly a “a very special boy who enjoys the taste of rocks,” to a “proud mama” named 1 and a “girl boss” with no mate named Open Kite.
When to vote: The first round of voting will be Monday, Aug. 24, followed by the semifinals on Wednesday, Aug. 26 and the final showdown on Friday Aug. 28. Voting runs from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. PDT.
Read on... to learn lots of fun marmot facts.
The Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory may run the second-longest study of individually identifiable mammals in the world, but they’re not afraid of trying something new.
The lab is launching a bracket-style competition, Fat Marmot Week, for people all over the world to vote for their favorite chunky ground squirrel.
The UCLA researchers who work there have faced a loss of federal funding in recent years, so they’re now pursuing creative fundraising efforts, including a (G-rated) OnlyFans account for marmot content called OnlyMarms and a meme coin created by supporters of the project.
Dan Blumstein, a UCLA ecology and evolutionary biology professor who came up with OnlyMarms, said he’s wanted to do a Fat Marmot Week ever since the success of Fat Bear Week, in which the public votes on grizzly bears bulking up for the winter in Alaska. But it took two of his graduate researchers, Katie Adler and Emily Renkey, along with another volunteer who helps with logistics, to see it to fruition.
“ Science isn't just writing the papers, it's also the communication side of things,” said Adler, who’s also the lab’s field team leader.
Like bears, marmots prepare for the winter by fattening up, with some more than doubling in weight from about 5.5 pounds to as much as 13. But unlike bears, marmots are true hibernators. For months, their body temperature drops very low, and they breathe and have a heartbeat about once a minute. (Blumstein described a hibernating marmot as “sort of a fuzzy stone.”)
Adler, who's on her third year of marmot field observations, said the individual marmots are consistent enough that she can "see what they're doing a little bit and then know exactly who it is."
“I think it’s fun to think of this from an outside perspective – why do we like marmots and how can we share that with other people?” Renkey said.
LAist asked the UCLA researchers about their favorite marmot trivia. Here’s what they said:
The marmots are all given names to help tell them apart based on markings the researchers dye on their fur.
Their names range from Dawn, who is reportedly a “a very special boy who enjoys the taste of rocks,” to a “proud mama” named 1 and a “girl boss” with no mate named Open Kite.
“Our parties are quite boring to other people because all we do is talk about the marmots,” Blumstein said. “It's a soap opera.”
Faced with federal funding cuts, Blumstein realized he had to get creative, starting with the OnlyMarms account.
But he said he wasn’t expecting the “extraordinary” response – the $OnlyMarms meme coin has made more than $100,000 in transaction fees, though it’s still short of the $225,000 to $300,000 they need to fundraise to bring in more graduate student research.
Blumstein said while all funding is welcome, including the OnlyMarms subscriptions, it’s much easier for them to accept direct donations for tax purposes. The money will go to support researchers like Renkey and Adler’s contributions to the nearly 65 years of marmot research at the lab.
Eight competitors will face off — five females and three males. There’ll also be a “true” winner announced at the end based on the lab’s measurements on which marmot gained the most weight this spring and summer.
The first round of voting will be Monday, Aug. 24, followed by the semifinals on Wednesday, Aug. 26, and the final showdown on Friday, Aug. 28. Voting runs from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. PDT.
“Everyone should vote. It's very exciting,” Renkey said. “They're huge this summer.”
Topline:
The younger bald eagle that Shadow has been seen hanging out with in Big Bear’s famous nest lately has a new name.
Why now: The bird, which is believed to be a female, is banded as KD1. Friends of Big Bear Valley, the nonprofit that runs the popular YouTube livestream, has dubbed her Kaydee.
Why it matters: “This is kind of the banders dream, right? You put bands on a bird so that you can possibly get … a one-off observation of where it is at some point in its life, and we're getting way, way more than that,” Jenna Carpenter, a field biologist and environmental specialist with the Orange County Water District, told LAist.
Go deeper: Will Shadow stay in Big Bear without Jackie? What’s next for the famous nest
The younger bald eagle that Shadow has been seen hanging out with around Big Bear’s famous nest lately has a new name.
The bird, which is believed to be a female, is banded as KD1. Friends of Big Bear Valley, the nonprofit that runs the popular YouTube livestream, has dubbed her Kaydee.
The organization generally doesn’t name visiting eagles, but Kaydee is sticking around so far and could become a new online star after Shadow’s long-time mate Jackie died last week.
One expert told LAist that Kaydee is more than 4 years old and was probably wandering much further than Big Bear before it was spotted on camera.
“This is kind of the banders dream, right? You put bands on a bird so that you can possibly get … a one-off observation of where it is at some point in its life, and we're getting way, way more than that,” said Jenna Carpenter, a field biologist and environmental specialist with the Orange County Water District.
“In this instance, we're getting 24/7 views and people are so tuned into it that they're keeping really good track of where KD1 is, and it's really awesome.”
Kaydee was first recorded on the livestream cameras in the Big Bear habitat on Aug. 6 — a few days before Jackie died — according to Friends of Big Bear Valley.
The nonprofit said the eagle started to perch by Shadow in several trees, which it has continued to do in the weeks since. The group recently referred to Kaydee as Shadow’s “shadow.”
Kaydee is from the Prado Basin area, where its parents Ricky and Lucy nest nearby. Carpenter said Ricky and Lucy have raised around a dozen eaglets since 2021, when they first started setting up shop in the area.
The eagle wears two bracelet-like bands on its legs, including a lavender-colored one, which can be used to track Kaydee in different areas.
“If someone sees [the color band] with a scope or binoculars or a zoom camera, it can be reported and put into a research database, which adds to the opportunity to progress conservation for raptors and eagles,” Carpenter said.
You can learn more about reporting a bird with a federal band or color marker here.
Kaydee is what's known as a subadult eagle, a stage in which Carpenter said raptors are still trying to figure out what they want to do and where they want to be.
“Big Bear’s a nice habitat, obviously they've been visiting this nest, you know, there's some interest there whatever it may be,” she said. “So it's possible that they stick around and find a mate, whether that be Shadow or another adult eagle.”
But it’s also possible Kaydee moves onto another habitat after the off-season. Whatever happens, Carpenter said us humans get to go along for the ride through the livestream, which she described as a privilege.
“We get this chance to witness something that we would not normally get to witness, because we know exactly who this bird is and we happen to have cameras in the area,” she said. “It might be everything and it might be nothing, and either way, I think that's really exciting that we get to have a little peek into this world.”
Topline: Taqueria Tijuanero — a Tijuana, Mexico, taco chain — has made it a lot easier in recent years for Californians to try their food, with a locations in San Diego and East L.A. You’ll find tacos, vampiros and burritos. We talked to one of the family members behind the popular taco chain.
Restaurant details: The Esquivel family opened their first brick-and-mortar at Playas de Tijuana in 2011. The family has been in the process of opening its third SoCal location, which will be in Echo Park.
Taqueando After Dark: Taqueria Tijuanero will be one of multiple vendors involved in Taqueando After Dark, an event that’ll have multiple Northern Mexico vendors/restaurants, happening in DTLA on Aug. 27 and 28.
Read more: LA taqueros meet Baja’s best for two-night DTLA taco festival
The Esquivel family opened their first taqueria at Playas de Tijuana 15 years ago, with a focus on individually crafted tacos, each with its own pairing of salsa.
Since then, Taqueria Tijuanero — formerly Tijuanazo — has become an increasingly popular SoCal taco chain.
Owner Aria Esquivel sat down with AirTalk Friday host Austin Cross to talk about how it all started from a humble Tijuana brick-and-mortar and how they stay true to their distinct North Mexican menu.
Esquivel’s father and mastermind behind Taqueria Tijuanero, Antonio Esquivel, began working in kitchens when he was 16 years old, working his way up from dishwasher to cook at French restaurants in Beverly Hills.
“What he really loved about the taco and the art of the taco in Tijuana is how these ingredients mesh so well together,” Esquivel said.
That’s when the family opened up their own restaurant in Playas de Tijuana in 2011.
Because of Mexico’s diverse landscape of crops, history and even weather patterns, taco styles can actually vary quite a bit depending on where you are in the country.
“ The tacos in Mexico City are different," Esquivel said. "The tacos in Sonora are different. The Tijuana tacos are different."
Bill Esparza, the James Beard Award-winning food writer who's spent the last two decades chronicling L.A.'s taco scene, helped curate Taqueando After Dark, a new food festival that will feature eight L.A. taco vendors, including Taqueria Tijuanero.
“When I see theirs, I see what I see in Mexico,” Esparza said of Taqueria Tijuanero’s tacos, adding, “It’s a taco that really has a lot of intentionality behind it.”
Location: Level 8, inside the Moxy Hotel — 1254 S Figueroa St., 8th Floor
Dates: Thursday, Aug. 27 and Friday, Aug. 28, 6 p.m.– late
Cost: $40–$135 (each ticket valid for one night only; general admission includes 5–6 bites)
Add-ons: Early chef access, all-you-can-drink package, $35 guided tequila tasting
Tickets: eventbrite.com
Read more: LA taqueros meet Baja’s best for two-night DTLA taco festival
Topline:
More than 6 million tickets have been sold for the L.A. Olympics, according to organizer LA28.
Why now: The second ticket drop closed yesterday — it was the last chance regular folks could buy Olympic tickets this year.
What’s next: Ticket sales will reopen to the public next year on a first-come, first-served basis. Unlike this year’s ticket drops, there will be no cap on the number of tickets people can buy for more sports.
