The Brief

Topanga Canyon’s nightmare fire scenario begins in the middle of the night when everyone’s asleep at home.

As blustery Santa Ana winds blow in from the east, a spark from a powerline or a passing car drops onto dry brush, starting a fire along the edge of the San Fernando Valley. As the flames grow, emergency services send out alerts, waking up thousands of residents throughout the area, telling some to shelter in place and others to leave.

It’s an increasingly likely situation as our vegetation dries out and winds pick up, according to Drew Smith, fire behavior analyst with L.A. County Fire.

“I would not be surprised,” Smith told me as we stood atop a helipad looking across the Transverse Ranges. “We are training for that.”

Emergency plans divide the area in and near Topanga Canyon into 10 evacuation zones.

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Courtesy Topanga Coalition for Emergency Preparedness

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With only a few arteries in and out of the canyon, Smith warns that a fast-moving wildfire could trap people on the canyon’s narrow roads, consuming everything in its path.

In a worst-case scenario, the fire explodes into a devastating tragedy akin to the 2018 Camp Fire in Butte County, which destroyed the town of Paradise, trapping people trying to escape. At least 85 people were killed.

“That’s one thing that keeps me up at night,” he said. “That worst-case scenario fire with our residents at home with limited options. It’s terrifying.”

Preparing for the worst-case scenario

A hilltop near the Eagle Rock fire road burns in Topanga Canyon State Park from the Palisades Fire on May 15, 2021 in Topanga, California.

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Brian Feinzimer for LAist

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It’s difficult to emphasize just how dangerous wind driven fires can be, especially where we were standing, near the top of Stunt Road, above Calabasas.

Looking out across the Santa Monica Mountains, you can see small communities tucked in between dense chaparral that hasn’t burned in 30 plus years. Meaning, there’s a whole lot energy ready to fuel fires that roll through.

If the Santa Ana winds are blowing, strong gusts can throw embers more than a mile ahead of a fire front, starting up spot fires all over.

And because of the steep and rocky terrain, firefighting hand crews and bulldozers might struggle to dig fire lines meant to help contain the fire.

Even with water drops from helicopters, containing a fire in nightmarish fall conditions can be all but impossible.

“We know that fire history tells us on a high risk day, if we don’t suppress a fire within the first 10 minutes, it has a high probability of extending to the Pacific,” Smith said.

Drew Smith is a fire behavior analyst with the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

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Jacob Margolis

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LAist

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Smith estimates that it'd take one of these worst case scenario fires about four hours to sweep westward, from the San Fernando Valley to the Pacific Ocean, destroying communities along the way. Just as we saw during the Woolsey Fire in 2018, which made its way 17 miles across L.A. to Malibu in less than 24 hours, destroying 1,600 structures and killing killing three.

"Don't get lured into a false sense of security because we've had a very passive fire season in Los Angeles County," said Smith. "Under the right conditions, we have a high potential for a devastating fire in the Santa Monica Mountains that hasn't seen fire frequency in 25 years."

Topanga isn't the sole community at risk, the threat really applies to those throughout the Santa Monicas.

A key staging area: 69 Bravo

The helipad Smith and I were standing on is called 69 Bravo, and it’ll likely be one of the most important staging areas for firefighters when one of these fires does break out.

It sits at about 2,600 feet above sea level, offering views of Newhall Pass on one side and the Pacific on the other. Below the pads are four 8,000 gallon water tanks that automatically refill, there to be drawn on by helicopters and fire trucks that are working to head off flames on their run to the ocean.

The 69 Bravo helipad sits at about 2,600 feet in the Santa Monica Mountains. It offers views of the Transverse Ranges, the San Fernando Valley and the Pacific Ocean. A critical spot for firefighters battling flames nearby.

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Jacob Margolis

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LAist

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The four, 8,000 gallon tanks at 69 Bravo have open tops so that firetrucks and helicopters can draw directly from them. They automatically refill.

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Jacob Margolis

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LAist

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You can see a live view here.

How do you know if conditions are ripe for an extreme fire?

It’s quite likely that many fires will be started – all by people – in the coming months. Though, each won’t become a Woolsey level event.

So how do you know if you should be worried?

Smith laid out some of the key conditions he looks for to figure out if a fire is going to move fast:

• Temperatures above 80 degrees
• Relative humidities in the single digits
• Live plants with moisture levels at 80% or less (they’re usually around 55% by the fall)
• Strong, gusty winds

If you want to keep it simple, look out for red flag warnings from the National Weather Service, which indicate that extreme fire behavior is possible.

Check out their Fire Weather Snooper, which presents data from weather stations that are entering or in red flag territory.

On average we get eight red flag events per year, according to Smith, and on average each lasts three days.

How you can prepare and respond

If you live in a high risk area like Topanga Canyon and a red flag event is on its way:

Unsure if you live in a high risk area? Check out the state's Fire Severity Zone map for your county.

Listen to our podcast

How did wildfire risks get so bad? What can you do to stay safe? We have answers in our 2022 podcast, "The Big Burn," from LAist Studios.

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Jacob and retired L.A. County Fire Captain Derek Bart answer your burning questions.

The Big Burn: The Advice Episode

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It’s been four years since James Oreste started Ubefest, a festival meant to highlight the purple yam that’s become beloved not just in the Filipino diaspora but across the country. In that time, the food festival has grown in the number of vendors and become a broader appreciation of Filipino cuisine.

The restaurant:

This year's event is happening Saturday April 11 and Sunday April 12 in Cerritos. One of the festival’s vendors, Emerson Baja, owner of Long Beach Lumpia, has been involved with the event for years, and he came into the studio to talk to host Austin Cross.

The food:

Baja’s pop-up menu was inspired by a variety of things, with the traditional aspects of his menu coming from his family and other aspects by food he experimented with while attending Long Beach State. He became a probation officer after he graduated college, but his heart was always with food, specifically lumpia, which he served at a potluck.

“People were like ‘you’re in the wrong business,’” Baja said.

For the segment, Baja brought in a variety of lumpias: traditional Shanghai; pork chile verde; veggie pancit pizza; and ube cheesecake turon.

The verdict: 

When Emerson mentioned the Shanghai lumpia being a homemade recipe, Cross added, “Home is delicious! You have a home like this?”

“It’s finger-licking good over here,” Cross said after his first bite of the ube cheesecake turon lumpia. He added: “It’s really special because it has an aftertaste of a very heartwarming pastry…feels very homey.”

Listen to the full conversation here:

President Donald Trump has endorsed Steve Hilton for California governor, a move that could possibly consolidate Republican voters ahead of the still wide-open primary election in June.

Hilton, a former Fox News host based in the Bay Area who previously served as a political adviser to British Prime Minister David Cameron, has campaigned on the goal of improving California’s hostile relationship with the federal administration. He and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco are the only two Republicans among the 10 notable candidates in the primary field.

“I have known and respected Steve Hilton, who is running for Governor of California, for many years. He is a truly fine man, one who has watched as this once great State has gone to Hell,” Trump wrote early Monday on his social media site, Truth Social. “Steve Hilton has my COMPLETE & TOTAL ENDORSEMENT. He will be a GREAT Governor and, importantly, WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!!!”

With Democratic voters split, Hilton and Bianco have risen to the top of public polling in the race, threatening to leave the majority party in the state without a candidate in the top-two general election. Now, Trump’s endorsement could boost Hilton and allow a Democrat to overtake Bianco.

“It certainly increases the chances that a Democrat is going to make it into the top two,” said Tim Rosales, a Republican strategist. “The Bianco campaign has to reassess and reposition themselves in the wake of this, but the Democrats still don’t have a clear front-runner.”

In the most recent public polling, Hilton and Bianco have occupied a crowded top five alongside three Democrats: Rep. Eric Swalwell, investor Tom Steyer and former Rep. Katie Porter.

Hilton and Bianco often split the Republican Party’s support about evenly in polling, and a March primary election simulator created by Paul Mitchell, vice president of Political Data Inc., put the odds of a Republican-only general election at about 25%.

If that were the case, the state would have a Republican governor for the first time in more than two decades.

In an interview with KQED’s Political Breakdown, Hilton touted his relationship with U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum and vowed to work collaboratively with the Trump administration to boost California’s timber industry and manage forests.

“There’s a whole set of positive things we can do if we work more closely with the federal government on that issue,” he said.

While he told Politico that as of last week, he hadn’t spoken to Trump about the gubernatorial race, he’s repeatedly invoked the president’s own campaign slogan, saying that as governor, he would “Make California Great Again.”

Trump remains deeply unpopular in California, with just 30% of likely voters approving of the job he is doing as president, per a February poll from the Public Policy Institute of California. But that same survey found Trump’s support remains strong among California Republicans, with 76% approval.

“Republican voters still hold the president in pretty high regard,” Rosales said. “It certainly does make Hilton the front-runner amongst Republicans, and in a top-two primary like this, where you’ve got a crowded field, anything that a candidate can do that really solidifies a base of voters is critically important.”

The loyalty of the GOP base has allowed Trump to play kingmaker in past California primary elections. In 2018, he endorsed businessman John Cox, boosting Cox into the general election and dashing the prospects of an all-Democrat general election between Gavin Newsom and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

Before Trump’s overnight endorsement, Bianco also seemed to have been courting the president’s support, launching a high-profile recount of ballots cast in last November’s special election, when California voters overwhelmingly passed Proposition 50 to redraw congressional maps to favor Democrats. Last month, Bianco seized more than 650,000 ballots, calling the unprecedented investigation a “fact-finding mission” into potential voter fraud, which Trump has often called rampant despite a lack of evidence.

Many Republican strategists, however, believed that the party’s best chance to win both spots in the primary relied on Trump’s staying out of it. The state’s GOP also hasn’t weighed in, though it’s expected to decide whether to make an endorsement at its upcoming convention next weekend.

Now that celebrity bald eagles Jackie and Shadow have welcomed two new chicks, tens of thousands of fans are regularly tuning into the livestream of the nest overlooking Big Bear Lake for a peak at the fuzzy eaglets.

The chicks, which hatched Saturday night and Easter Sunday morning, will be referred to as Chick 1 and Chick 2 for now, according to Friends of Big Bear Valley, the nonprofit that runs the popular YouTube livestream.

The eaglets are still gaining strength in their first few days of life — learning to move neck muscles and pick up pieces of meat from mama Jackie and papa Shadow’s beaks. Those early feedings can be challenging or awkward, and the organization often refers to the chicks as “bobbleheads” at this stage.

Some fans worried about the second chick struggling to hold its head and getting enough food, but both eaglets are doing “great,” according to Jenny Voisard, Friends of Big Bear Valley’s media manager.

“Trust the process, trust the eagles, and settle in and enjoy these cute little fur balls because they change every day,” Voisard said. “And you don't want to miss this time, because they're just so precious.”

Sibling 'bonking'

The eaglets are tiny — each weighs about a few ounces — in a nest that’s estimated to be 6-feet deep. The nest sits near the top of a Jeffrey pine tree on the north side of Big Bear Lake.

Chicks multiply in size over the first weeks and months of life, establishing a pecking order along the way, according to the nonprofit.

Viewers may notice Chick 1 and Chick 2 headbutting each other, a sibling rivalry behavior that the organization calls “bonking.” Voisard said it’s “totally normal” in the nest, especially since the chicks can’t see very well at this stage.

“It won't last too long,” she said. “There is plenty of food for them to eat, and so they shouldn't be in competition with each other.”

Last season’s trio of chicks participated in bonking for a while.

Voisard said Sunny and Gizmo went on to be “best friends” before they flew away from the nest last June. One of last season’s chicks, which the nonprofit named “Misty,” didn’t survive a winter storm within weeks of hatching.

For Jackie and Shadow, everything now revolves around stocking up food and making sure the chicks are safe, warm and dry in the nest, Voisard said.

“They do a very good job, and we've been seeing fish deliveries and other prey the last couple of days and the chicks are hungrily gobbling it up,” she said.

Upcoming naming contest

Now that the chicks have hatched, many people are wondering what their names will be — and offering suggestions. The nonprofit said it’s seen hundreds of requests to name one of the chicks “Sandy” in honor of Sandy Steers.

Steers was an environmental advocate who helped launch the eagle livestream and the late executive director of Friends of Big Bear Valley. She died in February, a few weeks before the pair of eggs were laid.

But the organization said that’s not what Steers would have wanted. Voisard said Steers loved having Big Bear third-grade students select the eaglets’ names, and Friends of Big Bear Valley plans to keep the tradition going.

“We are working on a way to honor, memorialize Sandy in something that’s more permanent,” Voisard said.

The naming privileges are usually given to the third-graders because they study bald eagles in school, but last year was a bit of an exception. The fourth- and fifth -grade classes were invited to help select names because Jackie and Shadow didn’t have chicks in 2023 and 2024, when the students would've been in third-grade.

"We want to make sure we're doing it the way that [Steers] wanted to do it, and those kids live for being able to do this,” Voisard said. “It's a right of passage.”

Friends of Big Bear Valley is expected to launch a naming contest where the public can submit ideas for this season’s eaglets, and the details will be announced online. A random list of names will be pulled from the submissions and shared with Big Bear third-grade students for the final vote.

Chick 1 and Chick 2 will then be officially named based on the results of the students’ ballots.