What Caused the Devastating Palisades Fire? Flames Have Burned More Than 1,000 Homes and Businesses
The fire has burned through thousands of acres in just days.
Published Jan. 8 2025, 7:03 p.m. ET
Residents in Los Angeles County are packing their bags and hitting the road after widespread evacuation orders were issued due to the Palisades wildfires.
The blaze, which seemed to ignite sometime around 10:30 a.m. on Jan. 7, 2025, quickly grew in size, rapidly devouring around 3,000 acres within the first few hours.
What caused the powerful Palisades fire? And when do first responders expect to have things under control? Keep reading to find out more, including when residents may be able to finally return to their homes to find out what, if anything, remains after the blaze has died out.
What started the Palisades fire?
According to USA Today, there isn't a clear answer as to the cause of the Palisades fire, which tore through the beach homes between Malibu and Santa Monica shortly after starting. Several other named fires, including the Eaton fire and the Hurst fire, also popped up as the Palisades fire raged, and investigators are investigating the origins of these as well.
That said, it's believed that the Santa Ana winds are fuelling the fires, removing excess moisture from the surrounding flora and turning it into essentially kindling. The Guardian describes the Santa Ana wind as a powerful dry wind blowing from California's interior towards the ocean, creating a warm environment.
Unfortunately, at the time of publication, there was no estimate of when the fires would be contained or when people could return home.
How often are there fires in California?
According to CAL FIRE, the organization tasked with battling this and so many other blazes within the state, wildfires are incredibly common in the region.
Their website says that in 2023 there were 7,127 wildfires. As of Jan. 6, 2025, the website noted that CAL FIRE had already responded to 35 wildfires.
It's safe to assume that California will continue to experience many wildfires, mainly due to the effects of climate change, according to UCLA professor Glen MacDonald. Newsweek quoted the professor, who explained his theory on why California seemed to endure so many of these types of natural disasters.
"We're getting hotter, drier air that makes fires easier to start," MacDonald says. "It makes the fuel much drier and the fires spread faster. They're more intense, and they're more difficult to fight."
As of Jan. 8, 2025 at 1:01 p.m. EST, CBS News shared that the fire was still ravaging the area, with an estimated 10,000 acres of land already burned.
Much of the area is under mandatory evacuation orders, while other portions of the region have been put on standby and notified that they should be ready to move if an alert is sent out.
This remains a perilous time for both residents and firefighters alike, as CBS News reports that there are already two known deaths due to the fires.