The fires in Eaton and Palisades brought unprecedented death and damage to Los Angeles. However, the damage from these fires is far from united.
Some communities were spared, others were destroyed. In many cases, the house remains on the neighborhood on other levels.
Uneven firepower It boils down to several factorsExperts say that includes terrain, fire resources, housing construction and simple luck.
The Altadena Public Library is still located a few blocks west of North Lake Avenue, although it remains closed. The library and its surrounding area are an example of Altadena landscape changes: dozens of houses were razed to the ground, while many seemed to have suffered minimal damage.
The following figure shows the area on January 6 (left) – the day before the Eaton fire began and again on January 14 (right).
The image shows the less affected pockets of neighborhoods in dozens of destroyed houses. Christmas Tree Lane is an iconic street east of the library, largely intact, while the fire cuts wide little pieces to the east, north and west.
“They are very cute greens,” Cristhian Mace, a natural biologist at Parks and Recreation in Los Angeles County, Say about cedar trees on the Christmas tree trail in January. “It makes me think they are well irrigated and that is probably one of the factors that saved them.”
“They are not dry and crispy, and when you look at the cedar bark, it’s thick and a little fire-resistant,” he said. “I don’t know how to explain their elasticity.”
This community is west of North Lake Avenue No evacuation warning or order received Until around 3:30 am on January 8, the fire had occupied the area.
Noyes Primary School is located near the gates of Pinecrest in the eastern northeast, and northeast of Altadena was one of the earlier areas that burned in the Eaton Fire. According to broadcast records reviewed by the Times, a fire broke out in the area as early as 9:30 pm on January 7.
The community received an evacuation order at 7:26 pm, and West Altadena will wait for another eight hours.
The following figure shows the area around Noyes Primary School on January 6 (left) and January 14 (right).
The school and many of its neighbors in the West were destroyed. In the southeast, many houses stand in the direction where the fire began. The swimming pool has changed from blue to black.
Experts told The Times that the fire began on the mountain, but soon spread at home as the wind drove far beyond the line of fire. The house may ignite people around it, causing damage to the bag.
About 35 miles away in the Pacific Palisades, a similar story unfolds as uncontrolled wind flames tear up in urban areas.
Summit is the exclusive hilltop community of Santa Ynez Canyon, located west of the Palisades Fire starting point. This area faces Chaotic evacuationWhen the fire broke out on the evening of January 7, several exits blocked traffic.
Still, much of the community survives unscathed. The following figure shows the summits on October 24 (left) and January 14 (right).
The damage caused by the summit community is significantly less than seen in the denser areas of Palisades in the Pacific below.
Firefighters continue to move forward, Nic Libonati of the summit Continue to fight, Invade his home. Libonati was the first to report the Palisades fire.
He and his friends spent the first report of the fire on Wednesday night (the second night of the Palisades fire). They use pool water to release hot spots.
“I think we saved my head last night,” he said. “Everything across the road – gone. Torch. Completely collapsed.”
In the Big Rock community in Malibu, almost every beachfront home is flattened by the Palisades fire. Just on the hill, about half of the houses are still standing.
It is counterintuitive that houses near water are more severe than neighboring houses on dry hillsides. Even on the beachfront, several houses still exist – the disaster seems to have happened in the clumps.
On the hillside, houses seem almost randomly flat, and nearby houses often suffer great fate. The result is unpredictable damage to the grid.
Malibu, residents Bill Strange told The Times“It can be traced back to its wildness anyway. They can build those big houses and do their best. But they can never tame Malibu. It turns out that we are all tenants here.”
Times worker Jeanette Marantos, Noah Goldberg and James Rainey contributed to the report.
