One of the most destructive firestorms in L.A. history kills 5, burns 2,000 buildings
LAT's STAFF: "More than 2,000 homes, businesses and other buildings have been damaged or destroyed and at least five people are dead in wildfires scorching communities across Los Angeles County, making this one of the most destructive firestorms to hit the region in memory.
The five bodies were found in three structures in Altadena, where the Eaton fire exploded Tuesday night, giving residents little time to flee. It is estimated that more than 1,000 structures have been destroyed in the Palisades fire and another 1,000 either damaged or destroyed in the Eaton fire, according to the L.A. County Fire Department."
California infernos in January? Here’s why wildfire season keeps getting longer and more devastating
CALMatters' JULIE CART: "As climate change warms the planet, wildfires have become so unpredictable and extreme that new words were invented: firenado, gigafire, fire siege — even fire pandemic. California has 78 more annual “fire days” — when conditions are ripe for fires to spark — than 50 years ago. When is California’s wildfire season? With recurring droughts, It is now year-round.
Nothing is as it was. Where are the worst California wildfires? All over. Whatever NIMBYism that gave comfort to some Californians — never having a fire in their community before — no longer applies to most areas."
Southern California fires reignite tensions between Newsom and Trump
The Chronicle's SOPHIA BOLLAG: "Fires raging in Southern California have also sparked a flareup in the ongoing feud between Gov. Gavin Newsom and President-elect Donald Trump over California’s water policies.
Politicians typically avoid overt political attacks amid tragedies like the one unfolding in Los Angeles County, where fires have burned more than a thousand homes and businesses and killed at least five people. But Trump eschewed tradition Wednesday morning and took to social media to denigrate Newsom. Calling the governor by his preferred insult, “Newscum,” Trump blamed him for the fires."
Fact check: Why is Trump blaming the LA fires on Newsom’s water policies?
CALMatters' ALASTAIR BLAND: "The Los Angeles County wildfires triggered a rant from President-elect Donald Trump, who blamed Gov. Gavin Newsom for depriving Southern California of water. Trump today repeated a claim he has made in the past, that state efforts “to protect an essentially worthless fish called a smelt” have caused pain and hardship in California.
“Governor Gavin Newscum refused to sign the water restoration declaration put before him that would have allowed millions of gallons of water, from excess rain and snow melt from the North, to flow daily into many parts of California, including the areas that are currently burning in a virtually apocalyptic way,” Trump wrote today on his social media site Truth Social."
A ‘worst-case’ scenario: How giant insurance losses from L.A. fires could affect all Californians
The Chronicle's MEGAN FAN MUNCE: "As Los Angeles confronts a series of wildfires some experts say could be the most expensive in California history, the state’s beleaguered insurance industry also faces the possibility of further destabilization — with implications far beyond the fire zone.
It’s the type of perfect storm situation that experts have worried about: massive fires burning through expensive homes, many of which are insured through the California FAIR Plan, the state insurer of last resort."
Hollywood Hills evacuates as Sunset Fire grows; Paris Hilton’s Malibu home destroyed
The Chronicle's STAFF: "For a second day straight, multiple out-of-control wildfires have been burning homes, businesses and other properties in Los Angeles driven by fierce Santa Ana winds that have overwhelmed the area’s firefighting resources. Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated in various Los Angeles areas, including Malibu, Pacific Palisades, Santa Monica, the Hollywood Hills, Sylmar and areas in and around Pasadena. At least five people have been killed. An estimated 2,000 structures have been damaged or destroyed, according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department."
Firefighters make big gains battling Sunset fire, which forced evacuations in Hollywood
LAT's TERRY CASTLEMAN: "Los Angeles firefighters have made big gains in battling the Sunset fire, which had triggered mandatory evacuation orders in Hollywood and the Hollywood Hills late Wednesday.
“It’s a miracle that no homes burned here,” one firefighter told The Times. Hours earlier, the flames had approached the mansions that line North Curson Avenue. By 10:30 p.m., flames were barely visible on the distant hillside."
Why Northern and Southern California face drastically different wildfire risks right now
Sac Bee's ARI PLACHTA: "As fire crews battle major blazes in the Los Angeles area, Northern California remains largely free of wildfire risk thanks to a stark contrast in weather patterns.
Recent months have brought normal to above-average rainfall to much of Northern California, while Southern California has entered an exceptionally dry period. Combine that dryness with an unusually strong Santa Ana wind event, and the fires quickly erupted."
How common are wildfires in California in January? We asked the experts
Sac Bee's FERNANDA GALAN: "Four wildfires were burning in the Los Angeles area on Wednesday, destroying more than 1,000 structures and forcing tens of thousands of people to evacuate.
As of Wednesday, at least two people had died as a result of the Palisades Fire, which sparked Tuesday morning in Pacific Palisades, according to the California Department of Fire and Forestry."
Karen Bass left L.A. for Africa as wind, fire warnings increased. She returned to a burning city
LAT's DAVID ZAHNISER, MATT HAMILTON: "For the first 24 hours of Los Angeles’ wildfire disaster, Mayor Karen Bass was a constant presence on social media, urging Angelenos to flee evacuation zones and announcing her decision to declare an emergency.
But Bass herself was far from the city. As flames tore through Pacific Palisades, she was on a diplomatic mission in Africa, communicating with key city agencies from afar."
S.F. mayor Lurie inaugurated Chinatown-style: ‘So goes Chinatown, so goes San Francisco’
The Chronicle's KO LYN CHEANG: "On his first evening as San Francisco mayor, Daniel Lurie donned a pair of protective goggles, lit an approximately 30-foot-long string of firecrackers, ducked and ran for cover inside a Chinatown banquet hall.
The five-minute long explosive display marked the start of Lurie’s Chinatown-style inaugural festivities, being feted at a Chinatown banquet and hosting a night market. The concurrent events, which drew thousands of people, were the first time a city mayor has brought their inauguration celebrations to the historic heart of the city’s Chinese American community."
Sacramento DA discusses homelessness, fentanyl and Prop. 36 in public safety address
Sac Bee's ROSALIO AHUMADA: "Sacramento County District Attorney Thien Ho on Wednesday lauded his office’s efforts on homelessness, rising fentanyl deaths and support of a recent voter-approved California law that he says will turn the tide against retail theft.
He was speaking of Proposition 36, which opponents argued the law will move California criminal justice backward to stricter sentences and prisons overflowing with incarcerated people. Prop. 36 went into effect Dec. 18."
California should continue investments in Parkinson’s & neurodegenerative disease research registries (OP-ED)
JULIA PITCHER, SHERI STRAHL in Capitol Weekly: "As Governor Newsom prepares his 2025 budget release this week, California’s Neurodegenerative disease groups representing hundreds of thousands of Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, ALS, and Huntington’s patients, are hopeful that he includes funding to continue the state’s research registries since they run out of money this fiscal year.
Under Newsom’s leadership, California has become a model for the nation and the world as it collects patient information that can help improve our understanding and treatment of diseases that are costing the state billions of dollars each year."
Too wet and too dry: The crazy north-south gap in California’s rain
CALMatters' ALASTAIR BLAND: "A remarkably wet kickoff to Northern California’s rainy season has coincided with a desperately dry fall in Southern California — a huge disparity, perhaps unprecedented, between the haves and have-nots of rainfall.
Los Angeles usually gets several inches of rain by now, halfway into the rainy season, but it’s only recorded a fifth of an inch downtown since July, its second driest period in almost 150 years of record-keeping. The rest of Southern California is just as bone-dry."
Historic change coming to Point Reyes as environmentalists buy out ranchers
The Chronicle's KURTIS ALEXANDER: "In a historic deal announced Wednesday, Point Reyes National Seashore will largely do away with ranching at the park, a tradition long etched into the identity of this rural stretch of Northern California coast but one that has been controversial with visitors and environmentalists.
The families running beef and dairy operations in the park under an unusual arrangement with the National Park Service have almost unanimously agreed to retire their leases in exchange for undisclosed payments."
Who was the Zodiac Killer? I covered the case for decades; here are my final thoughts
The Chronicle's KEVIN FAGAN: "My first brush with the Zodiac Killer saga came in May 1996, in the form of a thick beige envelope plopped on my desk by the newsroom mail staff. Having just covered the Unabomber’s reign of mail-bomb terror for nearly a year, including traveling to Montana for his arrest the month before, I was wary of big packages from people I didn’t know.
But this one seemed harmless. So I opened it. Inside was a thick, handwritten book attempting to prove that Unabomber Ted Kaczynski was also the Zodiac."
