4 things you may not know about the Los Angeles wildfires

By Ian M. Giatti, Christian Post Reporter
Wednesday, January 08, 2025

A helicopter flies over homes threatened by the wind-driven Palisades Fire in Pacific Palisades, California, Jan. 7, 2025. A fast-moving brushfire in a Los Angeles suburb burned buildings and sparked evacuations as "life threatening" winds whipped the region. More than 200 acres (80 hectares) was burning in Pacific Palisades, a upscale spot with multi-million dollar homes in the Santa Monica Mountains, shuttering a key highway and blanketing the area with thick smoke. | DAVID SWANSON/AFP via Getty Images

At least five people are dead and over 130,000 people evacuated their homes as multiple wildfires tore through Southern California, forcing Gov. Gavin Newsom to declare a state of emergency as flames engulfed homes and left hillsides charred to the ground from the beach to the inland areas.

More than 20,000 acres have burned and an estimated 2,000 structures have been destroyed since the start of the Palisades, Eaton and Hurst fires along the coastal areas of the Pacific Palisades stretching into the San Fernando and San Gabriel Valleys, according to LA County Fire officials.

In addition to fighting active fires, state fire officials have positioned personnel, firetrucks and aircraft elsewhere in Southern California due to ongoing fire conditions, Newsom said.

Here are four things you might not have known about the fires.