Justin Baldoni leaks bizarre texts from Ryan Reynolds as legal battle heats up
The actor has published 168 pages of his version of events.
Read more >> : Cick here
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Escape from the Palisades: Split-second decision making, confusing responses
A deep analysis of the Palisades fire evacuation paints a chaotic scenario: As the fire roared toward homes, major escape routes were gridlocked before the first evacuation orders were given
Click Here to read in detail
The dirty brown smoke signaled trouble as it curled skyward near a popular hiking trail above Pacific Palisades on a breezy Tuesday morning in early January.
A luxury real estate agent about to show a 7,200-square-foot mansion on West Sunset Boulevard wondered if a house up the hill had caught fire. A resident near the top of the stepped bluffs between the Santa Monica Mountains and the Pacific Ocean glanced briefly at the plume, then resumed pulling in trash cans as a garbage truck rumbled past. A mother running errands in posh Palisades Village watched the fire morph from back-of-the-mind concerning to all-out frightening before she rushed home.
From backyard decks and breakfast tables, residents slowly realized this smokestack on the ridge wasnât stopping.
Decades of warnings that the communityâs three major roads were inadequate escape routes for thousands of people living in upper reaches of the Palisades proved prophetic. Streets were gridlocked at least 40 minutes before the first widespread evacuation order. As flames approached, firefighters and police told motorists to get out and run. The abandoned cars worsened the jam and prevented first responders from getting through. Residents trapped by blocked roads said they were forced to shelter in place. They wondered how â or if â they would escape.
The challenge of evacuating thousands of residents was compounded by delayed alerts and overwhelmed first responders. Residents told The Times they felt as if they were left to fend for themselves. But state leaders and fire officials assessing the evacuation that day said getting people out quickly was the primary focus.
Los Angeles city and county emergency management departments would provide no details of how they coordinated evacuation orders, or why repeated requests for an evacuation order by fire commanders at the scene were not immediately heeded.
Twelve deaths have been tied to the Palisades fire. More than 5,400 homes were destroyed. What was remarkable, to both residents and seasoned fire veterans, was that the snarled evacuation in one of the worst wildfires in modern California history did not take a greater toll.
This is the story of the first critical hours of that fire, when thousands of terrified residents had to decide whether and how to flee the inferno churning through hillsides and threatening their homes. Based on dozens of interviews, an analysis of more than 40 hours of dispatch recordings, public records and time-stamped photos and videos, it details the chaotic, heart-pounding and disorganized exodus of Jan. 7.
A fire watch camera on Green Peak captures the first flare and smoke of a fire a mile away. Itâs near a local hangout dubbed Skull Rock on the popular Temescal Ridge Trail, where a New Yearâs Day brush fire had charred eight acres but damaged no homes.
PALISADES HIGHLANDS
THE SUMMIT
Fire origin
Lachman Lane
Palisades Dr.
Bienveneda Ave.
MARQUEZ KNOLLS
Marquez Ave.
W. Sunset Blvd.
PALISADES HIGHLANDS
THE SUMMIT
Fire origin
Bienveneda
Ave.
Lachman
Lane
Palisades Dr.
MARQUEZ
KNOLLS
Marquez Ave.
W. Sunset Blvd.
California Dept. of Forestry and Fire Protection, Fire Integrated Real-Time Intelligence System Program, Overture Maps Foundation, U.S. Census Bureau, USGS
Vanessa MartĂnez LOS ANGELES TIMES
A brisk Santa Ana wind feeds the new brush fire. Alarm spreads within Palisades Highlands, a string of developments perched between the coast and the protected wilds of the Santa Monica Mountains.
Residents spread the news through a private WhatsApp group.
âFire,â one types. âAcross the hills on Piedra Morada.â
âI see it,â another responds.
âNew?â the first asks.
A resident attaches a photo. It shows smoke rising near the area burned on New Yearâs Day.
âSame spot!!â
A young man drinking morning tea is the first to call 911 after his sister, leaning down to fill his cup, spots the fire from the window of their home on Piedra Morada Drive.
A garbage truck picks up trash cans in the Palisades Highlands neighborhood. (Courtesy of Jeremy Wineberg)
As engines head to the Palisades fire, itâs quickly clear that more are needed. A city firefighter racing toward the scene from Station 69 in the Palisades requests 10 more engines, and a moment later doubles that.
âIâve ordered 20 additional engine companies,â dispatch confirms from the Metropolitan Fire Communications center downtown.
âLet me know what streets need to be protected and weâll get the structure defense going as well,â responds a firefighter in Engine 69.
After eight months without significant rain and amid gusting Santa Ana winds, L.A. is on fire alert.
A firefighter in another engine can see thick smoke coming off Temescal Ridge, angling over the canyon below.
âOK, this thingâs got a really big head of steam,â he radios. âWe have significant houses, significant brush in that area.â
Jeremy Wineberg, a music executive who has also noticed the smoke, rushes barefoot out his front door on Calle Jermaine, his black robe closed over his underwear.
âJesus Christ! Fâ!â he yells.
He turns to his boyfriend, Zander Jimenez, who has just come to the door. âOh my God, babe, itâs so bad! We got to go. Letâs pack our stuff.â
Wineberg texts his neighbors: âWe have to evacuate now.â
Jeremy Wineberg rushes out of his front door to check on the smoke from the nearby fire. Contains strong language. (Courtesy of Jeremy Wineberg)
Los Angeles Fire Department Capt. Brandon Ruedy watches as wind drives flames toward thick vegetation.
The 25-year department veteran knows fire behavior and reckons this one will make a good run. Looking at this 10-acre blaze, Ruedy does the math.
âItâs 100% in alignment with the wind,â he radios in a terse, clipped voice. âThis has the potential for 200-plus acres in the next 20 minutes.
âWe have the potential for structures being threatened in the next 20 minutes.â
A fire watch camera captured this view of Green Peak showing the plume of the Palisades fire in the distance.
(University of San Diego)
David and Kelli Swartz watch in disbelief as smoke envelops their back deck and continues toward the beach. Sirens and horns echo in Santa Ynez Canyon behind their home.
From their backyard in the Marquez Knolls neighborhood, David and Kelli Swartz look at the billowing smoke. (Courtesy of David and Kelli Swartz)
In 11 years living there, the Swartz family has never had to evacuate. Not for the fire early on New Yearâs Day, the 2021 Palisades fire, the 2019 Getty and Palisades fires, the 2018 Woolsey fire. Before they moved here, the Palisades were hit by the 1978 Mandeville Canyon fire, part of a firestorm that razed so many homes that The Times called it âBlack Monday.â Their house is two blocks from the edge of the 1938 wildfire that gutted this and other canyons.
For the first time, the Swartzes realize, this is a fire they must flee.
At his kitchen island, Wineberg doubles over on a stool, hands raking his hair. From the den, a television blares a newscast tracking the fire. It has âgrown substantiallyâ beyond the 20 acres last reported by fire officials.
âIâm about to faint,â Wineberg says. âMy heart rate is at 165.â
The stress of the fire outside is causing Jeremy Wineberg to panic inside his home. (Courtesy of Jeremy Wineberg)
They discuss which cars to drive out of the bluff-top neighborhood, aptly named The Summit. It is one of the highest housing tracts in Palisades Highlands, the chain of developments that started cutting into wild Santa Ynez Canyon in the 1970s.
Wineberg knows he wants to take his electric Mercedes. They quickly rule out also taking the Tesla â itâs charged only to 37%. Wineberg wants to move his prized 1967 Mustang down the hill, saying âthis whole area isnât going to burn.â
The first item on an unfinished evacuation list he began a month ago is the red Mustang.
He checks the screen on his smartwatch.
âThey havenât told us to leave yet,â he says. But panic is setting in.
âSnap out of it!â Jimenez urges.
Jeremy Wineberg packs his car and prepares to evacuate. (Courtesy of Jeremy Wineberg)
Within seven minutes, they load Winebergâs English bulldogs, Winnie and James, some electronics and a very few other items into the Mercedes. As they back out of the drive, the Mustang remains in the garage. The Tesla is plugged into its charger.
And in and around the empty home, 13 security cameras are recording.
The cityâs Emergency Operations Center uses the federal wireless emergency alert system â WEA â to ping cellphones in a 25-square-mile area in and around the Palisades with an evacuation warning.
A minute later, the cityâs emergency operations center launches robocalls and hits social media sites with an identical message: âThose near the Palisades fire should get set for a potential evacuation.â
Smoke billows in the distance from the Palisades fire, growing every minute fueled by powerful Santa Ana winds.
(Courtesy of Jessica Rogers)
Thereâs no immediate account of how many of those calls get through or are noticed. Many residents are already packing cars. They are a step ahead of the Palisades Incident Command â the central nerve center set up at the bottom of the canyon on Palisades Drive. This command post will move repeatedly as the flames advance, but for now the spot offers a clear view of whatâs happening on the slopes.
City emergency planning documents call for the Los Angeles Police Department to take charge of disaster evacuations. It is up to the police agency to alert residents â drive up and down streets with loudspeakers or bang on doors if necessary â and to route traffic and convert congested roads to one-way flow in order to keep people moving.
But in the face of a racing brush fire, when residents are within 30 minutes of danger, the responsibility falls to the Fire Department
Forty-seven minutes after the Palisades fire has started, and nine minutes after warning residents they might have to leave, the command post tells dispatchers downtown that there are no orders to leave: âWe are not evacuating residents at this time. We are in the process of putting that piece together.â
Evacuation warning at 11:12 a.m.
PALISADES HIGHLANDS
THE SUMMIT
Fire origin
S. Topanga
Canyon Blvd.
Palisades Dr.
MARQUEZ KNOLLS
The Getty Villa
W. Sunset Blvd.
Evacuation warning at 11:12 a.m.
PALISADES HIGHLANDS
Fire origin
Palisades Dr.
MARQUEZ KNOLLS
The Getty Villa
W. Sunset Blvd.
California Dept. of Forestry and Fire Protection, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Overture Maps Foundation, U.S. Census Bureau, USGS
Vanessa MartĂnez LOS ANGELES TIMES
Since the 1970s, the Pacific Palisades Community Council has repeatedly warned lawmakers and planning departments that strangled evacuation routes are a âserious risk to lives and public safety.â
Even after the 1978 firestorm swept this canyon, burning 30 homes, news accounts and campaign contribution records show that housing developers used influence with state lawmakers and the L.A. City Council to negotiate exemptions to growth limits.
Development is âa political thing,â a fire chief told the residents council in 2016. He went on to say Palisades residents should stay put during an emergency once fire engines arrive, because evacuees on the roads would only âcompromiseâ the official plan.
The three roads that lead down the canyon â Palisades Drive, Lachman Lane and Bienveneda Avenue â dump onto the same congested commercial strip, West Sunset Boulevard. From there traffic funnels onto Pacific Coast Highway.
A city traffic officer in 2023 told the residents council that the bottom roads are so congested the Police Department canât run speed traps on them. But, minutes show, she âassured the board that in the event of evacuation, motorcycle officers would be used in great numbers to direct people out in the safest manner they can to avoid traffic snarls.â
No motorcycle escorts for fleeing residents are identified in the Palisades fire.
Disaster planning software developed at Old Dominion University analyzes roads, populations and traffic patterns to estimate the time needed to get people to safety in a disaster â whether a days-away hurricane or racing wildfire.
The programâs calculated evacuation time for Palisades Highlands is five hours and 10 minutes. That is with no fire cutting across exit routes and half the main roads converted to one-way flow.
Those in the Palisades on Jan. 7 have less than an hour before evacuation routes become impassable.
As Wineberg and Jimenez drive down Palisades Drive, flames are visible on the steep slopes.
At the bottom of the canyon, traffic has come to a stop. Except for a seldom-used emergency access road, this is the only way out.
Wineberg worries how quickly the fire will run toward them. He wants out of the canyon. He sees no one managing the traffic.
He tells Jimenez to cross the median into nearly empty oncoming lanes. They speed through, skirting the worst of the gridlock before merging back as they approach West Sunset and escape onto PCH.
Fire approaches Palisades Drive as Ty Duffy is stuck in a traffic jam approaching Calvary Christian Church of Pacific Palisades. (Courtesy of Ty Duffy)
About 10 minutes behind Wineberg and Jimenez, Ty Duffy heads down Palisades Drive. He wants to be able to tell his parents if it is safe to evacuate their house on the western side of Chastain Parkway â named after the developer who 50 years ago battled environmentalists and urban planners to terrace these steep bluffs.
Before he reaches West Sunset, the way is blocked. Duffy guesses there are more than 100 cars in the jam. Flames creep down the hill on the left, then fire emerges from dark smoke on the right. The burning husks of palm trees cascade toward his car. Duffy sees panicked drivers cross into oncoming traffic. Others jump out of their cars.
Duffy returns home.
âItâs terrible down there,â he tells his parents. âYou canât evacuate, even if you want to.â
He wonders if helicopters will have to rescue them.
The incident command post radios to Metro that it is time now to send another alert. But he asks for an evacuation âwarning,â the same notification that was issued 14 minutes earlier.
Dispatch is confused.
âConfirming you want an order and not a warning. Correct?â
âStand by,â the command post replies.
While the request is pending, a firefighter jumps in: âWe can use some more resources here.â Houses on Charmel, Turquesa and Lachman lanes are on fire.
Four minutes pass, and then the assistant fire chief from the departmentâs Valley bureau â at the moment second in command on the Palisades fire â comes on the radio.
âWeâre gonna need an evacuation order, all the way to PCH.â
A fire crew on the ridge makes the same request.
âYouâve got gridlock on Palisades Drive,â someone in Engine 71 says. âPeople are driving down both sides.â
Winds pick up and the fire worsens along as motorists drive along West Sunset Boulevard. (Courtesy of Jessica Rogers)
âI recommend getting a company over to Sunset all the way to the Getty Villa and start thinking about evacs,â another unit says seconds later.
A third unidentified voice comes on the radio: âMetro from Palisades IC, we need evacuation.â
After disaster alerts were bungled in the 2017 La Tuna fire â then the worst to strike L.A. in half a century â the city centralized its warning system. Evacuation orders start from those on the ground, move up the chain to the fire departmentâs dispatch center, and are then relayed to the city emergency operations hub.
In this instance, that isnât happening.
A Metro dispatcher radios incident command to let it know another fire boss is requesting evacuations. He is told to take the matter off the air.
âCopy,â comes the reply. âCan you have the [Metropolitan Fire Communications center] call Command 51 on the cellphone?â
Not only canât Palisades residents leave, but some firefighters canât get in. Frustrated, they radio for help.
The LAFD turns to the Police Department. The cityâs emergency plan states that LAPD is âthe lead agency for conducting evacuations.â That includes preventing gridlock like that now occurring across the fire disaster area.
The LAPD is sending in wave after wave of units. Its officers are still setting up the first traffic control posts on West Sunset even as Highlands residents hit roadblocks far before reaching that street.
Flames encroach on Palisades Drive, and fire command asks for police help in shutting down that evacuation route. To the east, the cars at the tail end of a mile-long jam on Bienveneda Avenue are exposed to encroaching fire.
Needing to empty Bienveneda, first responders shut down parts of West Sunset, worsening the gridlock in other areas.
Residents in Sunset Mesa, just west of Pacific Palisades along the coastal evacuation route, receive an emergency order from L.A. County fire officials to leave. It is the first evacuation order for the fire, but is not directed at Palisades residents.
This alert went to someone in the Palisades, even though it says Sunset Mesa.
(Courtesy of Geoff and Sherry Grant)
City and county fire departments are now running a joint command, but their cooperation on evacuation orders is unclear. (The L.A. County emergency operations center said later that it coordinated with Los Angeles city officials on evacuations, but would not provide more information, saying the matter is under investigation.)
A firefighter asks on the radio what he should do about the people stuck in their cars on Palisades Drive.
âThe homeowners are saying theyâre unable to access any exit routes. Thereâs fire on both sides of the road on Palisades,â he says in a muffled voice. âYou need to think about with evac if they need to go north or how weâre going to shelter in place in this bowl.â
View from below of fire encroaching on Palisades Highlands (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
Nearly two hours into the fire, city emergency officials issue an evacuation order for Palisades residents.
Social media sites fill with pictures, videos and warnings from those trying to escape.
âWe are trapped on Palisades Drive,â a man tweets. âSTAY IN YOUR HOMES if you live in the Pacific Palisades Highlands. There is nowhere to go.â
Wind-driven flames near homes in Palisades Highlands (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
Also sheltering at the direction of the LAFD are residents of an 80-plus-unit elder care facility, including people reliant on outside transportation and medical support. Local residents had complained that its construction would block views but also questioned the wisdom of putting a vulnerable population in a fire zone that was also prone to landslides.
The president of the facility, Rony Shram, has a pre-fire understanding with the city to stay in place. The four-story concrete-and-steel structure is considered fire-resistant.
Mandatory evacuation at 12:07 p.m.
PALISADES HIGHLANDS
THE SUMMIT
Fire origin
S. Topanga
Canyon Blvd.
Palisades Dr.
MARQUEZ KNOLLS
The Getty Villa
W. Sunset Blvd.
Mandatory evacuation at 12:07 p.m.
PALISADES HIGHLANDS
Fire origin
MARQUEZ
KNOLLS
Palisades Dr.
The Getty Villa
W. Sunset Blvd.
California Dept. of Forestry and Fire Protection, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Overture Maps Foundation, U.S. Census Bureau, USGS
Vanessa MartĂnez LOS ANGELES TIMES
1:02 p.m.David Swartz is in his car, creeping forward on West Sunset. In 45 minutes, he estimates, he has traveled 100 feet. Ahead, somewhere in the gridlock, is the car with his wife, daughter and massive pit bull Sneezy. There are flames by the sidewalk, and a handful of abandoned cars on the side of the road.
This same route is the one being promoted on social media by the city Fire Department.
Geoff Grant is stuck in gridlock amid flames as he attempts to down West Sunset Boulevard. (Courtesy of Geoff Grant)
Kelli Swartz calls her husband. Thereâs a palm tree in front of her on fire. She thinks she should get out of her car.
He tells her thatâs crazy.
Minutes later, firefighters and police officers wading through this sea of stalled cars tell motorists to abandon them.
âVehicles burning,â a dispatcher reports.
An officer knocks on the window of David Swartzâs Audi. âGet out of the car,â the officer tells him.
Swartz would like to pull over, but cars are sandwiched too tight. The family has to leave their two cars in the middle of West Sunset. With large duffel bags over their shoulders, they walk toward the ocean.
Redondo Beach Fire Department Capt. Kenny Camposâ first thought when he sees people walking down West Sunset is âthatâs not normal.â
His own engine is blocked by the abandoned cars. Campos heads up West Sunset on foot. People still stuck in their cars yell to him. What should they do?
A fireman with the Redondo Beach Fire Department shows where their engine was forced to stop due to abandoned cars on West Sunset Boulevard. (Courtesy of Redondo Beach Fire Department Engine 62)
âJust shelter in your car,â he says. âWeâll protect you.â
The engineâs hoses litter West Sunset as its crew tackles flames creeping toward the road.
Lee Mintz, the real estate agent who was showing a $5.8-million home, has traveled less than a third of a mile on West Sunset in two hours. She inches past the Self-Realization Fellowship as smoke thickens.
A lone firefighter holding an ax walks between lines of cars. Mintz asks whatâs happening. The road is blocked. âWow,â she says on a video, her voice full of dread, as she makes a U-turn, âthereâs no place to go.â She resorts to driving through parking lots to find her own way out.
Lee Mintz makes a U-turn on West Sunset Boulevard as it is blocked near the Self-Realization Fellowship. (Courtesy of Lee Mintz)
âHey, be advised,â an L.A. County engine radios to incident commanders. âSunset Boulevard is [im]passable due to approximately 100 abandoned vehicles in the road.â
The operations command doesnât catch the size of the problem. Twenty vehicles?
âOne-zero-zero abandoned vehicles,â the county engine corrects. âSunset is completely impassable.â
He radios back a few minutes later.
âFor those vehicles, what do you need to get them moved? ⌠Can we use just heavy equipment to move them?â
âAffirmative. We need heavy equipment to move A LOT of vehicles,â he says. âNo keys, although we do have fobs.â
PALISADES HIGHLANDS
Fire perimeter
at 2:11 p.m.
THE SUMMIT
Fire origin
Palisades Dr.
MARQUEZ KNOLLS
The Getty Villa
W. Sunset Blvd.
PALISADES HIGHLANDS
Fire perimeter
at 2:11 p.m.
Fire origin
Palisades Dr.
MARQUEZ
KNOLLS
The Getty Villa
W. Sunset Blvd.
California Dept. of Forestry and Fire Protection, Fire Integrated Real-Time Intelligence System Program, Overture Maps Foundation, U.S. Census Bureau, USGS
Vanessa MartĂnez LOS ANGELES TIMES
An earthmoving dozer used to cut fire lines now pushes aside abandoned cars, to the sound of screeching metal. Peopleâs belongings are visible through crushed windows. A dog bed rests on a seat. The occupants are all gone.
First responders also clear a path through the abandoned cars on Palisades Drive, allowing fire engines up the canyon and permitting police to escort convoys of residents down the bluff, past still-burning cars.
Video taken by a fireman with the Redondo Beach Fire Department shows a bulldozer moving abandoned cars on West Sunset Boulevard. (Courtesy of Redondo Beach Fire Department Engine 62)
A burning hill and a line of firefighters set the stage for a beachfront media briefing.
Aircraft heat sensors have captured the fireâs portrait, a diagonal slash that cuts through evacuation routes and impinges on neighborhoods from multiple directions.
City Fire Chief Kristen Crowley emphasizes that the departmentâs first and primary mission is saving lives, âbeginning with evacuations.â
Gov. Gavin Newsom, having just toured the scene, tells reporters that he was unsettled to see so many people still behind the fire line. âThe fact that people were still not evacuated, still did not heed the warning ⌠is a reminder of how serious this moment is and how important it is you listen to these evacuation orders,â he says.
PALISADES HIGHLANDS
THE SUMMIT
Fire perimeter
at 3:17 p.m.
Fire origin
Palisades Dr.
MARQUEZ KNOLLS
The Getty Villa
W. Sunset Blvd.
Fire perimeter
at 3:17 p.m.
PALISADES
HIGHLANDS
Fire origin
Palisades Dr.
MARQUEZ KNOLLS
The Getty Villa
W. Sunset Blvd.
California Dept. of Forestry and Fire Protection, Fire Integrated Real-Time Intelligence System Program, Overture Maps Foundation, U.S. Census Bureau, USGS
Vanessa MartĂnez LOS ANGELES TIMES
But when a reporter asks Newsom about the bulldozed cars and impassable roads, he defers the question to Crowley.
âPeople did evacuate,â Crowley says. âIt was slow to evacuate. From what I have been briefed on is that the evacuations were slow. But they did occur.â
Ty Duffy leaves Palisades Highlands as night falls, driving past the wreckage of bulldozed cars and a van still burning. His father follows hours later and is told the main road is now blocked by fire, leaving only an undeveloped spur between developments, Fire Road, that also traverses the blazeâs path.
At the direction of city fire officials, those at the senior living center on top of the ridge have remained until 9 p.m. Then, when the canyon wildfire has spilled out onto the dense coast and become an urban firestorm, the department is now tasked to provide ambulance vans and escorts for 64 people, many in wheelchairs and some on oxygen.
Jeremy Wineberg watches the feed from his home security cameras as flames light up the kitchen window. In the morning, a neighbor shares pictures of the street. One single house is in rubble, still burning. It is his.
The home of Jeremy Wineberg is reduced to ashes following the Palisades fire. (Courtesy of Jeremy Wineberg)
The home Lee Mintz was scheduled to show also has burned down. âEveryone was out for themselves,â she says days later. âThere was so much paranoia. You were stuck and you didnât have anywhere to go. ... I definitely think L.A. dropped the ball. I donât think we were prepared. Nobody told us where to go. It was chaos.â
David and Kelli Swartz are among the lucky. Their house survived, but there is smoke damage. They plan to return when itâs safe to do so.
In response to questions about the delay in sending evacuation orders, the Los Angeles city emergency management department said it issued every alert the city Fire Department requested.
The LAFD declined to respond.
Times staff writer Noah Haggerty contributed to this report.
