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Eaton Fire Part of the January 2025 Southern California wildfires
Smoke from the fire on January 8, with smoke from the Palisades Fire to its southwest
Date(s)	January 7, 2025 (2025-01-07) – present (3 days)
Location	Los Angeles County, California, United States
Coordinates	34°12′18″N 118°05′17″W / 34.205°N 118.088°W / 34.205; -118.088
Statistics
Status	Ongoing wildfire
Burned area	>13,690 acres (5,540 ha; 21 sq mi; 55 km)
Impacts
Deaths	5
Non-fatal injuries	>1
Evacuated	>100,000
Structures destroyed	c. 4,000
Ignition
Cause	Unknown
Map
The area burned in the Eaton Fire as of Jan. 9
The general location of the Eaton Fire, in Southern California

The Eaton Fire is an active wildfire burning in the Altadena area of Los Angeles County in Southern California. It began in the evening on January 7, 2025, in Eaton Canyon in the San Gabriel Mountains. As of January 8, 2025, at 10:36 a.m. PST (UTC–8), the fire had spread to approximately 13,690 acres (5,540 ha). It is one of several fires being driven by the extremely powerful Santa Ana winds, along with the Palisades Fire.

Evacuation orders have been sent out to the residents of Altadena, Kinneloa Mesa, La Cañada Flintridge, northern portions of Sierra Madre, Pasadena, Arcadia, and Monrovia, and northeastern portions of Glendale, including most of the San Rafael Hills.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Progression

The fire is estimated to have begun at 6:15 p.m. PST in Eaton Canyon. According to Pasadena Now, residents adjacent to the canyon reported to 9-1-1 that one of the electrical towers therein had caught on fire. It rapidly expanded to over 1,000 acres (400 ha) by 12:07 a.m., fueled by a strong Santa Ana wind event, with wind gusts of up to 100 mph (160 km/h) reported at the nearby Mount Lukens Truck Trail north of La Cañada Flintridge. By 6:30 a.m., the fire had further grown to over 2,227 acres (901 ha), with 0% containment.

The fire continued to grow quickly, and by 10:36 a.m., the fire had grown to over 10,600 acres (4,300 ha), still with 0% containment.

1,527 firefighting personnel have been assigned, along with 79 engines, 8 bulldozers, and 2 water tenders as of 5:00 p.m., January 9.

Effects

As of 4:00 a.m. PST on January 8, 52,314 residents and 20,890 structures had been placed under evacuation orders, with a further 46,847 residents and 18,051 structures placed under evacuation warnings. Numerous homes and cars in Altadena were destroyed; up to "90 to 95 percent" of Altadena residents had been evacuated as of 7 a.m..

As of 8:10 a.m. on January 8, one firefighter injury had been reported, over 200 structures had been destroyed, and two civilians had died in the fire, along with "a number of significant injuries." Later in the afternoon, sheriff Robert Luna reported five civilian fatalities in a press conference, and the estimated number of evacuees was raised to over 100,000.

By the afternoon of January 8, over 100 animals had been received at the Pasadena Humane animal shelter, many of which had received burn injuries.

The Pasadena Unified School District, the Los Angeles Unified School District, and 23 other surrounding school districts, announced the closure of all schools in the district for Wednesday, January 8 in response to the fire. Closures for January 8 were also announced by Pasadena City College, Fuller Theological Seminary, and the California Institute of Technology. Many of these closures were extended to Thursday, January 9, and Friday, January 10.

The historic Andrew McNally House and the Bunny Museum in Altadena were destroyed by the fire. Altadena Community Church, St. Mark's Episcopal Church, Masjid Al-Taqwa mosque, and Pasadena Jewish Temple were also destroyed by the fire. The fire destroyed residential sections of Altadena that were settled by African-Americans who moved west in the 1920s and 1930s, during the Great Migration, and had created a working and middle-class neighborhood that had persisted for over a century. Flames on Mount Wilson may be affecting local broadcast signals; Mount Wilson Observatory has been evacuated. PBS SoCal reported at 1:20 p.m. Thursday that its over-the-air signal was unavailable.

Over 4,000 structures have been destroyed as of 5 p.m. on January 9.

See also

• January 2025 Southern California wildfires
  • Palisades Fire (2025)
  • Hurst Fire

References

1. Jiménez, Jesus; Karlamangla, Soumya (January 8, 2025). "What We Know About the Wildfires Raging in Southern California". The New York Times. Retrieved January 8, 2025.
2. Fioresi, Dean (January 7, 2025). "Eaton Fire erupts in canyons above Altadena - CBS Los Angeles". www.cbsnews.com. Retrieved January 8, 2025.
3. "Incidents | CAL FIRE". www.fire.ca.gov. Retrieved January 8, 2025.
4. "Eaton Fire". California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Retrieved January 7, 2025.
5. MacPherson, James (January 9, 2025). "The Moment the Eaton Fire Ignited". Pasadena Now. Archived from the original on January 10, 2025. Retrieved January 9, 2025.
6. ^ Conybeare, Will (January 8, 2025). "Fast-moving Eaton Fire destroys homes near Altadena". KTLA. Nexstar Media Group. Retrieved January 8, 2025.
7. Mather, Katie (January 8, 2025). "National Weather Service reports wind gusts up to 100 mph in Los Angeles". Yahoo News. Retrieved January 8, 2025.
8. "Eaton Fire: Incident Update on 01/08/2025 at 10:36 AM". Cal Fire. State of California. Archived from the original on January 9, 2025.
9. "News of Eaton Fire from CAL FIRE: 1,527 personnel assigned". CAL FIRE. January 9, 2025. Retrieved January 9, 2025.
10. Angeles National Forest (January 8, 2025). "#EatonFire Morning Update @LACoFDPIO @LASDHQ @ALDLASD @CVLASD @CHPAltadena @CitySierraMadre @PasadenaFD @PasadenaGov @MonroviaCA @ArcadiaCityMgr @TheCityofLCF" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
11. Radford, Antoinette; Yan, Holly; Rose, Andy; Mascarenhas, Lauren; Hammond, Elise; Sangal, Aditi; Ramirez, Rachel; Romine, Taylor; Powell, Tori B.; Tucker, Emma; Regan, Helen; Tsui, Karina; Park, Hanna (January 8, 2025). "Live updates: Los Angeles wildfires kill at least 5, Palisades and Eaton fires raging on". CNN. Retrieved January 9, 2025.
12. Haskell, Josh; Hayes, Rob; Garcia, Sid; et al. (January 8, 2025). "Major brush fires burning in SoCal amid powerful windstorm". ABC7 Eyewitness News. Retrieved January 8, 2025. Five people have now died in the Eaton Fire, which continues to burn out of control near the Altadena and Pasadena areas.
13. Chow, Vivian (January 8, 2025). "Help needed as injured animals arrive at Pasadena Humane Society due to wildfire". KTLA. Nexstar Media Group. Retrieved January 8, 2025.
14. "Pasadena Unified School District Schools Will Be Closed Wednesday". Pasadena Now. January 7, 2025. Archived from the original on January 9, 2025. Retrieved January 8, 2025.
15. "Eaton Fire/Wind Storm: Live Updates". ColoradoBoulevard.net. January 8, 2025. Archived from the original on January 9, 2025. Retrieved January 8, 2025.
16. Davidson, Elijah (January 7, 2025). "Pasadena Campus Closed Tuesday, January 7 and Wednesday, January 8". Fuller Theological Seminary. Archived from the original on January 9, 2025. Retrieved January 8, 2025.
17. Caltech (January 8, 2025). "Due to the Eaton Fire in Altadena and strong winds in the area, Caltech's campus in Pasadena will be closed for all nonessential operations on Wednesday, January 8. For more information, visit Caltech's Emergency Updates page. https://caltech.edu/emergency" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
18. "LA Unified to close campuses Thursday amid fires". Pasadena Star-News. MediaNews Group. January 8, 2025. Archived from the original on January 9, 2025. Retrieved January 8, 2025.
19. Dwyer, Mimi (January 9, 2025). "Update from Mimi Dwyer". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved January 9, 2025.
20. Rainey, James; Solis, Nathan; Ormseth, Matthew; Mejia, Brittny; Gomez, Melissa (January 8, 2025). "With firefighters stretched thin, Altadena residents battle to save homes from flames". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on January 9, 2025. Retrieved January 9, 2025.
21. "Episcopal church, 2 rectories destroyed by deadly fast-moving wildfires raging in Southern California". Episcopal News Service. January 8, 2025. Archived from the original on January 9, 2025. Retrieved January 9, 2025.
22. Adams, David (January 10, 2025). "California's wildfires: Congregations vow to help neighbours even as their buildings are lost to fires". Sight Magazine. Retrieved January 10, 2025.
23. Callahan, Yesha (January 9, 2024). "Eaton Fire Devastates Historic Altadena, Displacing Black Families and Destroying Legacies". BET. Retrieved January 9, 2025.
24. Schneider, Michael (January 9, 2025). "Fire Threatens Mt. Wilson Broadcast Transmitters as L.A. TV and Radio Stations on Alert; Observatory Evacuated". Variety. Retrieved January 9, 2025.
25. pbssocal. "Attention viewers". www.threads.net. Retrieved January 9, 2025.
26. "News of Eaton Fire from CAL FIRE: 4,000 structures destroyed". CAL FIRE. January 9, 2025. Retrieved January 9, 2025.

• 2025 in Los Angeles
• Altadena, California
• January 2025 events in the United States
• January 2025 Southern California wildfires
• Wildfires in Los Angeles County, California