A new report commissioned by Gov. Gavin Newsom on the spread of the Palisades and Eaton fires suggests that the movement of the Eaton fire from east Pasadena into west Altadena occurred earlier than originally reported, leaving questions on whether evacuation orders should have come sooner.
The Eaton fire, which started at 6:18 p.m. Jan. 7 near high-tension electrical towers in rugged Eaton Canyon, burned homes in east Pasadena, torched rugged terrain in the San Gabriel Mountains, then when winds shifted, moved toward west Altadena as early as 9:20 p.m, according to the Fire Safety Research Institute’s Southern California Fires Timeline Report.
By 10:50 p.m. Jan. 7, there were fire calls for a roof on fire of a home on Calaveras Street in Altadena, two blocks west of Lake Avenue and three blocks south of East Altadena Drive. The is significant because it shows embers burning homes outside the fire’s perimeter.
From tracking 911 calls and using pictures of houses on fire with timestamps from residents, the report, released on Thursday, Nov. 20, put together a lengthy timeline of when the Eaton fire had moved from east Pasadena to west Altadena.
Many west Altadena residents told the Southern California News Group that they did not receive alerts to evacuate until 3 a.m., with some saying they got an alert at 5 a.m. on the morning of Jan. 8, more than 10 hours after the fire began. The report cites calls of homes on fire in west Altadena hours before that time.
More timely alerts to evacuate may have helped more victims get out sooner, before the flames burned down their homes.
The Eaton fire claimed the lives of 19 residents, with 18 from the west Altadena area. That part of Altadena, with mostly older, modest homes and an area occupied by Black residents, were populated with houses passed down from generation to generation over decades.
The Eaton fire also destroyed 9,413 structures while burning through 14,021 acres.
“Our report represents a critical first step in understanding how the Southern California fires last January progressed — and how agencies responded during this unprecedented event,” wrote Steve Kerber, vice president and executive director of the Fire Safety Research Institute (FSRI) in a forward to the FSRI report.
The Eaton fire may have started due to the sparking of power line at Eaton Canyon that has been inactive for decades. This is a theory that Southern California Edison, the owners of the power towers, have suggested as a possible cause but no cause has been determined.
More than 130 lawsuits have been filed blaming SCE’s equipment for sparking the fire, through an idle transmission line that potentially became re-energized after more than 50 years.
The fire spread quickly due to very dry conditions, low humidity, and an unusually fierce wind storm that hit the eastern San Gabriel Mountains and also, drove the fire in the Palisades and Malibu from the rugged Santa Monica Mountains, the report stated.
The report pointed out that firefighters were overwhelmed fighting a fire on the eastern Eaton front, near where it started, and then simultaneously on the northwest and into urban Altadena between Lake Avenue and Lincoln Avenue, north of central Pasadena.
The timeline says flames and embers were torching homes and businesses in Altadena in the early morning hours of Jan. 8, while also burning in the southwest and along the eastern edge of the fire in Sierra Madre.
Just after midnight until 1:17 a.m., the fire was spreading both east and west “including reports of fire activity along and west of Lake Avenue” (in Altadena), the report said.
By 3:17 a.m. the fire’s change in direction was complete and was now largely burning down house after house in urban Altadena west of Lake Avenue. The timeline reports at least five alarm calls between 2:32 a.m. and 3:14 a.m. on Jan. 8 in western Altadena, roughly in an area encompassing Maiden Lane, Porter Avenue, East Palm Street and East Mendocino Street.
“During this time, fire activity west of Lake Avenue increased dramatically, particularly north of East Palm Street,” said the timeline section of the report, complete with pictures of homes on fire. Shortly after 2 a.m. Los Angeles County Sheriff deputies reported “they could see fire in the foothills north of Farnsworth Park.”
The park was severely damaged in the fire and has not reopened as the county searches for funding.
After 3:17 a.m., most of the fire activity was north of East Palm Street but continued moving west into the vicinity of Fair Oaks Avenue. In this area between 4:18 a.m. and 5:17 a.m., about 10 hours after the start of the fire, the majority of the fire was burning west of Lake Avenue.
The report said at that time, there were 24 fire alarms sounded and 30 smoke alarms. In multiple cases automatic alarms were coming from the same address.
Also, evidence of the flames and embers now destroying property in west Altadena comes from a SCE weather station on West Poppyfields Drive and Olive Avenue. The temperature reading increased from 57 degrees after 4 a.m. to 119 degrees at 5:30 a.m.
This report is one of two. A second report is due out sometime next year.
“The analysis in the second report will look to understand pre-existing conditions in the fire areas, the influence of the built environment on fire behavior, first responders’ actions, and emergency response agencies’ capabilities for addressing urban conflagrations,” according to the report.