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10-01-2025
LOS ANGELES: As five wildfires blaze in Los Angeles County which is home to an estimated 75,312 people experiencing homelessness, the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority has issued the following statement from its CEO, Va Lecia Adams Kellum:
Since Friday, LAHSA outreach teams have been providing proactive fire education and awareness for people experiencing homelessness, especially in high-risk fire zones.
When the winds picked up on Tuesday, LAHSA moved into high alert, ready to support first responders in both the City and County of Los Angeles as they address emergency situations. LAHSA staff have also been assisting people experiencing homelessness to access motel rooms through the Augmented Winter Shelter Program, which has been activated in both the City and County of LA. While LAHSA outreach teams have not yet been cleared to go into any of the current fire zones, we stand ready to act and help additional people find shelter.
LAHSA is monitoring evacuation zones and power outages and is actively working with service providers who operate interim housing sites impacted by this emergency to ensure client safety at these facilities and relocation coordination as needed. We are also working to distribute masks to front line staff and people experiencing homelessness in areas with poor air quality.
I am at the beach now, it’s rough over here. Sending this while I have service: very thick smoke. Santa Monica is being quickly evacuated. Driving through from Brentwood you can see the aftermath of the wind even in areas that haven’t burned. Large trees buckled across roads, piles of palm fronds, and cars smashed by fallen debris.
Another loud “evacuate now” siren is sounding from phones as the evacuation area continues to grow. Authorities have issued an evacuation order in Santa Monica for all areas north of Montana Avenue from the beach to 11th Street but there are still private security guards standing in the affluent neighborhoods or positioned in vehicles, there to monitor the abandoned homes.
Two enormous plumes billowing out from mountains to the north east and the west side of Los Angeles had joined in an immense grey haze on Wednesday afternoon, as the fires producing them continued to rage.
The Palisades fire, mapped at more than 15,800 acres, pushed deeper into the densely covered dry hillsides, closing in on communities and homes that dot the picturesque area overlooking the Pacific.
By that time, many residents in Topanga Canyon, the artistic and rural enclave that has grown accustomed to navigating chaotic fire disasters, had already evacuated. The roads winding through the canyon were empty save for the remaining few that chose to stay and those on their way out. Small groups paused at overlooks to watch as the fire ripped through the area they had just fled from.
Among them, Matt and Joseph Brown, father and son, who’d collectively spent several decades living in this part of southern California. They marveled at the last 24 hours. Joseph had been part of a frantic and chaotic evacuation out of the Palisades when the fire first erupted. He then helped Matt and his family as they rushed to gather up animals’ horses, dogs, and mini donkey before the flames reached them. Chickens and bunnies in a coop, Matt said with sadness, had to be left behind.
Neighbors who stayed, protected by privately hired fire crews, gave him the news shortly after that the coop and its inhabitants along with their guest house was consumed by the fire. (Int’l News Desk)
