I consider myself extremely lucky to not have been close to the Los Angeles Fires of January 2025 that have ravaged neighborhoods in my town this month.
I live in Valley Village, a neighborhood in the southeast corner of the San Fernando Valley, which is almost equidistant from the Palisades Fire to the west and the Eaton Fire to the east, more or less 20 miles from either inferno.
Yet I still experienced the wind – especially on Tuesday, January 7, and the resulting smoke the next morning (see photos here from my morning walk on Wednesday, January 8, looking east and south at the smoke from the Eaton Fires, at least 20 miles away).
Grateful that at times like these, being in a flat area away from the hills is an advantage.
I had an 8-foot balcony shade blow off from its moorings, but that and a few knocked-over planters was about the extent of the damage right here. I was subject to an evacuation zone warning several times though never got the alert to actually evacuate.
However, I know at least two families who lost their homes to fire (both in the Altadena area) and many more who were evacuated. Of all the disasters I’ve experienced in LA, including from the Rodney King Riots and the Northridge Earthquake — this seems the worst, and not in the least because it could happen again next week, next month, next year.
To compound the recovery from these fires, the recent change in U.S. presidents indicate that there could be problems with recovery funding. The felon currently serving as president has said he’d like to make disaster funds political. There are also possible labor issues, as he also wants to deport the majority of the workforce (largely undocumented immigrants) who would reconstruct these homes and businesses.
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