MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
We begin this hour in Los Angeles, where we have been reporting on major fires that broke out this week with potential new ones on the horizon. Several people have died. Thousands of structures have been lost or damaged. There is still very little containment. For the latest, we are joined by Makenna Sievertson. She's a reporter for LAist and has been following the fires closely all week. Hi, McKenna.
MAKENNA SIEVERTSON, BYLINE: Hi, thank you for having me.
KELLY: Hey, so I want to start with two of the most destructive fires on our radar, the Eaton and the Palisades fires. What - where do those two stand?
SIEVERTSON: Yeah. So the Palisades fire has been burning through the Santa Monica Mountains for a few days now. It's the largest at more than 20,000 acres and still stuck at single-digit containment, but I think a lot of folks are just happy to see any containment at all at this point. More than 5,000 structures have been damaged or destroyed in this fire alone. At least two people have died, but unfortunately, all of these numbers are expected to rise as officials and first responders are able to get into these areas. There's also been a significant number of injuries to people who didn't evacuate in time. And officials are calling this one of the most destructive natural disasters in Los Angeles' history.
And with the Eaton fire - that is burning near Eaton Canyon and Altadena. It's the second largest at more than 13,000 acres, and it has even less containment at just 3%. And more than 5,000 structures are estimated to be destroyed. Five people have died. There's been several firefighters that are injured. And there's evacuation warnings and orders still in place for both of those fires. And we are still seeing some other impacts as well, including power outages, and some people are being warned to boil their water or use water bottles for cooking and drinking.
KELLY: Wow. It's just mind-boggling to hear you describe a fire that is 13,000 acres, and it's the second biggest burning right now in LA. What about their smaller wildfires? I gather quite a few, including some new ones today.
SIEVERTSON: Yeah, so a fire started just a few hours ago in Grenada Hills, which is a community in the north San Fernando Valley, and it grew quickly, as all of them have. They've sparked and spread just really quickly, and evacuation orders were issued. It looks like they're starting to get that under control right now. It's not clear what sparked it, but spot fires have started from the embers flying in the air, and this is just one of them. There was another fire that started in the San Fernando Valley community of West Hills yesterday, and that has started push into Ventura County towards the west.
And in the Hollywood Hills, the Sunset fire started near a popular hiking trail, and that's called Runyon Canyon. That was earlier the week on Wednesday night. Evacuation orders started going out within an hour of when that fire was first reported. And some people in west Hollywood were, you know, outside of those evacuation zones but were spooked enough to leave home anyways. And I'd just like to note that the entire Angeles National Forest, which is 700,000 acres of green space in LA and the neighboring counties - that's closed until early next week because of the critical fire danger.
KELLY: So, I mean, what is the atmosphere in LA? How are communities that you're visiting, that you're reporting, and how are they responding?
SIEVERTSON: People are scared, I mean, myself included. I grew up here. I'm no stranger to wildfires, but this has been an incredibly challenging time. I think people are anxious. They - no one expected this amount of devastation and especially in some of the areas that it burned. But communities are really rallying around each other, and that's kind of been a bright spot, at least for me personally. For example, in Pasadena, where our newsroom is based, a shelter is just overwhelmed with donations. The Humane Society parking lot is overflowing with supplies after taking in animals, and people across the area are just offering up whatever space they have. So there - the support is there right now when it is so desperately needed.
KELLY: Makenna Sievertson - she is a reporter for LAist. Thank you so much for bringing us your reporting.
SIEVERTSON: Thank you for having me. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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