Southern California wildfire thread for Saturday 11 January 2025
Updates will be posted throughout the day here.
1/
Current fire status as of 1443z.
Palisades Fire is 21,596 acres and 11% contained.
Eaton Fire is 14,117 acres and 15% contained.
More than 12,000 structures have been destroyed.
2/
Resources assigned to the Palisades Fire include:
3,700+ Personnel
463 Engines
26 Helicopters
4/
Resources assigned to the Eaton fire include:
2,832 Personnel
391 Engines
112 Tenders
5/
Per radio traffic - N302FD as FIRE2/HELCO (Helicopter Coordinator) has just requested 2 type 1 helicopters immediately as the fire is making a run in the Mandeville area.
6/
Per the National Weather Service: this evening through tomorrow evening, conditions will be favorable for very rapid fire growth and extreme fire behavior with sustained winds of up to 30mph with gusts as high as 70mph.
7/
Fixed wing operations are cranking up over the Palisades Fire.
N3NT as AIR ATTACK has completed their initial checks and ordered 1 lead plane. Tankers will follow soon.
8/
Per radio traffic - DIVISION J is requesting law enforcement to the area of Via de La Paz and Sunset Blvd for possible looting. Suspects driving a white sedan with fire department hats in the windshield. Suspects are now out with Task Force 27. Requesting LE expedite.
9/
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An internal memo from the acting FEMA administrator sent to the White House and obtained by CNN has laid the ground work to shift the expense of disasters from the federal government to the states.
Under current rules, in order for a state to qualify for a federal disaster declaration, the damage & expenses to state and local governments must exceed a threshold called the Per Capita Indicator. The current state PCI rate is $1.89 as of Oct 1, 2024.
At least 18 US Air Force tankers are being staged in the Pacific with several each at Travis AFB in CA, Daniel K. Inouye IAP in HI and Andersen AFB in Guam.
This suggests some kind of large movement of air assets into the Pacific theater will take place this week.
1/
All of these flights are carrying a RCH0## call signs in sequential order from RCH011-RCH033. Mission coding appears to be linked as well.
This is far too many tankers to be supporting SecDef's trip that begins on Monday, however the timing is curious.
Maybe SecDef will have an announcement to make this week while on his trip.
2/
A few tankers are now moving from Guam (PGUA) to Diego Garcia (FJDG). Rumors of B-2s up and westbound out of Whiteman, though no numbers yet given.
USAF KC-135s AE065A as RCH011 and ADFF0D as RCH015 are both en route to FJDG from PGUA with others in the air.