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A Canadian “Super Scooper” aircraft fighting the Palisades Fire in Los Angeles had to be grounded after it hit a drone flying in restricted airspace over the devastating blaze on Thursday, the local fire department said.
The specifically designed CL-415 firefighting planes are used to scoop up more than 1,500 gallons of ocean water to drop on active fires.
The plane in question, Quebec 1, “sustained wing damage and remains grounded and out of service,” Los Angeles Fire Department spokesperson Erik Scott said, adding that there were no reported injuries.
The collision caused the temporary grounding of all aircraft responding to the Palisades Fire, The War Zone reported, citing Cal Fire. It was one of the two such planes deployed to the site, The War Zone said.
The LAFD released photos of the plane – bearing the tail number C-GQBG – showing a hole in the front of one its wings. C-GQBG is listed on multiple flight tracking websites as a Canadair CL-415.
Two CL-415 planes are sent annually to California from the Canadian province of Quebec, under a 31-year-old agreement between their respective governments, CNN newsgathering partner CBC reported.
Sarah Bensadoun, a spokesperson for Quebec’s Transport Ministry, told CBC the province sends a firefighting team of 25 pilots and 20 technicians.
Celebrity Paris Hilton revealed the charred remains of her Malibu home in a video posted to X on Thursday.
“I’m standing here in what used to be our home, and the heartbreak is truly indescribable,” she wrote in the post.
“So many people have lost everything. It’s not just walls and roofs—it’s the memories that made those houses homes,” she added.
Hilton said she learned her Malibu home was lost while watching it burn live on TV, writing on her Instagram page the image is something “no one should ever have to experience.”
A wildfire has razed much of the Pacific Palisades neighborhood in Los Angeles, new satellite imagery from Maxar Technologies shows.
Structures visible in satellite images taken in October are largely destroyed in images taken Thursday.
As wildfires rage through California’s hillside communities, firefighters grappled with water supply systems that could not meet the soaring demands of their efforts.
In Pacific Palisades – which is at the far end of the municipal water system and experiences reduced water flow due to decreasing pipe sizes extending from the main line – hydrants temporarily ran dry early Wednesday, raising concerns among residents and officials due to conflicting explanations about water availability.
Despite reports of ample water from local water officials, logistical challenges in delivering water supplies far from the main supply system persisted.
To bolster supply, three massive storage tanks, each with a capacity of one million gallons, were installed to support neighborhood hydrants, according to city officials. Tanks went dry sporadically throughout Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, leading water pressure in hydrants to drop.
“Those tanks help with the pressure on the fire hydrants in the hills in the Palisades, and because we were pushing so much water in our (main supply line), and so much water was being used … we were not able to fill the tanks fast enough,” Janisse Quiñones, chief executive officer of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power told reporters Wednesday. “The consumption of water was faster than we can provide water in a (main) line.”
Erik Scott, spokesperson for the Los Angeles Fire Department, said Wednesday that the storage tanks in the Palisades area had been filled in advance of the fires, but this preparation fell short of meeting “extreme demand.”
He explained that “water availability was impacted at higher elevations, which affected some fire hydrants due to limited replenishment of water tanks in those areas.”
No other location has had problems getting water where it needs to go, said Michelle Figueroa, a spokesperson for the city water department. “The issue is unique to the Palisades because of the demand from the firefighting efforts.”
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass dismissed criticism regarding the depletion of fire hydrants, asserting that the scale of destruction was not solely due to water supply issues.
“We all know that this has been an unprecedented event,” Bass said Thursday. “We also know that fire hydrants are not constructed to deal with this type of massive devastation.”
Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Kristin Crowley spoke to residents concerned about the hydrant system on Thursday, explaining that firefighters are trained to manage water shortages. “We’ll figure out a way to draft water from pools, ponds and use water tenders carrying thousands of gallons,” Crowley said in a news conference.
“The whole drawdown on the system is really — when you have millions of gallons of water being used, that takes its toll on the whole system at large,” Mike Lopez, an executive board member of California Professional Firefighters, told CNN.
Officials told CNN the situation regarding hydrants in the Palisades area began to stabilize Thursday.
Los Angeles Unified School District officials will provide two free meals to the community as schools remain shut on Friday due to hazardous air quality, said Alberto Carvalho, chief of the public school group.
Eighty percent of the district’s students depend on free breakfast and lunch to survive, he told CNN’s Polo Sandoval.
“If we shut down schools and did not have a vehicle by which we continue food distribution, many of our children would go hungry.”
“That is why, notwithstanding the fact that our schools are shut down, we continue to provide free food to our community.”
Carvalho said that eight distribution sites had opened, and that number would double today.
“We do not stop at food. We also partner with entities to set up 30 childcare centers at no cost to the families,” he said.
A curfew is in place across areas of Los Angeles County under evacuation orders from 6 p.m to 6 a.m. nightly, as authorities look to crack down on looters in the areas hit by wildfires.
The curfew will last until county officials lift the order. It bars people from public places in evacuation zones, except those working on the fire response or seeking medical treatment.
Anyone caught violating the curfew could face fines of up to $1,000 or a prison sentence of up to six months.
It comes after California Gov. Gavin Newsom approved a request for National Guard assistance from Los Angeles County, and warned: “To those who would seek to take advantage of evacuated communities, let me be clear: looting will not be tolerated.”
Hundreds of members of the National Guard have been sent to boost the capacity of local law enforcement and stationed at traffic control points to ensure safety, according to a statement from Newsom’s office.
At least 20 people have been arrested in the county for looting during the wildfires, Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger said at a news conference Thursday.
“We will not allow this to continue to happen,” she said, calling the looters “opportunists” and adding: “I will not stand by and allow an already traumatic experience to be further compounded.”
Without a moment to think, Pacific Palisades resident Francois Auroux fled his home on a bicycle after receiving evacuation orders from the fire department.
Days later, he learned that his house had burned down from photos he got from another evacuee. “I was pretty sure it was gone, but those photos confirmed it,” he told CNN’s Polo Sandoval.
Auroux was tearful after hearing for the first time from Sandoval that people in his community had died in the fire.
Auroux said that the winds were the strongest gusts he had ever seen in the city for January.
“I’ve never seen wind like that. It was a heat hurricane.”
When asked if he thought any issues should be addressed to try and prevent or minimize the impact of future disasters, Auroux stressed the urgent need to reduce fossil fuel production to combat climate change.
Despite his losses, Auroux is hopeful that Pacific Palisades will rebuild itself, citing the swift response of authorities and the camaraderie in his community.
The blazes that are ravaging Los Angeles County have killed at least 10 people, with officials warning that the actual toll won’t be clear until it’s safe for investigators to access damaged areas.
Whole neighborhoods have been devastated, with as many as 10,000 structures destroyed between the coastal Palisades Fire, which is now the most destructive ever to hit the county, and the Eaton Fire.
Many residents will wake up to hazardous conditions as polluted air poses a threat — even for those far from the flames.
Residents have been urged to leave their homes and businesses behind. Nearly 180,000 people in the county are under evacuation orders, and about another 200,000 are under evacuation warnings.
Need to evacuate? Here’s a list of hotels with rooms available for wildfire victims.
The major fires: The Palisades Fire has exploded to more than 19,000 acres with 6% containment as of early Friday morning. The fast-moving Eaton Fire is at 13,000 acres and 0% contained. The Hurst Fire is at least 771 acres and 37% contained, while the newer Kenneth Fire is at 1,000 acres and is 35% contained.
Here’s the latest:
- Vulnerable residents killed: An amputee and his son died in the wildfire in Altadena, the Washington Post reported. Anthony Mitchell, 67, a retired salesman and amputee who relied on a wheelchair, lived with his son Justin, who was in his early 20s and living with cerebral palsy. Authorities told his family that Mitchell was found by his son’s bed. Also in Altadena, 83-year-old Rodney Nickerson.
- Wind still fueling the fires: Firefighting teams are expecting more wind and dry conditions to continue to complicate efforts into next week. If the wind speeds are too high, emergency aircraft won’t be able to aid fire teams on the ground.
- Flames out in Altadena: Satellite imagery showed that fires were largely going out across much of Altadena over the past 24 hours. But much of the Eaton Fire continued to rage in the mountains east of Altadena.
- Military deployments: Eight C-130 military transport planes have been sent to support firefighting efforts. The California National Guard will be deployed to help law enforcement.
- Community facilities damaged: Sewers, power and transportation in the county have been significantly damaged. In Altadena, the library and a community church were among the buildings destroyed.
- The toll on firefighters: Many of the firefighters battling wildfires have been working non-stop and carrying up to 100 pounds of gear, a union spokesperson told CNN. It has also been extremely challenging for the Los Angeles Fire Department to battle the historic wildfires while already facing staffing and resource shortages, according to Capt. Erik Scott.
- Learning disrupted: Schools will remain closed today, with smoke and other pollution threatening air quality, according to Alberto Carvalho, superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District. Remote learning remains at multiple universities.
- Looting threat: Authorities in the area have been warning of looters and scammers and have made arrests. Los Angeles County will impose a curfew between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. in areas that are under mandated evacuation to aid the crackdown.
Authorities arrested a man on suspicion of arson, after receiving a call from a witness who saw the suspect “attempting to light a fire,” the Los Angeles Police Department told CNN over email.
The arrest was made in the 21700 block of Ybarra Road in Woodland Hills at 4:32 p.m. Thursday, police said, adding that they cannot confirm whether the suspect had any connection to the Kenneth Fire at this time.
The suspect is in custody and was transported to Topanga Station. Police say the investigation is ongoing.
When Jimmy Wang and his family evacuated their home in Altadena on Tuesday evening, he “100% believed” he’d come back the next day to “minor damages.”
However, upon returning to their home the following day, they found their neighborhood – including their home – burnt to the ground.
“I often think about whether or not I could have made a difference if I would have stayed back and used my hose,” Wang told CNN.
“I think everyone’s initial reaction to the destruction is profound sadness. Like a death of identity,” he said upon seeing his neighborhood.
“I mean, our neighborhood was perfect, your conscious just can’t imagine such calamities actually happening, but the reality is, it can all go just like that and you’ve got to assess, what is important, why?” Wang said, adding his frustration at what he called “bad policies which could have prevented this.”
His wife, Sara, documented the return to their home in a series of videos that went viral on TikTok. In one video, Sara gave an “MTV Cribs” style tour of the now burnt down home.
“Hey guys, welcome to my crib,” she says walking through the remains of the family home. “We could light a fire, but I think we already have one back here,” she jokes as she walks past a fire pit, one of the few things left standing – while pointing out a small fire still burning in the background.
“We all cope differently I suppose,” Wang said.
The family purchased the home in 2022 and spent a year doing major renovations before moving in. “We made our home a place to experience love, camaraderie, peace, curiosity, laughter,” Wang said.
He is now struggling to explain to his two-and-a-half-year-old son that their home is gone, he said. In one video Sara shared to TikTok, his son can be heard saying, “I don’t want my house to be burned” while crying after seeing a video of the charred remains of the family home.
“You feel deep compassion for your fellow man and your neighborhood. Relief and gratitude that at least some homes were spared. A great deal of fear at the loss of income and what uncertainties which may lie ahead. The spectrum of emotion is endless,” he said.
“It makes us all cry. My parents who live with us. Sara, me, both the children. But it also gives us hope that we can rebuild,” Wang said.
CNN is tracking the life-threatening fires as they race across Los Angeles County and surrounding areas.
Since October, Southern California has experienced increasing dryness, as fall and winter storms focused on the Pacific Northwest. Last winter brought abundant rain and snow to the Southwest, but this winter has taken a starkly different turn. This shift in weather patterns, swinging between extremes, is becoming more common with the warming climate.
Air quality is a major concern as the fires continue to burn:
The summer months are typically the most significant for wildfire damage in California statewide. Wildfires like this are rare in January.
See more of CNN’s charts on the fires.
Air quality sits at “unhealthy” levels for many parts of Southern California as raging wildfires fill the air with smoke and ash.
Shortly after midnight on Friday, San Marino, near the Eaton fire, had an air quality index of 431, according to IQair.
This index is well into “hazardous” levels, or a level 6 of 6 on the air quality index scale.
Air quality alerts are in place across much of the area, with many neighborhoods exposed to “unhealthy” levels.
UCLA epidemiology professor Anne Rimoin previously told CNN that the potential health hazards could be dire.
She said fine particles could penetrate deep into humans’ lungs, while poor air quality would acutely affect those with chronic conditions, pregnant women and young people.
