Don Shirley: Pianists make history
Iris Schneider on Annie Leibovitz
Veronique de Turenne: Post-fire, Malibu is a different world.
Archive: Fires
Veronique de Turenne: Post-fire, Malibu is a different world.
Veronique de Turenne is following the Woolsey fire aftermath at Here in Malibu.
Veronique de Turenne: Praying for everyone in all of today's mind-boggling number of fire zones.
"The world stood still today for my sweet husband," his wife posted after a solemn procession Sunday drew crowds along several SoCal freeways. "He is home."
Bullet points: Manson follower not paroled. Veep to end. Tyrus Wong documentary. Midweek media notes. Much more.
This weekend's fire in Los Angeles isn't even the worst La Tuna Canyon fire in recent times.
As of last night, officials had found one body burned to death in a car and counted 18 structures destroyed.
A brush fire started by a car accident this afternoon is burning right up to homes in Calabasas, close to the area of Old Topanga Road and Mulholland Highway.
Afternoon fire at Pick Your Part required 150 firefighters to knock down.
Hundreds of homes were lost on Saturday night. For generations of hot springs soakers and New Age followers, there is more bad news.
KTLA's Courtney Friel was covering the afternoon's brush fire in the Inland Empire foothills on Wednesday when a shirtless man carrying a dog asked her for a date.
Firefighters in and around Glendora stayed on the line tonight to fight the fire that began about 6 a.m. Thursday near homes in the San Gabriel Mountains foothills.
The LAFD sent a massive presence to a fire that broke out this morning on the 11th floor of the Brentwood Plaza residential tower at Wilshire Boulevard and Barrington Avenue.
For the first time since the Rim fire was at its peak, travelers can drive between the Eastern Sierra and the heart of Yosemite National Park.
Here's the latest fact sheet from the incident command post, posted about 20 minutes ago.
The National Park Service posted this time lapse of the Rim fire as observed from the Crane Flate helicopter base and looking north from Glacier Point.
The burn area now covers 301 square miles, but the spread is slowing and officials predict full containment by Sept. 10. Closures continue within Yosemite National Park.
You won't be able to go between the Eastern Sierra and Yosemite Valley starting at noon Wednesday. Fire suppression efforts will be going on along the high country road. The fire has now burned across 184,481 acres.
The Rim fire in and around the west side of Yosemite National Park jumped Monday to 160,980 charred acres, with new evacuations outside the park. But firefighters were able to declare 20% containment.
It is what the headline says it is. County fire used to use motorcycles to get around.
Anyone making the flights up and down California this morning could not fail to be impressed and awed by the monster smoke cloud being sent up over the Sierra from the Rim Fire. Check out the view inside.
Most of Yosemite National Park is not affected by the giant Rim Fire — check out the High Sierra cam from a few minutes ago. The northern route into the park and the area around Hetch Hetchy are closed. Here's the latest update.
Just awful news out of the Prescott area in central Arizona. Nineteen firefighters who were battling a fire near Yarnell in Yavapai County were overrun by flames and deployed their shelters. They were later found dead in and around the shelters. All but one is from the Prescott FD's hotshot team.
The wild bobcats that roam the west end of the Santa Monica Mountains have had it hard in recent times. Now biologists fear profound threats to survival.
More than 1,200 homes are considered threatened. Fifteen have been damaged, including six that were destroyed. The fire command said at midnight that 22,242 acres have burned and there was 20% containment.
Since it looks as if the SoCal fire season is going to be long and mean, scientist-blogger Grace Peng offers a primer on the physics of flames and wind here. Plus: Reuters photographer Jonathan Alcorn on an eerie night at the Camarillo Springs fire.
The wildfire that began near Camarillo Springs Road and U.S. 101 spread to 28,000 acres on Friday, but firefighters kept the flames from engulfing any homes for a second day. Residents fled several neighborhoods, however, as the fire jumped ridges and moved toward communities such as Hidden Valley.
Brush conditions around Camarillo are like October, fire officials say — and it's only May. More than 6,500 acres have scorched, forcing evacuations, but no homes have been destroyed. Burned agricultural buildings in the strawberry fields near Cal State Channel Islands have raised concerns about toxic smoke.
Firefighters were dropping water on a fire that began beside Sepulveda Boulevard on the east rim of Sepulveda Pass when smoke was spotted rising a few miles away at Muholland Drive and Coldwater Canyon Avenue. A third blaze near Mulholland apparently got started due to a power transformer blowing.
That smoke tower you probably see if you are in the Los Angeles area is from a brush fire that broke out this afternoon in the San Gabriel Mountain foothills above Azusa. Looks to be a bit of pyrocumulus action happening at the top of the plume. By about 5 p.m. the fire had swept across 700 acres, authorities told the media.
Frisco was led to safety by his owners when a fire burned close to the family home. But he might have suffered stress and smoke inhalation.
Some 41,000 acres at the Big Tujunga Canyon end of the Angeles National Forest reopened this weekend for the first time since the big Station Fire in 2009. Read more
Tonight's fire at the corner of Santa Monica Boulevard and Orange Avenue wasn't just in another storefront. It's the former location of Radio Recorders, a legendary sound studio.
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa says at the presser that Burkhart has been booked on one count of arson. Chief Beck says they got their man.
The German native is 24 years old and suspected of setting as many as 53 fires, with property damage over $2 million.
Kurt Kamm's "Red Flag Warning" is about an arsonist setting fires around Los Angeles.
A German man who several sources said "is believed to be the same person seen in a surveillance video released by police Sunday" was detained by a reserve sheriff's deputy this morning near Sunset and Fairfax.
Police distributed video Sunday of a man they say was seen near more than one of the fires in the recent spree of arson fires that has centered in Hollywood and West Hollywood. Plus more updates and a Facebook page.
The new fires, inside the Hollywood and Highland parking structure and in a Hollywood home's carport, came as authorities deployed hundreds of extra firefighters, patrol cars, undercover officers and helicopters to fight the mysterious ongoing arson string.
Los Angeles police and fire officials suspect the string of 35 or more suspicious fires reported since Friday morning have been set by more than one arsonist.
What do you think of the bizarro temps this afternoon?
Cartoon by Steve Greenberg.
Ahead of the vernal equinox and the Persian celebration of Nowruz, the L.A. Fire Department blog has posted a reminder — in english and Persian.
In November it will be 50 years since one of the city's scariest wind-whipped fire storms burned through Brentwood and Bel Air.
Glenn Allen had been with the Los Angeles Fire Department for 38 years and had been contemplating retirement. He died after noon today of injuries incurred while battling a house fire in the Hollywood Hills on Thursday.
On this day, the Rodney Kings riots erupted in 1992 and the Central Library burned in 1986.
At 2:30 this afternoon, the Los Angeles Fire Department will supervise
the full evacuation of the Aon Building, the 62-story tower at Wilshire and Hope that was known as the First Interstate Tower when a fire broke out on the 12th floor in 1988.
Northbound freeway traffic was snarled briefly near Getty Center Drive.
This week's snowfall covered some of the ash from the Station Fire that has given the San Gabriel Mountains a sickly appearance. Snow is also better than rain when it...
Over the weekend, La Crescenta author Bernadette Murphy had a nice opinion piece in the L.A. Times invoking John McPhee and his seminal writing on debris flows out of the...
This is pretty dramatic. Photo from NASA Earth Observatory, hat tip to Emily Green of Chance of Rain. Click it to see full sized....
See more by Steve Greenberg in the LA Sketchbook archive....
Times Op-Ed columnist Gregory Rodriguez, who is the man behind Zócalo, ponders today what it means that so many Angelenos were torn between horror and awe by the Station Fire's...
Firefighters from Tuolumne and Calaveras counties knew well the history and scientific treasure that was at stake when the Station Fire threatened the Mount Wilson Observatory. They made it their...
Residents who lost their homes in last year's fire at the Oakridge mobile home park in Sylmar urged patience for the latest crop of rebuilders on KPCC's Off-Ramp. Also on...
While local television has been skimping on fire coverage, the L.A. Times has been going all out. I'm planning to give props in my KCRW segment today (4:44 p.m. at...
At the morning shift change at the Hansen Dam command post, more than 1,000 firefighters paused to remember Capt. Tedmund Hall and Arnaldo Quinones, the County Fire veterans who died...
Ted Kennedy's letter about Sirhan — plus more politics, fires and books — in the news and notes hidden below the jump. Also see Mark Lacter's morning headlines at LA...
Staff writer Susan Orlean has been in Los Angeles some of the summer and offers a blog entry on The New Yorker website about the week of fires. Excerpt: All...
See more LA Sketchbook by Steve Greenberg in his archive. Click on the cartoon to view it larger....
Improving fire conditions and a familiar name appointed to the Board of Public Works lead this morning's news and notes. Also see Mark Lacter's morning headlines at LA Biz Observed,...
The San Francisco Fire Department refused a state request to send a strike team south to join the thousands of firefighters — many from out of state — on the...
Here's the latest page from the U.S. Forest Service command post, with evacuations and other data. The Station Fire stands at 121,762 acres....
Where Eric Spiegelman's weekend fire film has drama and altitude, Dan Finnerty's has flame. Lots of flame....
I love this paragraph for what it says about the quirkiness of Los Angeles, or at least of the Tujunga area. Much more authentic and telling than the media meme...
If it's not a word, it should be. TJ Sullivan's daily view from the Westside captures perhaps the week's most voluminous pyrocumulus cloud yet, dwarfing the InterContinental Hotel in Century...
Incident commander Mike Dietrich just told the 5 p.m. media briefing that the weather is still working against firefighters in the Angeles National Forest. "This is a very angry fire...
While other local TV stations have been skimping on fire coverage, PBS station KCET is doing more than it ever has before: as of 1:30 p.m. today, Channel 28 is...
I'll do a fire news roundup after the 5 p.m. briefing at Hansen Dam. Meanwhile, flying in or out of Los Angeles has been more visually dramatic during the fires....
The webcam on UCLA's tower in the Mount Wilson solar observatory complex has no picture right now. Not clear if the outage is traffic or fire caused. [* Update: Comes...
Steve Greenberg weighs in on the early fire season. And please, close cover before striking. Click to view bigger and go here for the LA Sketchbook archive. Fires coverage gathered...
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's face was not in evidence in the fire coverage this weekend — it has been a county, state and national forest show. But with the fire coming...
Wow. The Station Fire is now at 85,000 acres — and there have been no Santa Ana winds pushing this monster along. Some homes were lost last night near Acton,...
What begins as a behind-the-scenes video of the fire camp and media swarm at Hansen Dam turns into an emotional briefing on the deaths of two Los Angeles County firefighters....
View to the west from the Mt. Wilson Solar Observatory tower cam five minutes ago. Smoky, but operating. Click to embiggen. Earlier at LA Observed: Mt. Wilson in danger (with...
The two firefighters killed in a vehicle accident Sunday on Mount Gleason above Acton were identified by the Los Angeles County Fire Department. Tedmund Hall, who lived in San Bernardino...
Here is today's image from Earth Snapshot. Click it to biggify....
Tonight's briefing at the fire command post at Hansen Dam began with deputy chief Mike Bryant of the county fire department announcing that two of his men died about 2:30...
KNX News Radio just tweeted (and presumably reported on the air) that firefighters have been pulled off Mount Wilson: "Officials expect critical communications point to be overrun by fire about...
* Updated through the afternoon The fire front in the San Gabriels stretches 19 miles east to west, with containment essentially at nil. Previously evacuated area in La Cañada...
Channel 9's fire coverage in the 9 o'clock hour included several minutes with reporter Dave Lopez on the battle by firefighters to save the La Cañada Flintridge home of the...
Los Angeles lawyer web content producer Eric Spiegelman, an LA Observed reader from way back, made a time lapse video — 90 minutes in 24 seconds — of the smoke...
The city La Cañada Flintridge has been emailing out expanded mandatory evacuation areas all morning as the Station Fire spreads unchecked, now over 7,500 acres. Authorities now want to clear...
Fires and more Villaraigosa shakeup follows lead the news and notes tucked after the jump. Follow LA Observed updates on Twitter through the day....
Channel 4 has cut into programming to cover a wildfire on the Palos Verdes Peninsula that looks to be starting to burn buildings. The fire was reported just before 8...
It's been exceptionally clear out near the beach this week, but today from Downtown or so east the drifting smoke from the brush fire above Azusa has spurred an official...
Smoke is much reduced out here. Jonathan Alcorn shot this photo when the plume was still growing....
The Getty Museum is being evacuated down through Brentwood as a precaution due to a fire burning in brush a ridge or two to the north in Sepulevda Pass. Damn...
Lori Jablons sends this photo of a brush fire burning this afternoon in the hills behind her Lake View Terrace neighborhood. "You can see the flames within the smoke, and...
News coverage of the Jesusita Fire is everywhere. Status report from Santa Barbara County Fire as of 11:15 p.m.: • 2,739 acres burned • 10% contained • Damage assessment in...
Driving home tonight from Downtown, the air grew freakishly warmer the closer we got to the beach. Ninety miles north in Santa Barbara, high winds kicked up Tuesday's wildfire to...
Santa Barbara and Montecito residents who lost their homes in last week's wildfire include actor Christopher Lloyd and retired Los Angeles Times Senior Editor Noel Greenwood, who oversaw the coverage...
Here's NASA's shot of SoCal's fires as seen from space. No wonder the South Coast AQMD wants us all to stop breathing so hard. Oh -- and from LAist: A...
The worst of SoCal's many fires are in Orange County (above), where more than 150 homes have burned and 1,000 more are in harm's way. OC Register Lots of first-person...
Dear Glendale, Not enough smoke in the smoke-choked air for you? Not to worry! Those fireworks we planned for the Christmas tree lighting on Saturday night which, in a burst...
Why am I blogging on a Saturday night? Because PCH to Santa Monica, where I was supposed to meet friends for dinner and a movie, is a parking lot. An...
That's the word from the National Weather Service, which expects high winds in LA County to last until 2 p.m.. Meanwhile, fires now burn in Montecito, Sylmar, Corona and Brea....
Between the Times' photogs and picture editors, they've got some great fire photo galleries on the site. But just as remarkable are civilian shots like this one. Here's a link...
The strong smell of smoke woke me and we've got another fire. In Sylmar this time, driven by what the LAFD called near-hurricane-force winds. At least 2,600 acres burned and,...
The latest stats on the Tea fire in Santa Barbara County stand at 2,500 acres burned, more than 100 homes destroyed, and more than 1,800 news items that mention Oprah...
Even as water-dropping aircraft dip into low reservoirs in the Santa Barbara area, residents have been asked to cut their water use to near-zero. Wash your face and brush your...
Mandatory evacuations as a wildfire races through the Santa Barbara area, tears through Montecito. Winds gusting to 50-plus mph. Power out in parts of the city. Stories from LA Times,...
Here we go again -- more hot and windy weather on the way. Guy McCarthy at Watershed News gathers the details: Just a few days after a cold front contributed...
On tonight's NBC Nightly News, my ears perked up when anchor Brian Williams introduced a story by saying a world-famous museum came "dangerously close" to being burned by fire today....
The Getty Center will remain closed today to visitors and most staff to help reduce traffic congestion resulting from this morning's hillside brush fire (now out) in Sepulveda Pass. The...
Kagel Canyon looked scorched but almost serene over the weekend. The locals had put up signs thanking the firefighters who knocked down last week's wildfire. Here's a one-minute video of...
Mark Hull, publisher of Red Hen Press, got the word to get out of his Granada Hills home office as the Sesnon Fire bore down. Which books did he choose...
The fire that began on Oat Mountain above Porter Ranch doubled in size overnight to 9,872 acres and was burning southwest across Ventura County, while the Marek fire that began...
The two wildfires burning in and around Los Angeles have destroyed at least three dozen mobile homes in Lopez Canyon and 19 structures, many of them homes, in the area...
Los Angeles County fire chief P. Michael Freeman is quoted on City News Service saying that firefighters are doing their best to check the Porter Ranch-Browns Canyon fire "from making...
The campus is probably five miles from the nearest flames, but the heavy smoke over the Valley and interrupted freeways prompted CSUN to cancel afternoon and evening classes. Also, Chatsworth...
Channel 7 just reported that, with the wind blowing more fiercely, evacuations have just been called for Box Canyon, Woolsey Canyon, Bell Canyon, Dayton Canyon and Lake Manor. KABC thought...
It's by Mel Melcon of the Los Angeles Times, on LATimes.com. It shows the smoke roiling off the Sesnon fire in Browns Canyon and Porter Ranch....
Channel 4 says there is a report that someone died in a car fire on the freeway near DeSoto Avenue, a bit east of where the Sesnon fire has jumped...
* Updated post Twin Lakes and Indian Hills, two communities hard up against the brush north of Chatsworth, are evacuating. Flames are moving across Browns Canyon, the access up to...
* Update: All Los Angeles TV new stations are live on the fires. A fast-moving new fire has erupted in the Santa Susana Mountains and is laying down smoke on...
Brush is burning in the Little Tujunga Canyon area and threatening ranches and homes from there down into Lake View Terrace. About 1,000 people have been ordered to evacuate in...
Dana Goodyear has been blogging on the fires for The New Yorker and has a Talk of the Town piece in this week. Excerpt: Southern Californians don’t like to wake...
Now the finger pointing With the fires claiming at least 1,165 homes in Southern California, some firefighters are saying the region wasn't prepared. "It is an absolute fact, had we...
NASA satellites view the Southern California fires from space.
Attention hill dwellers: It's brush clearance season for you. Los Angeles Fire Department inspectors are out checking all 129,647 parcels in the scarily named Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone,...
New at LA Observed
Clinton fundraises in LA
Jim Henson Studios on La Brea became a presidential campaign stop on Thursday.
Brown declares disaster area
The natural gas leak above Porter Ranch now qualifies for various government actions. Story
Performing arts with cheer
Donna Perlmutter closes out 2015 with productions downtown and on the Westside.
