Honestly, the sound of the Santa Ana winds in January is enough to give anyone in Southern California a bit of PTSD these days. Last year, that sound was the precursor to a literal nightmare. If you’ve been following the news fire Los Angeles updates lately, you know we just hit the one-year anniversary of the Eaton and Palisades fires. It’s a heavy week for the city. While the smoke has cleared, the courtroom battles and the slow-motion recovery are just heating up.
People are still asking how two fires managed to destroy over 16,000 structures in 2025. It feels like a lifetime ago, yet the scorched hillsides in Altadena and the Palisades are a constant reminder.
The Lawsuit War: Edison vs. Everyone
Just this week, on January 16, 2026, Southern California Edison (SCE) decided to go on the offensive. They filed cross-complaints in the Los Angeles Superior Court. Basically, they're pointing the finger at Los Angeles County, Pasadena Water and Power, and Southern California Gas.
The utility company is claiming that a "series of missteps" by these agencies made the Eaton Fire way more deadly than it should have been. It’s a bold move. Especially since investigators have been looking at one of SCE's own idled power lines as a possible spark for the fire that started on January 7, 2025.
SCE's argument is pretty specific. They say the county failed to send out timely evacuation warnings. They specifically pointed out that 18 of the 19 people who died in the Eaton Fire lived in west Altadena—an area they claim didn't get the word to get out fast enough. They also alleged that water agencies didn't provide enough pressure for the hydrants, leaving firefighters high and dry.
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What’s Happening Right Now?
If you're looking at the current news fire Los Angeles dashboard for today, January 18, 2026, it’s a lot quieter, thank God. But "quiet" in LA still means stuff is burning.
Earlier this morning around 9:47 AM, crews were out in Malibu near Tuna Canyon Road dealing with a refuse fire. A few minutes later, over in Lancaster, there was a traffic collision that sparked a fire at 40th Street West and Avenue K.
Yesterday was busier. Firefighters had to knock down a major recycling yard fire in Atwater Village. It was a 30-by-100-foot pile of junk that sent up a nasty plume of black smoke. Then you had a structure fire in Valley Glen on Califa Street that took 41 firefighters to put out.
The reality is that LA is always on edge.
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The Lingering Scar of the 2025 Disasters
We can’t talk about news fire Los Angeles without acknowledging the sheer scale of what we’re recovering from. The 2025 fires weren't just "brush fires." They were "urban interface" disasters.
- The Eaton Fire: Scorched 22 square miles and killed 19 people.
- The Palisades Fire: Leveled entire neighborhoods in Malibu and Pacific Palisades.
- The Damage: Over $22 billion in insurance claims.
- The Rebuild: This is the part that sucks—as of this month, only a handful of homes have actually been rebuilt.
There's a lot of talk about why the Palisades Fire got so out of hand. Some reports suggest it was a "rekindling" of the Lachman fire from a week prior. There are even texts floating around from firefighters alleging they were ordered to leave the original burn scar even though the ground was still visibly smoldering. That’s the kind of detail that keeps people up at night.
Why It Keeps Getting Worse
Experts like the ones at Morningstar DBRS are saying the "return period" for these massive fires is getting shorter. Basically, we used to think these were 1-in-50-year events. Now? Maybe not.
Climate change is the obvious culprit, but it's also about how we build. We keep pushing homes into the "Wildland-Urban Interface" (WUI). When you have hurricane-force winds—we're talking 100 mph gusts like we saw in 2025—it doesn't matter how many fire hydrants you have if the embers are flying a mile ahead of the front.
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What You Can Actually Do
If you live in a high-risk zone, the "Ready, Set, Go" mantra isn't just a slogan anymore. It's survival.
First, get your "hardened home" strategy together. This means cleaning out the rain gutters—dead leaves are basically fire starters. If you have a vent, cover it with 1/16-inch metal mesh so embers can't drift into your attic.
Second, check your insurance. A lot of people found out the hard way last year that they were underinsured. With the new Disaster Recovery Reform Act (Senate Bill 876) moving through the legislature, there might be more protections soon, but you need to know your current policy limits.
Third, sign up for everything. Get the LAFD alerts. Download the Frontline Wildfire Defense app. Don’t wait for the knock on the door, because as we saw in Altadena, sometimes that knock comes too late.
The fire season in Southern California used to have a start and an end. Now, it’s just a cycle. Stay vigilant, keep your brush cleared, and keep your bags packed.
Actionable Next Steps:
- Audit your vents: Replace any attic or crawlspace vents with ember-resistant versions.
- Update your "Go Bag": Include physical copies of your insurance papers and a 72-hour supply of any essential medications.
- Review your policy: Call your agent to ensure your coverage reflects current 2026 construction costs, which have spiked since the Eaton Fire.