Hollywood Week: LA Fires Produce Catastrophic Devastation, LA Awards Season Paused
- Details
- Category: Entertainment News
- Published on Saturday, 11 January 2025 10:24
- Written by Janet Walker
In any other year, the first full week after the Golden Globes would be a rush of Awards Show parties, and celebrations as the excitement to the Oscars increased. This week, Los Angeles is a much different place.
This week Los Angeles is the scene of a catastrophic disaster of apocalyptic proportion. If it were a movie, it would be directed by Roland Emmerich, and it would be a blockbuster. Unfortunately, this is reality and the cataclysmic devastation produced by a ring of multiple fires surrounding densely populated neighborhoods, enclaves of the wealthy, and communities of the common man, all united by this traumatic and shocking loss, brought on by fires so consuming that raged, unabated, incinerating everything in its path.
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Fueled by California's winter Santa Ana winds, coupled with an extreme heat over the summer months and scant rainfall in October, southern California has had one of the driest years on record. This dry season left the vast forests, and grasslands, parched, essentially a tinder box, and although to date, the cause of initial fire which sparked the devastation in the Pacific Palisades which roared into Malibu, has not been determined. The unusually high wind event, with sustained winds clocked at hurricane category 1 force (75mph to 95mph) and gusts hitting category 2 hurricane force levels (96 mph to 110 mph) grounded any possibility of ariel support.
Meaning all anyone could do was watch in horror as the fast-moving Pacific Palisades fire devoured home after home. The Pacific Palisades fire has burned 22,661 acres or 35.407 square miles and is 11% contained. A new round of Santa Ana winds has caused the fire to surge and forced a new round of evacuations including all of neighboring communities of Brentwood and Encino.
The embers from the first night of devastation carried by the winds ignited several other equally devastating and catastrophic fires. The town of Altadena, a small community at the base of the Angeles Forest, near the town of Pasadena, resembles bombed out neighborhoods from war photos as row after row, block after block, neighborhood after neighborhood is gone, incinerated. The Altadena fire has burned 13,690 acres and is 3% contained.
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During that first night, besides the Pacific Palisades fire, four other infernos labeled The Eaton Fire erupted (Altadena/Pasadena area, 15% contained and still burning) The Hurst Fire, (771 acres, 70% contained), the Kenneth Fire in West Hills, (1,052 acres, 50% contained) and during the night mandatory evacuation were ordered for the Hollywood Hills areas, which threatened many of the iconic Hollywood structures and attractions, as vegetation caught fire near Franklin Avenue.
The combined fires have resulted in more than 12,397 homes being destroyed, including supermarkets, coffee shops, banks, churches, schools.
Golden Globes Winners
Awards Season Paused
With the total impact of the fires still unknown, the calendar of Awards Season events has been altered out of respect for the thousands of Angelenos who are confronting unprecedented and unfathomable devastation.
The British Academy Film and Television event scheduled for today, January 11, 2025, has been cancelled and not rescheduled.
The Screen Actors Guild announced nominations Tuesday, cancelling the live event and moving to a press release. The Directors Guild also opted for a press release announcement.
The Critics Choice Awards initially scheduled for Tuesday, January 12, 2025, were cancelled and has been rescheduled to January 26, 2025. The event was scheduled to be held in Santa Monica at the Baker Hanger. To date, this structure is still standing.
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The Academy Awards announced the nominations would be delayed from the original scheduled announcement of Friday, January 17, 2025, to Sunday, January 19, 2025. It is unclear if this will be a live with an audience or virtual announcement.
Many of the Los Angeles based productions have been shut down, Universal Studios and City Walk are closed, as are numerous other attractions, and outdoor activities, scheduled premieres have been canceled. All professional sports teams are monitoring the situation daily.
The Los Angeles Rams, scheduled for a playoff game against the Minnesota Vikings in Inglewood's Sofi Stadium has been moved to Glendale, Arizona for the Monday night playoff game.
"Rams President Kevin Demoff said 35,000 Rams season ticket holders bought tickets to their Monday night game against the Vikings, which had originally been a home game at SoFi Stadium but will now be played on the Cardinals' home field in Arizona. The Rams are coordinating to help fans get transportation to the game, about seven hours away, on Monday," NBCsports.com.
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Janet Walker is the publisher, founder, and sole owner of Haute-Lifestyle.com. A graduate of New York University, she has been covering international news through the Beltway Insider, a weekly review of the nation's top stories, for more than a decade. A general beat writer/reporter and entertainment/film critic, she is also an accomplished news/investigative news/crime reporter and submitted for Pulitzer Prize consideration "Cops Conspire to Deep Six Sex Assaults" in the Breaking News Category and was persuaded to withdraw the submission. Ms. Walker has completed five screenplays, "The Six Sides of Truth," "The Assassins of Fifth Avenue," "The Wednesday Killer," "The Manhattan Project," and the sci-fi thriller "Project 13: The Last Day." She is a member of the Los Angeles Press Club, the National Writers Union, and the International Federation of Journalists.
