The Palisades Fire burns in the hillside above the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)
The deadly fires ravaging Los Angeles this week have destroyed thousands of homes from the Pacific Coast to the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, and by the time the firestorm finally subsides, it is likely to be the costliest wildfire disaster in U.S. history.
The two largest blazes — the Palisades Fire and the Eaton Fire — have burned more than 27,000 acres combined and remain completely uncontained.
Although that’s far from the scale of the largest wildfires in California history, the flames barreled directly into populated areas on the fringes of a sprawling metropolis, fueled by hurricane-force winds and drought-parched brush.
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It will be days, if not weeks, before the extent of the damage is clear. But satellite imagery from San Francisco-based Planet Labs provides a glimpse at how much has burned already.
These photos may look strange. That’s because they are what’s known as false-color images.
A false-color satellite image taken on Jan. 8, 2025, by Planet Labs, which displays healthy vegetation in red, shows where the Palisades Fire burned through the Santa Monica Mountains and the neighborhood of Pacific Palisades, stretching to the ocean. (Courtesy Planet Labs PBC)
The NRG false-color images here display near-infrared light — which is invisible to the human eye — in red. Because plants reflect infrared light strongly, land that is covered in vegetation shows up as deep red. Denser plant growth appears darker red, making such images helpful for showing the health of vegetation — or where it has been wiped out completely by wildfire.
The photo above, taken Wednesday, shows where the Palisades Fire burned through the Santa Monica Mountains and the coastal Los Angeles neighborhood of Pacific Palisades.
Remember, healthy vegetation shows up as red, so all the land that isn’t red — partially obscured by a thick plume of smoke in the center of the image — is burned.
A zoomed-in detail of Planet Labs’ false-color satellite image from Jan. 8, 2025, shows where the Palisades Fire burned through the heart of Pacific Palisades. The glow of flames can be seen near Palisades Charter High School in the center-left of the image. (Courtesy Planet Labs PBC)
Here, a zoomed-in detail of the image shows more closely the fire’s path through the heart of Pacific Palisades, stretching all the way to Will Rogers State Beach at the bottom of the image.
The glow of flames can be seen near Palisades Charter High School, which was reportedly all but destroyed, in the center-left of the image.
Another detailed section of the Palisades Fire satellite image shows where the blaze burned through a Santa Monica Mountains community known as the Summit at Palisades Highlands.
A zoomed-in detail of Planet Labs’ false-color satellite image from Jan. 8, 2025, shows where the Palisades Fire burned through a community known as the Summit at Palisades Highlands in the Santa Monica Mountains. (Courtesy Planet Labs PBC)
Preliminary reports suggest that the Palisades Fire alone has damaged or destroyed thousands of structures, officials said in a news conference on Thursday.
“It is safe to say that the Palisades Fire is one of the most destructive natural disasters in the history of Los Angeles,” L.A. Fire Department Chief Kristin Crowley said.
Nearly 30 miles inland, northeast of the city of Los Angeles, the Eaton Fire has torn through neighborhoods in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains.
The interactive slider below overlays two false-color satellite images from Planet Labs. On the left is an image taken Monday, the day before the fires broke out, and on the right is an image taken Wednesday.
It shows a wide swath of the San Gabriels along with foothill communities below. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is on the left edge of the images, and the city of Sierra Madre is on the right.
Just north of Pasadena, the fire destroyed entire blocks in the unincorporated community of Altadena.
The image below shows a zoomed-in section of Wednesday’s satellite photo from the interactive slider. All of the non-red land in the center is burned vegetation in the foothills of the San Gabriels, and at the bottom is Altadena, obscured by smoke.
A zoomed-in detail of a satellite image taken on Jan. 8, 2025, by Planet Labs, which displays healthy vegetation in red, shows where the Eaton Fire burned through the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains and into the community of Altadena, seen at the bottom of the image obscured by smoke. (Courtesy Planet Labs PBC)
For information on how to support people affected by the L.A. County firestorm and resources for fire victims, visit this guide by KQED’s Nisa Khan.
Firefighters are continuing to battle the fires and had begun to slow their spread on Thursday, but wind gusts are expected to strengthen again Thursday evening into Friday morning.
The interactive map below shows the latest on the fires.