By Jordan B. Darling
Source Pasadena Star-News, Calif.
Areas under mandatory evacuation orders due to the Palisades and Eaton fires burning in Los Angeles County could be under a 12-hour curfew starting as early as Thursday evening, Jan. 9.
At a news conference earlier in the day, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna announced the potential curfew as part of an effort to combat looting and crime in the burned areas. Once implemented, the curfew would be in effect from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., according to officials.
The evacuated areas are off limits to everyone except first responders and maintenance workers, Luna said at a news conference Thursday evening.
“Do not go in there unless you have specific business,” Luna said. “You will be detained and you will be arrested if you are up to no good.”
As of Thursday afternoon, the Sheriff’s Department has made 20 arrests related to looting in burn areas, according to a news release from LA County Supervisor Kathryn Barger’s office.
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Looters will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said at the news conference Thursday evening.
“Let me be clear there is going to be zero tolerance for anybody … that would dare to enter houses or loot property from the individuals or the structures that remain standing,” Bass said.
An announcement confirming the curfew is expected later Thursday evening.
According to officials, more than 4,000 structures have been damaged or destroyed in the uncontained Eaton fire, which has forced evacuations in Altadena, Pasadena, Sierra Madre and La Canada Flintridge.
The Palisades fire has damaged or destroyed more than 5,300 structures, officials said, and evacuation orders are affecting some 37,000 residents with about 15,000 homes in the Pacific Palisades and Malibu areas threatened by the fire.
The Sheriff’s Department and local law enforcement have been working to protect residents’ property, the news release from Barger’s office states, and 400 members of the California National Guard are expected to be deployed as early as this evening to assist with traffic control and infrastructure protection.
Police departments in Azusa, Arcadia, Los Angeles and Santa Monica have requested the county to access California National Guard support, according to Barger’s office.
“We just activated hundreds of additional California National Guard members to help battle blazes and keep our Southern California communities safe,” Gov. Gavin Newsom wrote in a Thursday Jan. 9 post on “X,” formerly known as Twitter.
By midday Thursday, the Eaton fire had grown to over 13,000 acres with no containment. The Palisades fire had reached over 17,000 acres by Thursday afternoon.
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