Six months after the deadly Palisades Fire tore through more than 23,000 acres of land, destroying thousands of homes and businesses, the Los Angeles Fire Department announced Sunday that all evacuation orders for impacted zones have officially been lifted.
“Evacuation orders have been fully lifted for all zones affected by the Palisades Fire,” read LAFD’s alert. To view a map of the zones that fall within this order, click here.
These zones have been under an evacuation order since Jan. 7, the day the fire erupted and, fueled by an extreme Santa Ana wind event, tore through the coast of Southern California. Although residents were slowly allowed to begin repopulating the area within a few weeks following the fire, officials held the evacuation orders in place until now due to toxic and hazardous conditions in the area.
According to LAFD spokesperson Lyndsey Lantz, it was unclear if something specific happened on Sunday that prompted the order to be lifted, but health and fire officials recently reached a consensus that the zones have been fully cleared of the air and soil hazards that the EPA and other organizations found during cleanup.
“Up until this general point, it was a legitimately high danger area,” said Lantz. “But now the debris has been cleared and the area has been restored to normal status.”
Lantz also said that this means all traffic stops and residential pass requirements have been lifted, that people are free to come and go from the area. This announcement also came a little under a month after the major roads and highways were reopened, including the Pacific Coast Highway and Topanga Canyon Boulevard.
Residents began lining up to try to get back to their homes, or where their homes once were, within a week after the fire. Law enforcement provided escorts, and many evacuees waited for hours—some all day—to get a few minutes with what was left of their homes.
One family said they already learned the fate of their beloved property, but needed to see it in person for some level of closure.
As each resident or family passed through a checkpoint, they received an allotted amount of time to check on their properties, grab anything they could salvage, and then get back into their vehicles and leave the area before the 6 p.m. curfew.
In the days that followed, officials urged evacuees to be patient, saying repopulation could not occur until all areas were deemed safe. “The conversation about repopulation is on all of our minds,” L.A. County Sheriff Robert Luna said. “Please be patient with us … we have people literally looking for the remains of your neighbors.”
As a result of the Palisades Fire, Cal Fire confirmed at least 12 civilian fatalities, as well as three civilian injuries and one firefighter injury.
Rebuilding efforts continue for communities affected by both the Palisades and Eaton fires. For more information on resources and how to find or give help, click here.
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