Tuesday, 5:30 p.m. PST Los Angeles County public health officials issue closures of several miles of beach near the Palisades Fire, citing “Fire debris runoff and pollutants in the water and on the sand [that] may contain toxic or carcinogenic chemicals.”

Fueled by powerful winds and dry conditions, a series of ferocious wildfires erupted the second week of January and roared across the Los Angeles area.

According to data from NASA Landsats, warm and dry weather in Los Angeles in the last two-thirds of 2024 primed the vegetation to catch fire, and for that fire to spread quickly. The largest fires started on January 7 and devastated swathes of L.