At least 29 people perished in the Palisades and Eaton fires. Tens of thousands have lost their homes or been displaced, and millions more have felt the trauma and disruption of these events. Still, mandatory evacuation orders saved countless lives.
But approximately 13,000 people incarcerated across L.A. County jails and juvenile halls experience these catastrophes without any ability to protect themselves. As fires engulfed the Pacific Palisades and Altadena, the Hurst Fire burned less than a mile away from the Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall, where 96 youth were incarcerated in an evacuation warning zone. Teenagers at the facility reported that they could see the mountains burning nearby. Nearby residents were evacuated and the courthouse adjacent to the juvenile hall was closed, but the youth and staff at Nidorf were never relocated to safety.
On January 23, a brushfire broke out in the Angeles National Forest in the northern part of L.A. County. In fewer than seven hours, the Hughes Fire exploded to close to 10,000 acres, and 31,000 people in the inhabited areas nearby were under mandatory evacuation orders from Sheriff Robert Luna.
