NBC News spoke to nearly a dozen people who witnessed the Palisades Fire’s early stages on the morning of Jan. 7 and watched it grow and move faster than any they had ever seen, leaving a path of ruin they did not think possible — even in a place where wildfires are a part of life.
Sohn was already on edge that morning after seeing authorities’ warnings that dry winter winds were forecast across drought-parched Los Angeles, raising the risk of wildfires.
Then, as she set out from her home on Piedra Morada Drive for a 10:30 a.m. art class at the local recreation center, a neighbor shouted at her from across the street. She looked behind his house and saw fire in the brush less than a mile off. The neighbor’s family had already called 911.
Sohn didn’t wait for anyone to tell her to evacuate.
“I ran in the house, woke up my friend, threw my dog in the car along with as many photo albums I could carry,” she said, “and hightailed it out of there.”
Up in the brush at about the same time, Beni Oren was on a trail run with friends near Skull Rock, a local landmark, when they smelled smoke. They turned and confronted flames about 100 feet away, Oren, 24, said.
They ran in a panic, changing directions as they realized the wind was blowing the fire their way. A widening plume of smoke rose above the canyon as they got to safety. “It was a bizarre experience realizing like, f---, is all this about to be on fire?” Oren said.
Firefighters soon raced in, sirens blaring. On radios, they described it as a 10-acre brush fire on a ridgeline, and they planned to deploy aircraft to soak the rising flames. It was just after 10:30 a.m. The danger was already clear.
“It is 100% in alignment with the wind. It has the potential for 200-plus acres in the next 20 minutes,” one person reported over the Los Angeles County Fire Department’s radio, according to a recording. “We have a potential for structures being threatened in the next 20 minutes.”
Someone responded: “It is pushing directly towards Palisades.” A few seconds later, he added: “This thing is going to make a good run.”...