Los Angeles residents have put up signs threatening to shoot looters as almost 70 opportunist criminals were arrested while trying to burgle evacuated homes.
Among the 68 people who were arrested is a burglar who disguised himself as a firefighter to gain access to decimated mansions caught in the path of the worst fires to ever tear through Los Angeles.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna revealed on Sunday that the fake fireman had been arrested in glitzy Malibu – which was particularly ravaged by the largest of the fires – when he was caught burglarizing the abandoned and burnt out homes along the waterfront.
Authorities who have vowed to prosecute looters to the full extent of the law as the city reels from devastating, which are still destroying everything in their paths across southern California.
Security in evacuated neighbourhoods has been beefed up, with wealthy residents employing a private security firm to protect their homes from looters after abandoning them due to the ongoing wildfires.
Private guard Arturo Garcia told the Los Angeles Times that he and his partner had been working around the clock outside a stately home in Pacific Palisades that they had been paid to protect and didn’t when they would be able to go home.
Garcia, who is employed as a deputy sheriff, works with Nastec, a private security company working in the area. He and his partner have joined fire trucks and law enforcement in patrolling the streets of the now largely burnt-out neighborhood.
Some residents have taken matters into their own hands as they put up signs warning looters that they would ‘be shot’ if they dared to try and burgle their homes.
Authorities have vowed to prosecute to the full extent of the law for anyone caught looting
A burglar disguised himself as a firefighter to gain access to decimated mansions caught in the path of the worst fires to ever tear through Los Angeles
A man on a motorbike passes a sign that reads ‘Looters will be shot’ in a mandatory evacuation zone at the Eaton Fire on January 12, 2025 in Altadena, California
The burglar dressed as a firefighter was sitting on the side of the road in the Malibu area, causing LA Country Sheriff Luna to ask him whether he was okay.
‘I didn’t realize we had him in handcuffs,’ Luna said. ‘We were turning him over to LAPD because he was dressed like a fireman, and he was not. He just got caught burglarizing a home.’
He said the man had pretended to be associated with one particular fire station, but after a quick check with the department it was established that he was lying.
Two fires, the Pacific Palisades blaze and the Eaton fire, have been particularly destructive, killing 24 people so far, wiping out at least 12,300 structures and burning through 40,300 acres of land.
Luna said 25 people have been arrested in the area surrounding the Eaton Fire evacuation zone, and another four in the Palisades region.
California Governor Gavin Newsom announced in a statement on Thursday that 400 National Guard officers have been deployed to combat looting, taking the number of official personnel on the ground responding to the wildfires to 8,000.
‘To those who would seek to take advantage of evacuated communities, let me be clear: looting will not be tolerated,’ he said.
Meanwhile, several Pacific Palisades residents hired Garcia and his colleague. The guard told the LA Times that they had ‘a bunch’ of clients in the area, and in the last week had chased away two individuals on a moped from one property.
Some 68 people have been arrested across Los Angeles accused of looting fire ravaged homes
Garcia works with Nastec, a private security company working in the area. Nastec personnel are seen here in a shot shared to the company social media
With tens of thousands of displaced LA residents who have lost all but the clothes they were wearing, plus a few select personal items, insurance companies will be on the hook for colossal payouts
Los Angeles County Sheriff deputies take a break from searching for potential looters near a swath of burned homes from the Eaton Fire in the northwestern area of Altadena, California, on January 12, 2025
More than 12,000 structures have been razed in the fires, which tore through some of the most affluent neighborhoods in LA
They also caught one man leaving another address with a luxury bag that they said was filled with a drone and a toy car. He added: ‘We actively patrol nonstop just driving around. As soon as they see the lights on the top, [looters] know.’
Garcia and his partner also spotted smoke starting to pour out a client’s home and managed to quickly flag down a passing truck to quickly put it out.
Sheriff Luna sent a warning to looters during a press conference last week.
He said: ‘If you are thinking about coming into any of these areas to steal from our residents, I’m going to tell you something: You’re going to be caught, you’re going to be arrested and you’re going to be prosecuted.’
Luna added that the support of the National Guard would ‘help send a stronger message, keep people out of the impacted areas, so we don’t continuously victimize the people who have already been victimized.’
Lihui Xu, whose home is in Altadena, near Eaton Canyon where the fire started, said she was lucky that her house had survived the inferno, but said that it had also been burgled.
The 62-year-old returned home on Wednesday after evacuating on Tuesday night and discovered that several designer bags and family jewellery were missing, the New York Times reports. She said in tears: ‘I haven’t even had time to survey all that’s been taken from me.’
Kristina Mason, 43, a Pacific Palisades resident, told how she was ‘desperate’ to reach her home in the evacuation zone and collect treasured belongings and board up the windows, but that police blocked her from reaching her house.
The houses not burned to the ground by the fires are ‘completely easy targets, so it’s a huge concern,’ Ms Mason told the New York Times.
Garcia and his partner have joined fire trucks and law enforcement in patrolling the streets of the now largely burnt out neighborhood, a mansion in Pacific Palisades is seen here ablaze
Firefighters fight the flames from the Palisades Fire burning a house during a powerful windstorm
LA County Sheriff, Robert Luna, talks with Malibu residents who have been evacuated amid fires
The Palisades fire tore through the ritzy Pacific Palisades, destroying the homes of A-list celebrities including Miles Teller, Anthony Hopkins and Mel Gibson, before spreading up toward Malibu and down toward Santa Monica.
The Eaton Fire impacted more inland communities, including Pasadena. Other fires have also been of concern at various stages, including one in the Hollywood Hills and another which encroached upon the Kardashian enclave of Calabasas.
Wealthy residents across the evacuation zones have resorted to hiring private security firms to protect their homes and belongings from looters until they’re given the all clear to return.
Curfews are in place preventing access to areas impacted by the Palisades fire from 6pm to 6am, Luna said. ‘Simply stay out of the areas if you are not a first responder or have emergency business there,’ he added.
Luna said he understands there are homeowners who are anxious to return to their properties to see what remains.
‘We are very empathetic and sensitive to those needs, but your safety comes first. A lot of these areas still look like they were hit by a bomb.’
The Palisades Fire is the largest of the Los Angeles wildfires, burning through 23,707 acres – while the Eaton Fire in Pasadena is the deadliest blaze, accounting for 11 deaths, scorching 14,117 acres.
Meanwhile, two people have been charged with arson and arrested on suspicion of trying to start other infernos in recent days.
Flames from the wind-driven Eaton Fire engulf a house in Altadena, California, January 8
Fire trucks drive by a mobile home park that was destroyed by the Palisades Fire
Homes damaged by the Palisades Fire are seen along the beach, Wednesday, January 8, 2025, in Malibu
The cause of both the Palisades and the Eaton fires remain under investigation.
Energy company EdisonInternational is being investigated over a possible link to one of the other wildfires, which has since been contained.
Exhausted firefighters have been working tirelessly since Tuesday to tame the infernos – ahead of strong winds returning that could once again push the flames toward some of the city’s most famous landmarks.
The National Weather Service warned that gusty winds of up to 70 miles per hour from Sunday night to Wednesday could cause explosive fire growth and areas north of the line from Point Dume to Glendale will be particularly at risk.
‘There will be the potential for -especially late Monday night through Wednesday -explosive fire growth as those winds pick back up,’ Ariel Cohen, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, told the Los Angeles Times.
‘In the case of an evacuation order being issued, you have to follow that immediately. Seconds could save your life.’
While it’s still too early for an accurate tally of the financial toll, the losses so far likely make the wildfires the costliest ever in the US, leaving behind devastation that will ripple far beyond California’s borders.
With tens of thousands of displaced LA residents who have lost all but the clothes they were wearing, plus a few select personal items, insurance companies will be on the hook for colossal payouts.
It will inevitably lead to a rise in insurance premiums for Americans across the country as companies work out how they can best pay out claims.
With losses surpassing a staggering $135 billion, according to a preliminary estimate by AccuWeather, the aftermath of this inferno is set to burden federal programs, strain insurance markets, and reshape the lives of Americans nationwide.
