LOS ANGELES (KTLA) – The rapid explosion of the deadly Palisades Fire on Tuesday, Jan. 7, played out on several live cameras designed to monitor fire activity in California.
ALERTCalifornia, a public safety program based at the University of California, San Diego, has installed a network of more than 1,000 high-definition, controllable cameras across the state, mainly on mountain peaks, to show the widest possible views.
The system also uses artificial intelligence to identify “abnormalities” and notify emergency command centers of a possible fire.
Intense and terrifying timelapse footage from last Tuesday shows the wildfire erupting in the Pacific Palisades in the late morning as strong Santa Ana winds fanned the flames and sent smoke billowing west over the Pacific Ocean.
That afternoon and evening, the ALERTCalifornia cameras recorded the flames cresting peaks throughout the Santa Monica Mountains, burning homes along the way.
Over the next five days, the wildfire charred more than 23,000 acres and leveled more than 10,000 structures in the Pacific Palisades, Malibu, and other communities on the west side of Los Angeles.
At least 24 people are confirmed dead in the Palisades Fire and the Eaton Fire, which burned through neighborhoods in Altadena and Pasadena during the same windstorm.
The causes of both fires remain under investigation.
