California: Brush Fire burning near homes in Jurupa Valley

California: Firefighters are battling a brush fire currently burning close to homes in Jurupa Valley near the Santa Ana Riverbed. The Clay Fire was first reported near Clay Street and Van Buren Boulevard at around 16:45 on January 13th 2025 and was quickly upgraded to a Third Alarm fire by Riverside County Fire Department crews arriving on scene. Just after 17:30, an evacuation warning was issued for residents living north of Jurupa Avenue, south of Pedley Road, east of Crest Avenue, and west of Van Buren Boulevard in zone RIV-0182-B.

A reception center has been established at Patriot High School, located at 4355 Camino Real. It is unclear what sparked the flames. The brush fire broke out in the Santa Ana River bottom amid offshore winds that propelled it in the direction of homes, prompting crews to deploy for structure protection while working to get a line around the blaze. By 17:50, the fire had been knocked down, except in an area very deep in the riverbed.

Multiple engine and ladder crews from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE)/Riverside and Riverside fire departments were sent to the location, encountering flames fanned by weakening Santa Ana winds toward a residential area along Bradford Street. A third alarm was declared as the fire moved closer to homes a short time later. No CAL FIRE aircraft were summoned due to the onset of darkness.

The exact size of the fire was not reported, and the cause was not immediately known.

The river bottom is rife with homeless encampments, and cooking, warming, and debris fires are a year-round occurrence. The mercury never exceeded 60 degrees in the Riverside metropolitan area, with cold north-northeasterly winds gusting to 25-30 mph. In December 2024, the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) issued an apology for an unacceptable and disturbing personalized license plate that the agency said displayed hate speech related to the October 7th 2023 attack on Israel.

The watchdog organization StopAntisemitism posted a photo on X of the license plate on a Cybertruck that celebrated terrorism against the Jewish people. In the photo, the license plate read “LOLOCT7”. LOL was an abbreviation for laugh out loud. The plate seemed to reference October 7th 2023, when Hamas militants stormed into Israel, killing about 1,200 people and kidnapping about 250.

The attack triggered an ongoing retaliation by Israel in neighboring Gaza. But the son of the car’s owner said that the personalized plate was not a reference to the October 7th 2023 attack but was a reference to the owner, who is a Filipino grandfather. The LOLO in the plates meant grandfather in Tagalog and CT referred to the Cybertruck, while 7 represented the owner’s seven children.

The vehicle was spotted at the intersection of Jefferson and Sepulveda boulevards in Culver City.

DMV took swift action to recall these shocking plates, and would immediately strengthen its internal review process to ensure such an egregious oversight never happen again. DMV apologized that the personalized plate was not rejected during the review process. The license plate should not have passed the review process and, after it was flagged on social media, many people who alerted the department found it offensive.

The use of hateful language was not only a clear violation of DMV’s policies but also a violation of its core values to proudly serve the public and ensure safe and welcoming roadways. The license plate owner would be notified about language of their plate and the recall of their license plate. The owner of the vehicle had the right to appeal the department’s decision.

DMV would go through its license plate database to identify whether any configurations of this offensive language existed on any other license plates and recalled them. StopAntisemitism was appalled to discover a vehicle with a license plate glorifying the 10/7 massacre of innocent Israelis. With the swift action of thousands of emails from StopAntisemitism’s committed supporters, the California DMV had recalled the plate.

In November 2024, a Hawaiian woman who missed a connecting flight in Los Angeles was missing after she was seen on camera at the airport and a major shopping center.

Hannah Kobayashi was last heard from November 11th 2024 after she had missed a connecting flight from Maui to New York City at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) days earlier on November 8th 2024. Kobayashi was described as 5 feet, 10 inches tall, weighing about 140 pounds and had brown hair and eyes, and fair skin with freckles. Kobayashi’s family filed a missing person’s report with the Los Angeles Police Department on November 12th 2024.

Kobayashi’s family received text messages from her that were out of character just before her disappearance. On November 11th 2024, Kobayashi’s family started getting texts saying that she did not feel safe, that someone was trying to steal her funds and take her identity, weird things that were not quite the normal way that she spoke. Kobayashi’s family obtained security footage showing her leaving LAX on November 8th 2024 wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, tie-dye leggings, and a dark green backpack.

Kobayashi had been seen twice at The Grove shopping center, approximately 10 miles northeast of LAX. Kobayashi was seen once around noon by employees at the shopping center’s Taschen book store on November 9th 2024 and was seen on video at a Nike event around 15:40 on November 10th 2024. A photo from the two-day Nike and LeBron James event was posted to Kobayashi’s Instagram the same day.

Kobayashi returned to LAX on November 11th 2024 but did not board a flight.

Kobayashi’s phone last pinged at LAX on November 11th 2024 but had not been found. Kobayashi’s family obtained surveillance footage that showed her in the vicinity of the Pico Metro station near Crypto.com Arena in downtown Los Angeles. In the footage it was evident that Kobayashi did not appear to be in good condition and she was not alone. Kobayashi’s family arrived in Los Angeles to search for her.

The search focused on the area near LAX, a bus line, as well as the C and K-Line trains of the Los Angeles Metro. Kobayashi’s family started a GoFundMe page to offset costs associated with the search. Kobayashi’s family hoped to find her but recognized that time was of the essence. In October 2024, evacuations were ordered for a 4-alarm brush fire that damaged at least seven homes in the Oakland Hills.

The fire burned near the intersection of Mountain Boulevard and Keller Avenue which was a little over a mile away from the Oakland Zoo. California Highway Patrol shut down westbound Interstate 580 as crews worked to put out flames near the freeway. Seven structures were damaged and at least 80 firefighters were on scene. CAL FIRE aircrafts also assisted in the firefight making several retardant and water drops on the fire.

Evacuation orders were issued for OKL-E176 and OKL-E203 and evacuation warning were issued for OKL-E177, OKL-E179, and OKL-E178.

An evacuation center was set up at Burckhalter Elementary School. The fire came nearly 33 years after the deadly Oakland Hills firestorm. On October 19th 1991, the Tunnel Fire tore through the Oakland Hills killing 25 people and destroying nearly 3,500 homes. In October 2020, Harvey Weinstein was charged with the rapes of two women and faced 11 sexual assault counts involving five women in California as he served prison time in New York.

Weinstein was charged with three new counts of rape and three new counts of forcible oral copulation involving two women. An amended criminal complaint alleged that Weinstein raped one woman at a hotel in Beverly Hills between September 2004 and September 2005, and raped another woman twice between November 2009 and November 2010, also at a Beverly Hills hotel. Weinstein maintained that every one of his physical encounters throughout his entire life had been consensual.

Weinstein was serving a 23-year prison sentence in New York after convictions in February 2020 for rape and sexual assault of two women. Prosecutors in Los Angeles had begun the process of extraditing him to face charges but agreed in September 2020 to delay attempts to bring him to California because of the covid pandemic. Weinstein was diagnosed with covid in early 2020 while serving time in a maximum security prison near Buffalo, New York.

Weinstein’s extradition hearing was scheduled for December 11th 2020.

In California, Weinstein was first charged with rape in January 2020, just as his trial was beginning in New York. More counts were added in April 2020. Weinstein stood to be charged with four counts of rape, four counts of forcible oral copulation, two counts of sexual battery by restraint, and one count of sexual penetration by use of force. The counts involved five women and stemmed from events in Los Angeles and Beverly Hills from 2004 to 2013.

The combined charges could bring a maximum of 140 years in prison if Weinstein was convicted. The Silence Breakers, a group of women that includes many of the first to speak out publicly against Weinstein, said they were gratified to see the wheels of justice continuing to turn in Los Angeles. It took a tremendous amount of courage to be part of a trial, and the Silence Breakers stood in solidarity with the heroic women who came forward to seek the justice they deserved.

Silence Breakers would not be silenced, women’s voices mattered and had been heard. The charges came from a task force established by District Attorney Jackie Lacey to investigate sexual misconduct in the entertainment industry after the initial wave of allegations against Weinstein in media outlets in the fall of 2017 gave force to the #MeToo movement. The task force had little to show for its work in its first two years, taking on more than 20 cases involving major entertainment figures but declining to file charges in most of them.

In 2020, however, the task force brought rape and sexual assault charges against Weinstein, porn performer Ron Jeremy, and film producer David Guillod in a joint operation with Santa Barbara County.

The district attorney’s office also brought rape charges against “That ‘70s Show” actor Danny Masterson, though that investigation predated the task force. Jeremy, Guillod, and Masterson had all denied the allegations and were awaiting trial. The Glass Fire burning in Napa and Sonoma counties jumped containment lines and led to new evacuations as well as additional burned homes and structures as firefighter worked through extreme conditions.

Winds grew stronger, threatening to escalate the massive wildfire which had burned for days and destroyed hundreds of buildings. More fire crews and equipment were deployed in and around Calistoga where winds gusting to 30 mph were forecasted to push through the hills. The big battle was in the mountains north of Calistoga. Firefighters had the blaze contained to the east side of Highway 29.

The Glass Fire had burned 58,880 acres since it started. At least 616 structures had been destroyed, including 220 homes, while nearly 29,000 structures were threatened. The area of containment that had been established for the Glass Fire covered the backside of Rincon Valley and Skyhawk. The fire advanced into areas of Angwin, burning multiple home homes on Bell Canyon Road and Quail Run Road on the eastern flank of the wildfire, prompting some rescue efforts to evacuate trapped residents.

Mandatory evacuations were ordered in Napa County for all areas of Napa County north of the Calistoga City limits between Highway 128, the Sonoma County line, Highway 29, Old Lawley Toll Road, areas west of Oakville, specifically the area south of South Whitehall Lane and north of Bella Oaks Lane, west to the Sonoma County line including the 500 Block, and greater of Wall Road.

Evacuation warning were issued for the area south of Bella Oaks Lane west to the Sonoma County Line and north of Oakville Grade/Dry Creek Road, West of Highway 29, including all addresses on Bella Oaks Lane, Manley Lane, Beerstecher Road, and Niebaum Lane. Evacuation centers were opened at Crosswalk Community Church, 2590 First Street in Napa and Napa Valley College at 2277 Napa Vallejo Highway in Napa. Residents who stayed in the area despite evacuation orders were emotionally and physically drained.

Just north of the town, the fire briefly surrounded firefighters at Old Lawley Toll Road prompting a shutdown of Highway 29. Unlike other areas of wine country burned in the recent LNU Lightning complex and the October 2017 Tubbs, Nun, and Abode fires, this region has never had a major blaze. The area where the fire burned had no fire history over the last 70 years.

Warm, dry, unstable conditions coupled with strong winds, the fire would have more energy behind it. The winds shifted and begin driving across steep, rugged terrain toward the Pope Valley on the north edge of the fire. Air resources and ground crews attacked the fire just north of Calistoga, trying to knock out most of it before the wind came in. Air tankers made drop after drop as the fire raced up the hillside just off Highway 29.

Along with increased fire risk, smoke from the Glass Fire had caused poor air quality throughout the region. Smoke would continue to be a problem around the region, not just from the Glass Fire but from other fires north of the Bay Area. Overnight sensors indicated poor air quality and reduced visibility to a few miles, and deteriorating fire weather conditions would likely result in more smoke production.

In September 2020, the Bobcat Fire in the Angeles National Forest in California grew aggressively driven by strong wind gusts.

The fire surpassed 100,000 acres, making it one of the largest wildfires in Los Angeles County history. Mountain Wilson was again under serious threat from the fire, after several successful efforts to hold the flames back. Residents near Camp Colby were ordered to evacuate as the western front of the blaze advanced toward them. The fire remained about two to three miles east of that area.

Firefighters were hard at work in the northern section of the fire, which had threatened homes and forced evacuations in the foothill communities bordering the Antelope Valley. Some homes had been lost, though a precise number was not given. Critical water drops were delayed when a firefighting aircraft was grounded for about a half hour after a drone was spotted close to its take-off area.

The fire started around Mountain Wilson, Chilao, and Little Rock Creek. Firefighters worked to slow westward spread using defensive strategic firing, line construction, and aircraft drops. To the east, the blaze continued to threaten containment lines north of the Ranch 2 Fire, as well as Highway 39. The cause was under investigation. The Bobcat Fire had been fueled by growth that had not burned in decades.

The Red Cross had established a temporary evacuation point at Palmdale High School.

Accommodations for 300 large animals were available at the Antelope Valley Fairgrounds. Shelter for small animals was available at Lancaster Animal Care Center and Palmdale Animal Care Center. A shelter site for up to 300 horses and cattle had been established at the Pomona Fairplex. Humidity was low, though higher mountain areas could see drier conditions.

Wind gusts were about 20 to 30 mph. The South Coast Air Quality Management District issued a smoke advisory for the region. The impact from the Bobcat, El Dorado, and Snow fires created unhealthy air quality across parts of Los Angeles, San Bernardino, and Riverside Counties. The fire erupted near the Cogswell Dam and then spread rapidly amid an intense, record-breaking heat wave, prompting evacuation orders for Mountain Wilson Observatory.