Overview

The 2025 Los Angeles Palisades Fires, also known as the 2025 LA Wildfire or 2025 Hollywood Hills Fire, began on January 7th, 2025, in the Santa Monica Mountains region of northern Los Angeles County, California. The fire was named after the Pacific Palisades neighborhood it first affected, later spreading to nearby Malibu due to strong winds. By the evening of January 8th, the disaster had grown to become one of the most destructive fires in Los Angeles history. The disaster rapidly became international news in early January 2025, sparking discourse, memes and other reactions across the internet.

History

The first reports of fires affecting the Pacific Palisades emerged on the morning of January 7th, 2025, with X / Twitter^[1] user @FirePhotoGirl posting one of the earliest videos showing the smoke from the flames around 9:55 a.m. EST that day. The post gathered over 200 likes in two days. The journalist subsequently posted a video^[2] of a homeless person stoking another fire around 1 p.m., gathering over 9,000 likes in two days.

https://t.co/lgjYh28XZs pic.twitter.com/bm0MJMDApT

— FirePhotoGirl (@FirePhotoGirl) January 7, 2025

Actor James Woods posted a video to his Twitter / X account @realJamesWoods^[3] at 2:46 p.m. EST on January 7th, showing the fires creeping towards his home in Los Angeles county, with a caption that read, "Leaving." The post gathered over 80,000 likes in two days.

Leaving pic.twitter.com/yJDQ8xIhbI

— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) January 7, 2025

Later on January 7th, 2025, by 5:45 p.m. EST, local news channel KTLA^[4] issued reports that people fleeing the Palisades fires had encountered gridlocked traffic and had resorted to abandoning their cars and escaping on foot. Firefighters were shown clearing the abandoned cars to allow fire trucks to enter the area.

KTLA's @GeneKangTV reports from the perimeter of the #PalisadesFire where crews needed to clear vehicles using a bulldozer to make access for firefighters. Live coverage: https://t.co/ZEEfGXODEx pic.twitter.com/ziOctuFD7X

— KTLA (@KTLA) January 7, 2025

Online Reactions

On January 7th, 2025, around 10:55 p.m. EST, X^[6] user @TheKevinDalton posted a video showing two men and a dog trapped in a home with flames creeping up to the floor-to-ceiling glass windows. The user later reported that the men and their dog were able to flee to safety. The post gathered over 3.6 million views and 12,000 likes in a day and was reposted to Reddit's /r/interestingasfuck,^[7] where it gathered over 34,000 upvotes in a similar timeframe.

Nightmare FuelTwo men and a dog trapped in a home surrounded by the Palisades fire. pic.twitter.com/YDCkFmLNbH

— Kevin Dalton (@TheKevinDalton) January 8, 2025

On January 8th, 2025, Redditor^[8] /u/iboughtarock posted a slideshow of photos to the subreddit /r/Damnthatsinteresting showing firefighters battling the flames in the Palisades, gathering over 11,000 upvotes in a day.

Also on January 8th, Redditor^[5] /u/shobijatoi19 posted an aerial photo of the fires to /r/DamnThatsInteresting, gathering over 4,000 upvotes in a day.

Numerous memes referencing the fires in LA also spread online during the disaster. For example, on January 8th, 2025, Redditor notgordonbombay posted a My Brother In Christ meme to the /r/dankmemes^[17] subreddit that garnered over 17,000 upvotes and 570 comments in one day.

Also on January 8th, Redditor sebet_123 posted a Anthony Adams Rubbing Hands Together meme to the /r/memes^[18] subreddit under the title "Easy money," receiving over 52,000 upvotes and 490 comments in 15 hours.

Keith Wasserman "Private Firefighters" Tweet

Early on January 8th, 2025, around 5:56 a.m. EST, real estate investor Keith Wasserman^[9] posted a tweet that read, "Does anyone have access to private firefighters to protect our home in Pacific Palisades? Need to act fast here. All neighbors houses burning. Will pay any amount. Thank you," gathering over 2,000 likes before his account was deactivated.

The tweet was ill-received online, given Wasserman's history of boasting about tax evasion, and his belief that property taxes should be lowered in the Palisades region. X^[10][11] users @jameslineky and @KrangTNelson quoted the post on January 8th.

Ethan Klein's Hasan Piker Instagram Story

On January 8th, 2025, YouTuber Ethan Klein of the H3 Podcast posted an Instagram Story about evacuating from a fire-stricken region of L.A., writing, "Hasan for sure hoping the fire takes out my computer."

X^[16] user @AtlastDrugged reposted the story that same day with the caption, "Ethan Klein while his family is under threat of evacuation or worse can only think of Hasan and the impending video trashing Hasan that he’s soon to release," gathering over 56,000 likes in a day.

Firefighter Water Drops

On January 7th, 2025, Twitter / X^[15] user @ietsystems posted another video of a Canadian Water Bomber timing a drop while accounting for wind, gathering over 11,000 likes in two days.

Amazing skill in this drop on the LA Fire – timing is everything pic.twitter.com/BPZA8prQcM

— Brian Wilson (@ietsystems) January 8, 2025

Videos of firefighters dropping water to extinguish large swaths of fires continued making the rounds on January 8th, 2025, as seen in a post on Bluesky by @bryanboatman,^[12] gathering over 5,000 likes in a day.

Also on January 8th, Bluesky^[13] user @nothoodlum posted a video of Canadian firefighters helping put out flames in California, writing, "While Trump is trolling Canada about annexing it, Canadians are in Los Angeles tonight dropping water on the Palisades fire. He’s a disgrace," and gathering over 20,000 likes in a day.

Twitter / X^[14] user @gofinurself posted about cheering on the firefighters on January 9th, gathering over 4,000 likes in a day.

watching helicopters drop water on these fires pic.twitter.com/qapqZnG4Uj

— Fin (@gofinurself) January 9, 2025

Search Interest

External References