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Thursday, January 09-January 15, 2025
VOL. 29,
NO. 205
Biden in SoCal to announce new Chuckwalla National Monument
Eaton Canyon brusher destroys buildings, forces evacuations
By Joe Taglieri
By City News Service
joet@beaconmedianews.com
This map shows evacuation zones for the Eaton Fire. For updated information, visit the Cal Fire website. | Image courtesy of Cal Fire Wildflowers bloom in early spring in the proposed Chuckwalla National Monument. | Photo courtesy of Bob Wick/Protect Chuckwalla National Monument
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historically fierce windstorm Tuesday in Southern California that has caused destructive wildfires prompted President Joe Biden to cancel a trip from Los Angeles to the Coachella Valley, where he was to announce two national monuments in the state, including Chuckwalla in Riverside County. The president and first lady Jill Biden arrived at LA International Airport aboard Air Force One on Monday morning from New Orleans, where they met with families and community members affected by the New Year's Day terror attack on Bourbon Street that left 15 people dead and dozens injured, according to the White House. Biden had been scheduled to travel to Thermal
in Riverside County early Tuesday afternoon to officially announce the Chuckwalla National Monument near just south of Joshua Tree National Park and also the Sáttítla National Monument in Northern California. The two monuments will protect 848,000 acres of land that are of "scientific, cultural, ecological and historical importance," according to the White House. After considering having Biden make the monument announcement from the LA area, White House officials said later that the event would take place next week "so that key stakeholders can attend." Details of the rescheduled event were not immediately available. Biden, who had already gotten into a vehicle in a motorcade in the West
LA/Santa Monica area for the trip to Thermal, later returned to his hotel, according to published reports. It was unclear when he would plan to leave Southern California. The Chuckwalla National Monument will preserve more than 624,000 acres of public land and is Biden's "capstone action to create the largest corridor of protected lands in the continental United States, covering nearly 18 million acres stretching approximately 600 miles," according to the White House. "This new Moab to Mojave Conservation Corridor protects wildlife habitat and a wide range of natural and cultural resources along the Colorado River, across the Colorado Plateau, and into the deserts of California. It is a vitally
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important cultural and spiritual landscape that has been inhabited and traveled by Tribal Nations and Indigenous peoples since time immemorial." Biden was also set to officially announce Tuesday the Sáttítla Highlands National Monument in Northern California, which will encompass more than 224,000 acres of varied habitat that includes areas of the Modoc, ShastaTrinity and Klamath national forests. The Moab to Mojave Conservation Corridor stretches from Bears Ears National Monument and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in southwestern Utah, to which Biden restored protections in 2021, through Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni — Ancestral Foot-
fast-moving brush fire in the Eaton Canyon area exploded in size overnight, topping 10,000 acres Wednesday while claiming two lives and destroying more than 100 structures while prompting school closures throughout the area. The Eaton Fire was reported at about 6:20 p.m. in the area of Altadena Drive and Midwick Drive in the hills above Altadena, according to Cal Fire. One of the structures that was destroyed in the fire was the Pasadena Jewish Temple & Center, NBC4 reported. Initially dubbed the Close Fire but later changed to the Eaton Fire, the blaze was initially estimated at about 10 acres, but it quickly exploded across 200 acres, then to 400 acres by 8 p.m. Tuesday, driven by Santa Ana winds that prompted critical fire danger warnings throughout the region. As of 5:30 a.m. Wednesday, Cal Fire reported the fire was 2,227 acres and as of 10:30 a.m. that morning, Cal Fire reported the fire had grown to 10,600 acres and was 0% contained. Area residents from La Canada Flintridge, Glendale, Pasadena, Arcadia and elsewhere in the San Gabriel Valley were under evacuation warnings and orders. For updates on evacuation orders, shelters and other fire-related information, visit fire.ca.gov/incidents/2025/1/7/eaton-fire. It was unclear how many people were impacted by the Eaton Fire evacuation orders, although the governor's office put the figure at about 19,000 people under mandatory
See Chuckwalla Page 11
See Fire Page 24