California wildfires: Amid Los Angeles evacuations, fears of looting take hold

A resident checking people's identifications. Neighbors following a man because he is wearing a backpack. Rumors spreading of a trespasser caught stealing Emmys and Oscars.

As people around the Palisades and Eaton fires whose houses survived the blaze wait to return home, many dread a secondary threat: looting. Officials announced 22 arrests in the two evacuation zones as of Saturday morning, most of them for burglary or looting, and enacted a curfew to crack down on offenders. The county district attorney, the sheriff, the governor and even the president decried the issue.

A city with enduring collective memories of looting is particularly on guard, with emotions running high and decades of trauma running deep. As fire after fire emerges, some residents are fearful to evacuate their homes, uneasy about leaving no one to stand guard over their valuables. Many have not been able to return to their residences.

Lihui Xu, 62, of Altadena, whose home sits near Eaton Canyon where that fire started, said she felt lucky her house survived the inferno. But after evacuating Tuesday night in a rush, she came back Wednesday afternoon to find that designer bags and family jewelry were missing from her home.

"I haven't even had time to survey all that's been taken from me," she said, crying.

Kristina Mason, 43, of Pacific Palisades, said she was "desperate" to reach her home to gather treasured items and board the windows, but she was blocked by police officers at every entrance to the evacuation zone, even when she tried on foot.

She pointed out that rules about homeowners returning had been evolving: In the initial hours after the fires tore through, some willing to walk or bike into evacuation zones were able to do so, but about the time the National Guard arrived, most points of entry were locked down.

The buildings that remain standing are "completely easy targets," Mason said, "so it's a huge concern."

For others, the threat of widespread looting seems far-fetched, given that even well-meaning homeowners have not been able to get into the evacuation zone's perimeter in recent days.

Some of the arrests were connected to trespassing, identity theft, curfew violations and related charges, officials said.

"You go out there and you violate this curfew, you are going to spend time in jail," Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said at a news conference Saturday.

To some, the incidents -- however troubling -- seemed few for a county of almost 10 million. The crackdown could be an overreaction, they worry, and could set off paranoia, causing shaken homeowners to resort to violence against those merely suspected of trespassing.

Still, on Thursday, Luna said the department had requested the support of the National Guard in part to "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."

By Friday, he announced that a curfew would be enforced until further notice around the two fires from 6 pm to 6 am.

The National Guard established a presence in Altadena on Friday, but for Xu, it was too late. She filed a police report, but said officers told her they were stretched thin and would follow up with her at a later date.

Many upper-class Angelenos held a preexisting fear of burglaries and thefts: The rhetoric from city officials has long focused on crime, and there have been several high-profile, targeted robberies in wealthy areas that gave residents a pervasive sense that such crimes were on the rise. In 2023, the Los Angeles Police Department reported a 3.5 per cent increase in property crimes and theft from the previous year.

In Pacific Palisades, Nick Price, 49, has not felt assured. He evacuated his mother and girlfriend but stayed to defend his house against smoldering embers and criminals alike.

A sign hangs on his property: "Warning: Registered Gun Owner. DO NOT TRESPASS."

He said two people tried to steal his Yeti bucket as he bused water over from a neighbor's pool. He also noticed their house's front door wide open and the house alarm blaring all day.

Sanah Chung, 57, recorded a video Wednesday from his Palisades home, rotating the camera to show at least five police SUVs stationed outside another driveway's gate. "Apparently the house next door is getting robbed," he said, as flames billowed from houses across the street. (He has not been able to confirm whether the rumor was true.)

By Friday, Chung had left the area as ordered and was not worried about theft, in part because he had been unable to return.

"It's pretty hard to get there," he said. "I'm only realizing now why it's a good thing."

Still, many remain suspicious. In the Brentwood neighborhood, toward which the Palisades fire has turned, a man who gave only his first name, David, stopped cars Friday to make sure the drivers were residents of the area. Visibly worried, he said he was prepared to defend his house.

In Encino, a group of residents followed a man by car whom they saw walking in the neighborhood with a backpack. One reporter who showed her media badge to a resident was suspected of manufacturing it in order to enter the area and steal.

Other traumatized people whose homes were spared have another kind of fear: It is about not only what circumstances they will encounter inside their houses, but what the landscape around them will be.

"If and when I can ever move back into my place," Mason said, "I will be literally living in a barren wasteland."