UL Research Institutes’ Fire Safety Research Institute has released the “Southern California Fires Incident Analysis Report,” the second of two reports conducted at the request of the Office of the Governor of California after the devastating Southern California fires of January 2025.
The fires, including the Palisades and Eaton Fires, occurred under extreme wildfire conditions characterized by powerful Santa Ana winds, critically dry vegetation, and rapid fire spread from vegetation into the built environment, becoming among the most deadly, destructive, and costly wildfire disasters in California history. ULRI conducted an extensive data collection effort, building on a similar approach used in its analysis of the 2023 Lahaina Fire, to establish a timeline and fact base around these fires. This work resulted in the publication of the first report, the Southern California Fires Timeline Report.
This new report builds upon the timeline report and thoroughly examines the conditions, decisions, actions, and systems that influenced the wildfires and resulting community conflagrations before and during the fires. The analysis considerations include emergency preparedness and management; water and electric utilities; weather and vegetation; evacuation warnings and orders; transportation; fire and law enforcement actions, tactics, and policies; fatalities; and built environment factors. Throughout the report, 175 findings and 266 recommendations are identified, presenting lessons learned to support continuous improvement in resilience, preparedness, and response…