Collaboration is key to Burned Area Emergency Response after the Palisades Fire

U.S. Forest Service Burned Area Emergency Response hydrologist Shauna Jensen assesses damage to a debris fence in the Temescal Canyon on Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority (MRCA) lands within the Palisades Fire.

Jack Oelfke, DOI BAER Team Leader for Palisades Fire

Prior to the ignition of the Palisades Fire, the Santa Monica Mountains in southern California were in severe drought. Little to no measurable precipitation fell in the area since April 2024 leading to extremely dry vegetation. Shortly before the fire, strong Santa Ana winds began to blow. On the morning of January 7, 2025, the Palisades Fire was reported in the mountains north of Pacific Palisades, CA on state lands within Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area (SMMNRA). Driven by strong winds, with reported gusts over 100 mph, the fire moved south to southwest towards Pacific Palisades and began engulfing homes, resulting in over 6,800 structures lost, 973 structures damaged, and 12 civilian fatalities.

Burned Area Emergency Response Team members document fossil shells impacted by the Palisades Fire and discuss possible paleontological resource protection measures in the post-fire environment.

Jack Oelfke, DOI BAER Team Leader for Palisades Fire

The Palisades Fire impacted nearly 20,000 acres within the SMMNRA, which is a mix of public and private land ownerships including the National Park Service, California Department of Parks and Recreation, the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy (a state agency), and the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority (a state-local partnership). Many of these lands are cooperatively managed by these agencies to efficiently protect natural and cultural resources and provide for improved visitor services.

A Department of the Interior (DOI) Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) Team was deployed to the Palisades Fire on January 22, 2025. Team members included a hydrologist, recreation specialist, archeologist, botanist, wildlife biologist, GIS specialist, and a paleontologist. The primary goal of a BAER Team is to conduct rapid assessments to first identify values at risk and then prescribe emergency stabilization measures to protect those values. Because the SMMNRA is a patchwork of cooperatively managed lands, the DOI BAER Team collaborated with the California State Parks, the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, and the Mountains Conservation and Recreation Authority to assess immediate threats to life and property, as well as impacts of the wildfire on natural and cultural resources, paleontological resources (fossils), trails, wildlife habitat, and much more. BAER Team members met onsite with park partners multiple times to discuss post-fire issues and how to mitigate them on those properties. With such complex ownership boundaries, communication and collaboration is key to ensuring that life, property, and irreplaceable park resources are protected in the post-fire environment.