L.A. Palisades Fire destroys Corpus Christi Catholic Church, damages school

LOS ANGELES (OSV News) — A church in Pacific Palisades appeared to be destroyed and more than 60 Catholic schools were closed as several major fires in the Los Angeles area burned overnight into Jan.8.

Images shared with Angelus, the news outlet of the LA Archdiocese, showed only the frame of the Corpus Christi Catholic Church structure remaining as of the morning of Wednesday, Jan. 8. There were also unverified reports of damage to Corpus Christi’s parish school.

In addition, at least 65 Catholic schools were closed that morning as a result of several fires burning in the LA area, including the Eaton Fire near Altadena and the Hurst Fire in the northern San Fernando Valley.

Catholic school superintendent Paul Escala told Angelus that his department was weighing several factors when deciding which schools should close due to the fires, including proximity to fire, poor air quality and wind damage, staffing challenges and nearby power outages.

“We did not call for a systemwide closure because the area of our district is enormous,” encompassing three counties, Escala said.

In some communities where the impact of the fires was less, “the safest place for kids to be during this kind of emergency is school,” explained Escala.

“School provides the kind of routine and consistency in care that children need during moments of crisis and trauma,” he said.

Escala’s department has asked schools that remained in session Wednesday to avoid outdoor activities in areas with poor air quality and to consider canceling after-school programs.

The church that was destroyed, Corpus Christi, is located in the heart of Pacific Palisades, an affluent neighborhood between Santa Monica and Malibu on the west side of Los Angeles. It was built in the 1950s and has long been home to several Hollywood celebrities, sports stars and other famous Angelenos.

As the fire spread westward toward Malibu, at least 11,000 acres had burned and an estimated 1,000 structures — most of them homes — had been destroyed in the Palisades Fire, according to a morning news conference Jan. 8 with LA city and county officials.

While no deaths from the Palisades Fire have been reported, there were “a high number of significant injuries to residents who did not evacuate” the fire zone.

It was reported that two people had been killed and an estimated 100 structures destroyed by the Eaton Fire, which had burned more than 2,200 acres. One parish and school, St. Elizabeth of Hungary in Altadena, was in the Eaton Fire’s mandatory evacuation zone and under close watch by fire officials.

The Hurst Fire, burning around Sylmar in the northern San Fernando Valley, burned more than 500 acres since starting late the night of Jan. 7.

The fires in the area spread quickly due to Southern California’s extremely dry “Santa Ana winds,” which led to increased fire danger after several months of virtually no rain in the LA area.

“Please keep praying for all those suffering in the wildfires sweeping through Southern California,” Los Angeles Archbishop José H. Gomez posted on social media. “My heart goes out to our neighbors who have lost their homes and livelihoods. Let’s pray for them and let’s pray for our firefighters and first responders. May God keep all of our brothers and sisters safe and bring an end to these fires.”

By mid-afternoon Jan. 8, LA County Fire Chief Anthony C. Marrone said at a news conference that all the fires remained at zero percent containment. He said 29 separate fire departments in LA County are battling the fires. He expressed gratitude “for our first responders, our boots on the ground,” who “will remain on the frontline until we reach full containment, and we ask that you keep all of Los Angeles County in your thoughts and prayers.”

Resources and updates from around the Archdiocese of Los Angeles can be found at https://lacatholics.org/california-fires.

This story was updated at 10:25 a.m.

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