Celebrity Houses Destroyed in LA Wildfires: Mel Gibson and Bella Hadid Among those Affected, Thousands Evacuate as Death Toll Rises to 24

Numerous famous individuals have seen their luxurious multi-million-dollar mansions destroyed in the catastrophic wildfires in Los Angeles, which have caused 24 fatalities and consumed over 40,000 acres.

Firefighters are presently engaged in efforts to control three active fires in the Los Angeles vicinity, with authorities cautioning that the predicted 70mph winds on Tuesday could result in ‘explosive fire growth’.

The raging flames have compelled approximately 150,000 individuals to evacuate their residences, turning entire neighborhoods into charred debris. This devastation has impacted both the opulent homes of celebrities and those of regular citizens, creating a post-apocalyptic scene.

More than 50 A-listers abandoned their luxurious California mansions and fled for their lives after the fires first broke out last Tuesday, with dozens now confirming that their homes were reduced to rubble in the devastating fires.

Mel Gibson’s Malibu home is ‘completely gone’ after the roaring infernos rolled through, though the actor confirmed his chickens survived. 

Broadway producer Candy Spelling confirmed that her $23million Malibu vacation home was destroyed in the fires, telling TMZ that she is in ‘shock’ but also ‘beyond grateful for the memories’ her family had in the home.

Similarly, Bella Hadid was left heartbroken after learning her childhood Malibu home had been reduced to rubble. 

Officials said at least 12,300 structures have been damaged or destroyed in the raging infernos. Most of the celebrity homes impacted by the blaze appear to be located in the ritzy Pacific Palisades neighborhood, with Veep star Julia Louis-Dreyfus among the latest Palisades local to confirm her home is no longer standing.

The Palisades Fire – the largest of the three blazes ripping through Los Angeles – ignited on January 7 and has scorched 23,713 acres and is only 13 per cent contained as of Sunday.

The Eaton Fire in the foothills east of Los Angeles scorched another 14,117 acres or 22 square miles – itself nearly the size of Manhattan – and firefighters increased the containment to 27 per cent, up from 15 per cent a day earlier.

North of the city, the Hurst Fire is 89 per cent contained, and three other fires that had ravaged other parts of the county were now 100 per cent contained, though areas within the containment lines may still be burning.

The cause of the fires remain under investigation, with authorities probing several theories including arson. A shocking analysis has found that the devastating Palisades Fire may have been started by the rekindling of a New Year’s Eve blaze. Energy company Edison International is also being investigated over a possible link to the Hurst fire.

Bella Hadid over the weekend shared a heartbreaking photo of her childhood home in Malibu burning down amid the ongoing fires tearing through LA.

The model, 28, took to her Instagram Stories with a photo of her mom Yolanda Hadid’s, 60, iconic former Malibu mansion engulfed in flames.

The luxurious property — where Yolanda once lived and raised her kids including Bella and her sister Gigi — would frequently make appearances on the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills (RHOBH).

‘Childhood bedroom,’ Bella wrote on the snap with a sad face emoji.

She also shared another decimated photo of the home in the daytime. Once a backdrop to the reality TV series and drama-filled dinner parties in the earliest seasons, now just the wooden frames of the home remain.

Mel Gibson’s Malibu home is ‘completely gone’, his publicist Alan Nierob confirmed Friday after Gibson had revealed the loss of his home earlier in the day while appearing on Joe Rogan’s podcast.

After learning that his house was about to be destroyed the actor said he rushed back to the Malibu mansion with his son to grab whatever they could before it all turned to ash. 

He said the pair only escaped with their passports and a few other important documents while his artworks and books, some of which were from the 16th century and priceless, were destroyed in the flames.

The Oscar winner, who lived in the property for 14 years, told NewsNation that he had ‘never seen such a complete burn’ before. 

He added that although his home did not survive the blaze, his chickens did. He says they have been given water and grain and are ‘happy and laying eggs and stuff’.

Beyoncé’s mother Tina Knowles also revealed that she lost her oceanfront bungalow in Malibu to the catastrophic wildfires – just days after she celebrated her 71st birthday there.

‘It was my favorite place, my sanctuary , my sacred Happy Place . Now it is gone !!’ she wrote on Instagram, before thanking first responders for their dedication and paying tribute to those who lost their lives in the blaze. 

Her message was accompanied by a video of the ocean view from her bungalow, with what appeared to be dolphins briefly surfacing over the waves.

‘This is what I was looking at on my birthday this past weekend from my tiny little bungalow on the water in Malibu!’

Gilmore Girls star Milo Ventimiglia, RHOBH newcomer Bozoma Saint John and Sandra Lee, the former First Lady of New York, are also among the Malibu residents whose homes were destroyed in the blaze.

Candy Spelling, who also lost her beachfront Malibu vacation home, told TMZ: ‘I’m in shock and processing this massive loss for our family. I am beyond grateful for the memories. It was truly a wonderful gift to have.’

The author and threat producer, who is also Tori Spelling’s mother, added that her late husband, film producer Aaron Spelling, had ‘loved’ the home. 

Most of the affected celebrity homes appear to be in the eastern side of the Pacific Palisades, including Eugene Levy, Billy Crystal and Anna Faris’s properties.

On the west side of the Palisades, Leighton Meester and husband Adam Brody’s family home has burned to ashes as well as that of basketball plater Kawhi Leonard.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Brad Hall are among the latest Palisades celebrities to confirm their home was ravaged in the roaring blaze.

The two Saturday Night Live alums bought the five-bedroom, five bathroom Mediterranean-style house with a terra cotta tile roof some time in the early 1990s. The home is worth around $15million today.

Hall, 66, and Louis-Dreyfus, 63 – who raised their sons, Henry, 32, and Charlie, 27, there – have not made any statements regarding the loss of their beloved home. 

But both of their sons shared screen grabs from the local news in their Instagram Stories thanking firefighters for their efforts.

The house next door to the couple miraculously survived the flames, as well as some houses across the street.

Meanwhile, Steve Guttenberg’s house up on The Summit area of the Palisades was also surrounded by the raging wildfires, but was miraculously spared. 

Country star Brad Paisley, 52, has also revealed that his former Palisades mansion burnt to the ground in the blaze last week.

The property was the first home that he and his wife Kimberly Williams-Paisley, whom he married in 2003, shared together.

‘We lived in Pacific Palisades for years. It was the first house Kim and I bought together. Memories were made with some of our dearest friends- the first nursery we had to prep, the birthing classes,’ Paisley wrote in a heartfelt Instagram post. ‘Walking to the local restaurants, the Gelson’s, and the Starbucks.’

He and Williams-Paisley currently live in Nashville, Tennessee. They have two sons Huck, 17, and Jasper, 15.

More than two dozen A-listers have had their Palisades homes impacted by the fires, including Anthony Hopkins, Cobie Smudlers, Miles Teller, and Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag, among others.

The raging infernos have also destroyed celebrity homes all throughout LA. 

Both Mandy Moore and Cameron Mathison have confirmed their Pasadena properties were lost in the horrific blazes.

Joshua Jackson’s $2million home in Topanga Canyon was also reduced to ash and rubble.

The day after the ash and rubble was photographed of what remains of his multi-story abode, he assured his fans that he and his family were ‘OK’ despite being displaced.

‘First and most importantly, all the people closest to me affected by the fire are ok,’ the 46-year-old actor said in a statement his rep shared with Deadline.

After a weekend spent blocking the explosive growth of fires that destroyed thousands of homes and killed at least 24 people in the Los Angeles area, firefighters got a slight break with calmer weather but cast a wary eye on a forecast for yet more wind.

Should that happen, already burned homes and valleys could flare anew, sending embers to unburned territory miles downwind. New fires could add to the complication.

The death toll surged late Sunday with an update from the Los Angeles County medical examiner. At least 16 people were missing, a number authorities said was also likely to rise.

The relative calm Sunday allowed some people to return to previously evacuated areas, however.

The National Weather Service issued red flag warnings for severe fire conditions through Wednesday, with sustained winds of 50mph and gusts in the mountains reaching 70mph. The most dangerous day will be Tuesday, warned fire behavior analyst Dennis Burns at a community meeting Sunday night.

‘It will kind of ebb and flow over the next couple days,’ Burns said. ‘Tomorrow night, it will really ramp up.’

Spotting – new fires caused by blowing embers – could happen as much as 2 miles  or more downwind of areas that have already burned, Burns said.

Despite their recent losses, stress, and uncertainty, the crowd in a Pasadena City College gym was mostly respectful, in contrast with harsh criticism elsewhere for Los Angeles and California leaders. Applause followed each of the experts, police, firefighters and community leaders who spoke.

Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony C. Marrone said 70 additional water trucks arrived to help firefighters fend off flames spread by renewed gusts. ‘We are prepared for the upcoming wind event,’ Marrone said.

Fire retardant dropped by aircraft will act as a barrier along hillsides, officials said.

Fierce Santa Ana winds have been largely blamed for turning the wildfires sparked last week into infernos that leveled entire neighborhoods around the city where there has been no significant rainfall in more than eight months.

Twelve people were missing within the Eaton Fire zone and four were missing from the Palisades Fire, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said. Investigators were reconciling whether some of the missing might be among the dead but so far no children were among those reported missing, he said.

Meanwhile, the death toll rose to 24 over the weekend. Eight deaths were attributed to the Palisades Fire and 16 to the Eaton Fire, according to the Los Angeles County coroner’s office.

The toll could rise still more as cadaver dogs conducted systematic searches in leveled neighborhoods. Authorities established a center where people could report the missing.

Officials also were building an online database to allow evacuated residents to see if their homes were damaged or destroyed. In the meantime, LA city Fire Chief Kristin Crowley urged people to stay away from scorched neighborhoods.

‘There are still active fires that are burning within the Palisades area, making it extremely, extremely dangerous for the public,’ Crowley said at a Sunday morning briefing. ‘There’s no power, there’s no water, there’s broken gas lines, and we have unstable structures.’

Officials warned the ash can contain lead, arsenic, asbestos and other harmful materials.

About 150,000 people in Los Angeles County remained under evacuation orders, with more than 700 residents taking refuge in nine shelters, Luna said. Officials said most of the orders in the Palisades area were unlikely to be lifted before the red flag warnings expire Wednesday evening.

‘Please rest assured that first thing Thursday we will begin talking about repopulation,’ Marrone said.

In all, four fires had consumed more than 62 square miles, an area larger than San Francisco. 

Crews from California and nine other states are part of the ongoing response that includes nearly 1,400 fire engines, 84 aircraft and more than 14,000 personnel, including newly arrived firefighters from Mexico.

After a fierce battle Saturday, firefighters managed to fight back flames in Mandeville Canyon, home to Arnold Schwarzenegger and other celebrities near Pacific Palisades not far from the coast, where swooping helicopters dumped water as the blaze charged downhill.

The fire ran through chaparral-covered hillsides and also briefly threatened to jump over Interstate 405 and into densely populated areas in the Hollywood Hills and San Fernando Valley.

Looting continued to be a concern, with authorities reporting more arrests as the devastation grew. Those arrested included two people who posed as firefighters going into houses, Los Angeles Police Department Capt. Michael Lorenz said.

With California National Guard troops on hand to guard properties, Gov. Gavin Newsom posted on X: ‘California will NOT allow for looting.’

The fires that began Tuesday just north of downtown LA have burned more than 12,300 structures. Early estimates suggest they could be the nation’s costliest ever, as much as $150billion according to an AccuWeather estimate.

No cause for the largest fires was determined.

Evidence reviewed by The Washington Post suggests that the Palisades inferno was ignited in the same spot where fire crews put out flames a week before – and residents claim their response the second time was much slower.

A week before that blaze broke out, firefighters were called to the Pacific Palisades shortly after midnight on New Year’s Day to a small brush fire residents claim was started by fireworks.

The blaze, called the Lachman Fire, was held at eight acres and reported contained at 4.46am., according to the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD).

Satellite imagery obtained by the Post identified a burn scar of the New Year’s Eve fire. Additional imagery taken on Tuesday when the Palisades Fire broke out indicates that the origin of the smoke overlapped with the burn scar.

Meanwhile, energy company Edison International is being investigated over a possible link to one of the wildfires. The $25billion firm said it discovered a downed conductor at a tower close to where the Hurst Fire broke out on Tuesday evening following an intense Santa Ana windstorm.

However, Edison said it doesn’t know whether the damage happened before or after the fire, which has so far burned through almost 800 acres of land. 

The conductor was found at the Eagle Rock Sylmar 220 kV circuit, the company said in a press release on Sunday, adding that the findings were preliminary. 

So far there has been no official indication of arson in the blaze, although LAPD had made an arrest after a man allegedly attempted to light a fire in the Woodland Hills neighborhood.

After reviewing evidence and interviewing the suspect, police determined they did not have probable cause to arrest the man on charges related to any of the wildfires. 

Along with crews from other states and Mexico, hundreds of inmates from California’s prison system were also helping fight the fires. Nearly 950 prison firefighters were removing timber and brush ahead of the fires to slow their spread, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

The practice is controversial as the inmates are paid little for dangerous and difficult work: $10.24 each day, with more for 24-hour shifts, according to the corrections department.

Newsom issued an executive order Sunday aimed at fast-tracking rebuilding by suspending some environmental regulations and ensuring that property tax assessments were not increased.

‘We’ve got to let people know that we have their back,’ he said. ‘We want you to come back, rebuild, and rebuild with higher quality building standards, more modern standards.’

More than 24,000 people had registered for federal assistance made available by a major disaster declaration by President Joe Biden, according to the White House.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said Sunday that she had spoken with President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration and expected that he would visit the city.

Bass faces a critical test of her leadership during the city’s greatest crisis in decades, but allegations of leadership failures, political blame and investigations have begun.

Newsom on Friday ordered state officials to determine why a 117 million-gallon (440 million-liter) reservoir was out of service and some hydrants had run dry.