(WASHINGTON) — A federal judge wants to hear directly from one of the top officials at the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau to learn if the Trump administration is unlawfully gutting the agency or just trying to streamline it.
U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson — who expressed concern the CFPB might be “choked out of its very existence” — said she plans to hold a hearing next Monday to get testimony from CFPB Chief Operating Officer Adam Martinez and others about the state of the agency tasked with protecting American consumers.
During a lengthy hearing Monday, Jackson grew frustrated with a lack of clear answers from either side about the current state of the CFPB. Lawyers with the Department of Justice argued the relief requested by the federal unions who brought the lawsuit amounted to putting the CFPB into receivership, while the plaintiffs argued the Trump administration was causing irreparable harm by slowly starving the agency.
“According to the plaintiff, the sky is falling. According to the defendant, if I issue the order, the sky will be falling,” Jackson remarked.
Jackson is considering issuing a preliminary injunction to block the dismantling of the CFPB but added she might consider additional relief if the plaintiffs can demonstrate that the government’s actions are causing irreparable harm.
“I think what we’re talking about is interim oversight to make sure that it hasn’t been choked out of its very existence before I get to rule on the merits,” she said.
In a sworn court filing last week, Martinez argued the changes at the CFPB — which has operated under a stop work order for the last month — are simply a “common practice at the beginning of a new administration.” Jackson raised skepticism to the idea that what’s happening at the CFPB is business as usual.
“One of the big defenses of all this is that this is normal, that this is what happens when the new team comes to town, and I’m just not sure that’s true at all, at least not since I’ve been here,” she remarked. “Are you telling me that … when President Reagan took over from President Carter — on top of freezing regulations and enforcement and litigation — fired all provisional employees, shut the building, stopped all work and said the funding should stop?”
Lawyers with the Department of Justice insisted the Trump administration is trying to improve the CFPB, not destroy it.
“You can’t blow it up, but why should you be able to starve it to death?” Jackson asked.
“Acting Director [Russell] Vought wants to have a more streamlined and efficient bureau, not to blow it up,” responded a DOJ attorney.
Elon Musk, however, wrote “RIP CFPB” in a post on X on Feb. 7, the same day workers received termination notices.
The CFPB is an independent agency established by Congress after the 2008 financial crisis under the landmark Dodd-Frank Act. It’s a consumer watchdog aimed at protecting American households from unfair and deceptive practices across the financial services industry.
Its oversight applies to everything from mortgages to credit cards to bank fees to student loans to data collection. By law, the CFPB has the rare ability to issue new rules and to impose fines against companies who break them.
Since its establishment in 2011 through last June, the CFPB said it has clawed back $20.7 billion for American consumers.
ABC News’ Elizabeth Schulze contributed to this report.
(ROME) — Pope Francis suffered two episodes of “acute respiratory failure” on Monday, the Vatican said.
The episodes were caused by a “significant accumulation of endobronchial mucus and consequent bronchospasm,” the Vatican’s press office said in a brief statement.
Two bronchoscopies were performed on the pontiff, with “the need to aspirate abundant secretions.” Non-invasive mechanical ventilation was resumed on Francis and he continues to be “alert, oriented and cooperative,” the Vatican said.
His prognosis “remains reserved,” the Vatican said.
Earlier Monday, the Vatican said the pope “rested well” overnight, his 17th night in Rome’s Gemelli Hospital.
“The pope rested well all night,” the Holy See, the Vatican’s press office, said in a brief statement.
The pope’s clinical condition had on Sunday remained “stable,” the church said. Vatican sources told ABC News on Sunday that the pope had eaten breakfast with coffee and continued his treatment. He read the daily newspapers, as usual, the sources said.
Francis, who has led the Catholic Church since 2013, was admitted to Gemelli on Feb. 14 and was diagnosed with bilateral pneumonia.
The 88-year-old pontiff had been in stable condition on Saturday, church officials said, following a bronchospasm attack on Friday.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(LONDON) — At least two people were killed and several others were injured when a car drove into a crowd in Mannheim, Germany, on Monday, during an annual carnival celebration, police said.
“A 40-year-old suspect drove a car into a group of people who were in the Planken area of Mannheim city center,” the police statement said. “Two people were killed and five seriously injured.”
A search of the area was immediately launched and a suspect was identified and arrested, according to the police statement.
Police said that all bridges and main roads were initially blocked off and authorities asked the public to stay away from the city center. Several hours later, police reopened the area after issuing an all-clear.
Video footage from Paradeplatz Square in the center of Mannheim showed shoppers standing outside an area cordoned off by police tape and strewn with debris, including a shoe. First responders could be seen tending to at least one injured person.
Mannheim has a population of 326,000 and is about 52 miles south of Frankfurt.
In addition to the two people killed, 10 people were injured, five seriously, Mannheim police said in a statement.
The incident unfolded around 12:15 p.m. local time in the Planken shopping district area near Paradeplatz Square, according to police.
Police have not said if the driver under arrest deliberately plowed into the crowd or whether it was accidental. The driver, whose name was not immediately released, is a German citizen from Rhineland-Palatinate, about 90 miles from Mannheim.
The incident occurred as people were gathering in central Mannheim for an annual German carnival celebration.
Witness Manu Brioso told ABC News that he was taking a class in a building in the Paradeplatz area when he saw the car involved in the incident pass by on the street before it struck a crowd of people.
“The school told us what had happened and that we couldn’t leave the school because police had cordoned off the area,” Brioso said.
When he was allowed to leave, Brioso said the street was full of police, firefighters and ambulances.
Security video obtained by ABC News showed the vehicle, a dark-colored compact hatchback car, appeared to be speeding down a street before the incident, drawing the attention of people seated at a sidewalk cafe and pedestrians, some rushing across the street to get out of the car’s path.
Officials at the Mannheim University Hospital said they received an emergency alert at 12:20 p.m. local time about a possible mass casualty incident in downtown Mannheim and activated the hospital’s emergency plan in preparation for treating the injured. The hospital reported receiving many injured patients, both adults and children, including some in critical condition.
The hospital said its intensive care unit was full due to the arrival of a high number of critical patients. According to the hospital, eight trauma teams were treating both adults and children.
As a security precaution, all of the hospital’s entrances were closed to the public.
The deadly incident comes in the wake of two intentional car-ramming attacks in Germany and at a time of heightened security across the country.
On Feb. 13, a 24-year-old suspect drove a car into a crowd in Munich gathered for a trade union demonstration, killing a 37-year-old mother and her 2-year-old daughter and injuring 37 people. The suspect, Fahad Noori, who is originally from Afghanistan, purportedly confessed to investigators that the act was deliberate. A prosecutor, Gabriele Tilman, said the suspect “gave an explanation I would summarize as religious motivation.”
On Dec. 20, a car-ramming attack occurred at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, that left five people dead and around 200 injured. A 50-year-old Saudi-born man, identified as Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, was arrested in the incident, which police suspect was deliberate. Al-Abdulmohsen was charged with five counts of murder and multiple counts of both attempted murder and causing grievous bodily harm.
The Mannheim incident comes at the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and amid a threat environment that has prompted Western officials to issue warnings to law enforcement and intelligence agencies in the United States and Western Europe.
According to a notice issued by the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center last week, an ISIS-aligned network released a poster called “Choose Your Next Target!” and lists four upcoming festivals and parades, mostly in Germany. The poster features images of a bloody knife and pistol, encouraging attacks.
Officials noted that last year during Ramadan, ISIS-Khorasan attacked Crocus City Hall in Moscow, Russia, killing 145 people.
“Following the attack, ISIS released a rare audio statement from its official spokesman — which supporters subsequently translated into over a dozen languages, including English — celebrating that attack and calling for more violence against Christian and Jewish communities during Ramadan,” officials said.
On New Year’s Day, 14 people were killed and numerous others were injured in a car ramming attack on Bourbon Street in New Orleans’ French Quarter. The suspect was 42-year-old Army veteran Shamsud-Din Jabbar, who was killed in a gunfight with police officers. Investigators alleged that Jabbar, who was a U.S.-born citizen from Texas, was inspired by ISIS to commit the attack.
In recent days, the New York Police Department and the Department of Homeland Security have issued notices alerting law enforcement to terrorism fears associated with Ramadan. The notices, obtained by ABC News, warned that “malicious actors from across the ideological spectrum may view Ramadan as an ideal time to commit attacks.”
The assessment reflects prior targeted acts of violence, disrupted plots and recent violent extremist propaganda.
“The current dynamic threat environment necessitates elevated vigilance at mass gatherings, houses of worship, and Muslim/Jewish community events, especially during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan,” the NYPD document said.
The DHS document noted that messaging from foreign terrorist organizations calling for violence during Ramadan “adds to a heightened concern of homegrown violent extremist attacks following the 2025 New Year’s ISIS-inspired attack in New Orleans, likely raising the potential for violence from HVEs [homegrown violent extremists] during this year’s observance.”
ABC News’ Aaron Katersky, Josh Margolin, Joe Simonetti and Zoe Magee contributed to this report.
(SPARTA, Ga.) — History tells us that the railroad helped put America on the right track, when trains started moving people and goods across the country in the 1800s. They were yesterday’s highways, making it possible to traverse the nation in four days instead of 30.
This travel revolution is one of the reasons that it made sense to give railroads, which are still privately owned in most cases, some of the same powers to claim someone else’s land as a power company, an airport or a public school system.
It’s also why 72-year-old Blaine Smith, his wife Diane, his brother Mark and his wife Janet (who live next door) are fighting centuries of history and U.S. law that say a privately-owned railroad can knock on their door in Sparta, Georgia, and tell them that they need to sell a three-quarter-mile strip of their land that’s been home to their family since the era of slavery.
Their land wouldn’t be be put into service as a park or train station that they might use as members of the community. Instead, it’s for a business interest that the rail company says will help everyone — a new 4-mile stretch of rail line that would lead to a rock quarry and other businesses on the other side of the Smith family property.
Right now, the quarry uses trucks to move materials. If the rail company gets its way, the new train line could increase profits for the quarry and railroad. The Smiths aren’t happy with the situation.
“I feel that we were targeted, and this particular community was targeted, because it is a Black community,” Janet told ABC News. “We’ve been labeled poor and Black for so long. And how are we going to fight back?”
ABC News asked them if they thought racism played a role.
“It’s racism. We didn’t want to use that word, we didn’t want to say that,” Janet said. “But that’s why we have a quarry right here in this neighborhood.”
The Smith family story is the very definition of Black history in America. One of their great grandmothers was born here a slave in 1861, on what was then the Dixon plantation near Sparta, a few hours south of Atlanta. Her father was the slave master.
She had children with white farmer David Dixon, who was able to keep his family safe from the racial violence of their time.
One of their daughters, Helen, married James Blaine Smith — they were the ones who saved all they could and started buying up some 600 acres of property in the late 1920s. Their oldest son, James Adolf Smith, told his six children they should never sell any of it.
“And I can tell you that from his dying bed, yes, he said, ‘You’ll keep the property in the family,'” Blaine Smith told ABC News.
About two years ago, the brothers and other family members — who still farm trees on the land — started getting letters from Ben Tarbutton, the president of the Sandersville Railroad Company.
Tarbutton told ABC News he moved back home to hard-pressed rural Georgia after college to run the family business, carrying on the legacy started by his great grandfather in 1916.
“I just think that, you know, rural Georgia needs opportunity,” he told ABC News.
Tarbutton said the new rail line to the quarry could create at least a dozen permanent jobs in the area, helping to revive the local economy. Pointing out the sad storefronts in town, he said they have looked that way for more than 30 years.
In terms of the line’s impact on the area, Tarbutton told ABC News they would operate during daylight hours, Monday through Friday, with one roundtrip per day. He also argued that the quarry’s resources are valuable to the country as a whole, especially given the increased need for raw materials after the passage of the 2021 infrastructure bill.
“The country is at a deficit of aggregate rock,” he said. “So the need for aggregate stone, which goes into asphalt and the concrete so that goes in the roads because of the bridges, is, you know, it was already needed prior to that bill, but now even more so.”
He told ABC News he’s still trying to get the Smith family to sell small portions of their land, but wouldn’t say how much he’s offering them.
“I’m a landowner, too. I’ve been on their side of the table really all the time, until now,” Tarbutton said. “And the thing that we always have done is we try to get as much money as we could.”
The Smiths argued that it wasn’t enough.
“Whatever he offered was not what it would have been worth if we went to sell it,” Janet told ABC News. “They tried to minimize the impact of a train, cutting directly through your property.”
The Smiths say they have not been offered an easement, which would give the railroad company the right to use or enter their property without owning it. The company offered to build railroad crossings for each of the Smith family parcels of land, which the railroad would break into two. That would allow the families to walk across and farm trees across their land.
When the Smiths were first approached, the tracks were running right behind their houses. After they expressed their outrage, Sandersville agreed to move the railroad line slightly to avoid this.
Tarbutton has a major advantage in the negotiation — the power of eminent domain. This compulsory acquisition of private property for public use is typically wielded by the government, like a state highway department, or a public utility, like a gas company.
It’s traditionally associated with building something everyone can use, like New York City’s Central Park or the Hoover Dam near Las Vegas.
This practice can feel enormously cruel to landowners. In 1997, it allowed the city of New London, Connecticut, to condemn Susette Kelo’s home. She fought her case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court because her land was being taken to build a $300 million research center for pharmaceutical giant Pfizer.
In a decision that still shocks people today, the court narrowly ruled against Kelo in 2005. They said that economic development was a good enough reason to condemn her land and sell it to private developers. The Pfizer research center was never built.
The legal group that fought for Kelo — the Institute For Justice — is helping the Smith family for free.
“We have currently a petition pending before the U.S. Supreme Court in a case out of New York trying to overturn that Kelo decision,” Mike Greenberg, an attorney with the Institute For Justice, told ABC News. “If that case is not the one that is going to do it, this certainly could be the case that makes it up there.”
At a recent hearing, Judge Craig L. Schwall expressed sympathy for the landowners.
“And if I ruled from what I thought was morally right, I would absolutely rule in your favor,” he said.
Ultimately, the judge ruled for the railroad, pointing to the law. However, he won’t let Sandersville Railroad Company boss Tarbutton condemn the land until the families get another chance with a higher court. On Feb. 27, the Smiths filed an appeal to the Georgia state Supreme Court.
The railroad president denied accusations that the Smiths would be treated differently if they were white.
“Well, I think that’s a gross mischaracterization. You know we came up with a straight line from point A to point B,” he told ABC News. “And we didn’t know who the property owners were at that time, much less what they look like.”
Sandersville Railroad Company is a private entity, but Tarbutton said lines like the one his company is trying to extend free up the nation’s roads.
“The vast majority of railroads are privately owned. And so those costs, as infrastructure calls, owning and maintaining the right of way government track — that is borne by the railroads,” he told ABC News. “And so if railroads didn’t handle the amount of traffic that we currently do, just would push all of that traffic back on roads — more trucks — it would just completely clog up the North American road system.”
From the sky, the construction of the new rail line or spur is visible right up to the Smith family properties, on land that other neighbors have already agreed to sell. These tracks were recently connected to a much larger CSX rail line that stretches up and down the East Coast, allowing Sandersville customers to transport their goods far away more easily.
In a statement to ABC News, the owners of the quarry say that it will soon be able “to produce and transport several times its current annual volume” and that “this will also benefit the local economy with increased expenditures on fuel, electricity, supplies, food and catering.”
The Smiths are hoping a court will let them honor their father’s dying wish: to keep the land whole.
“I want people to remember that this is America, where we are always given the right to freedom,” Diane told ABC News. “And not be encumbered with other people coming in and trying to take away or steal that little piece of serenity.”
E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
(HIGHLAND PARK, Ill.) — Highland Park, Illinois, mass shooting suspect Robert Crimo III changed his plea to guilty on Monday as opening arguments in his trial were set to begin, according to Chicago ABC station WLS.
Crimo is accused of killing seven people and injuring dozens of others in the mass shooting at a 2022 Fourth of July parade in the Chicago suburb of Highland Park.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(NEW YORK) — A strengthening storm system will move across the country this week, bringing blizzard conditions to the Heartland and tornadoes and damaging winds to the South.
On Monday, the storm is focused on the Rockies and the Southwest, bringing mountain snow from Southern California to Colorado.
Meanwhile, there’s an extreme fire danger in New Mexico and western Texas. The combination of gusty winds up to 65 mph and relative humidity down to 5% will make conditions ripe to spread wildfires.
As this storm moves east, severe weather will break out across the South starting Monday night and Tuesday morning from Dallas to Oklahoma City.
Damaging winds and a few tornadoes will be the biggest threat.
On Tuesday, the storm will bring dangerous winter weather conditions to the Heartland.
A blizzard warning is in effect for Nebraska, Kansas and Colorado.
Winter storm watches have been issued in Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin, where more than 6 inches of snow and near-whiteout conditions are possible.
In the South, severe thunderstorms are expected Tuesday afternoon and evening.
Strong tornadoes are possible in Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas.
Damaging winds over 60 mph will be possible during Mardi Gras celebrations in New Orleans; Mobile, Alabama; and Birmingham, Alabama.
(LONDON) — At least one person was killed and several injured when a car drove into a crowd of people in Mannheim, southwestern Germany, on Monday, police said.
“According to current findings, a car drove into a group of people in Mannheim city center,” the force said in a statement. “According to the current status of the investigation, one person was killed and several people were injured.”
“No information can be given yet on the number and severity of the injuries,” the police added. “As part of the search measures that were immediately initiated, a suspect was identified and arrested. No further, reliable information can currently be released beyond the information published so far.”
Police said that all bridges and main roads were under their control. Police also appealed to the public to stay away from the city center.
Video footage from Paradeplatz in the center of Mannheim showed shoppers standing outside a police cordon with objects strewn across the road, including a shoe. First responders could be seen tending to at least one apparently injured person.
Mannheim has a population 326,000 and lies about 52 miles south of Frankfurt.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
ABC News’ Joe Simonetti and Zoe Magee contributed to this report.
(LONDON) — Local emergency services in Ufa, in Russia’s Bashkortostan republic, reported a fire at one of the country’s largest oil refineries, with one Ukrainian official describing the incident as a drone attack.
The Ministry of Emergency Situations of Bashkortostan reported a fire on the territory of the Ufa oil refinery in the early hours of Monday morning, without specifying the cause. There were no reports of casualties, and the ministry said around seven hours later that the blaze had been extinguished.
Russia’s Defense Ministry reported the downing of seven Ukrainian drones overnight — three over the Lipetsk region, two over the Rostov region and two over the Belgorod region — but made no reference to any attack in Ufa.
Andriy Kovalenko, the head of the Counter-Disinformation Center operating as part of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, said on Telegram that “unknown UAVs attacked the Ufa refinery.” ABC News could not immediately verify the claim.
Kovalenko described the facility as “one of the largest” in Russia, with a capacity of around 20 million tons of oil annually. “The refinery is of strategic importance for the Russian army, as it is part of the group of enterprises that provide fuel to the armed forces,” Kovalenko wrote.
“Its products include aviation fuel, diesel fuel for military equipment and lubricants necessary for the operation of armored vehicles, aviation and road transport,” he added.
Russia, meanwhile, continued its nightly tempo of cross-border drone strikes. Ukraine’s air force reported that Russia launched 83 attack drones into the country, 46 of which were shot down and 31 lost in flight.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a statement to social media, “Ukraine is fighting for the normal and safe life it deserves, for a just and reliable peace. We want this war to end. But Russia does not, and continues its aerial terror.”
“Those who seek negotiations do not deliberately strike civilians with ballistic missiles,” Zelenskyy added, referring to Moscow’s regular use of missile strikes across the country.
“To force Russia to stop its attacks, we need greater collective strength from the world,” Zelenskyy said. “Strengthening our air defense, supporting our army, and ensuring effective security guarantees that will make the return of Russian aggression impossible — this is what we must focus on.”
Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
(LOS ANGELES) — Late at night on Jan. 6, Los Angeles Emergency Management Department General Manager Carol Parks sent a text message wishing Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Kristin Crowley a happy new year.
“It’s my first opportunity to send this Public Safety leadership text,” Parks wrote. “Wishing it could have been on a blue sky day, but duty now calls.”
The following day, Los Angeles would witness the start of what would become the worst wildfire in city history, destroying large swaths of the Pacific Palisades area.
“Not good,” Los Angeles County Fire Chief Tony Marrone texted at 11:18 a.m.
“No,” Crowley responded.
Almost immediately after the Palisades fire began spreading through the Westside of Los Angeles in January, questions were raised about how city leaders prepared for the disaster.
Early on, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass faced scrutiny over her decision to continue with a diplomatic trip to Ghana before the fires broke out, while Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Kristin Crowley told local TV station KTTV that previous municipal budget cuts “did impact our ability to provide [firefighting] service.”
“It was a mistake to travel, but I will tell you that we need to evaluate everything,” Bass later told KABC-TV. “Because, honest and truly, if I had all of the information that I needed to have, the last thing I would have done was to be out of town.”
ABC News previously reported that although the LAFD’s budget saw a $17.5 million budget cut in May 2024, the measure occurred while fire employee union contract negotiations were underway. Once the contract was approved, the department’s budget increased from $819.6 million to $895.6 million. The exact impact of the 2024 budget matters remains unclear.
Last month, Bass announced she was removing Crowley as fire chief, criticizing decisions she said the department made under Crowley’s leadership, including not keeping some 1,000 firefighters on extra duty as their shift ended in the hours before the Palisades fire broke out.
Crowley subsequently issued a statement defending her lengthy career with the LAFD, noting in part that “as the Fire Chief, I based my actions and decisions on taking care of our firefighters so that they could take care of our communities.”
Now, hundreds of files linked to the Palisades fire response released by the EMD and LAFD to KABC-TV and ABC News this week through public records requests are providing new insight about what local officials were discussing before, during and after the blaze tore through neighborhoods.
The records, which include text messages from Crowley’s phone and city government reports, show how officials first started to realize how bad things were getting and that the windswept blazes had the upper hand.
‘Potentially life-threatening and destructive impacts’
During the text exchange on Jan. 6, Parks, the Emergency Management Department director, informed Crowley that Los Angeles Emergency Operations Center would be “activated at Level 3 (lowest level with EMD staff)” the next day.
“Should conditions necessitate us elevating the EOC status, the three of us will need to remain in close contact,” Parks wrote, an apparent reference to Crowley and Los Angeles Police Department Chief Jim McDonnell.
Crowley responded in part, “I’ll be available to discuss any necessary actions with the both of you if the need arises.”
An EMD city leadership briefing dated Jan. 6 commented on the next day’s weather forecast for Los Angeles: “This windstorm event could lead to potentially life-threatening and destructive impacts similar in magnitude to the 2011 Pasadena windstorm.”
“Any fires that develop during this period may experience rapid growth and extreme behavior,” the briefing added, noting that the LAFD was expected to pre-deploy resources on Jan. 7 and that community emergency response teams would be activated.
‘Anything else you can send us, we will take it’
The next morning, in the hours after sunrise, text messages show that Los Angeles City Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson’s office had reached out to the LAFD “about the weather event.”
Harris-Dawson had been serving as acting mayor since Bass traveled to Ghana.
“I briefed him on our deployment in our preparation efforts. Also our needs for additional resources,” LAFD Deputy Chief Jason Hing told Crowley in a text message.
In another text, sent to Battalion Chief Patrick Leonard at 9:04 a.m., Crowley asks him to direct another staff member to “reach out to the appropriate Council Offices to ensure that they are proper[ly] informed about our preparedness for the weather event.”
As fires started to break out in Los Angeles just under an hour and a half later, the text messages showed concerns growing.
At 10:33 a.m., Chief Deputy Orin Saunders texted Crowley an LAFD alert showing that a brush fire had broken out in the Pacific Palisades area.
“Two brush fires in the city. Palisades and Hollywood,” Crowley wrote to someone at 10:35 a.m.
“Sending over staff now,” she texted Parks minutes later. “I would recommend level 2,” indicating an increase in resources.
Parks responded, “EOC staff have some concerns now that we have two fires.”
By 10:58 a.m., videos posted on social media already showed plumes of smoke dangerously close to residential blocks.
At 11:27 a.m., Crowley sent a message to an individual asking for “Harris-Dawson’s number please.”
“I just asked him for his phone number and he said he will call you,” the recipient responded.
Six minutes later, Parks wrote to Crowley, “The EOC is in need of leadership. Pls advise who from your department can respond to the EOC asap,” with Crowley responding that a chief was en route.
Voluntary evacuation orders in the Palisades area were issued at 11:44 a.m.
“Anything else you can send us, we will take it,” Crowley wrote to fire officials in neighboring counties at 12:02 p.m. “Star[t]ing to [lose] home[s] and people trapped.”
At 2:27 p.m., Crowley texted a fire official, “Can you send me the number … of resources and type assigned to the palisades incident?”
At the same time, according to videos posted to social media, cars had already been abandoned alongside busy roads.
At 3 p.m., Crowley received a text stating, “Marqueece here Chief. At command post, eager to connect.”
Hours later at 5:54 p.m., California Governor Gavin Newsom posted on social media that he had declared a state of emergency to support communities impacted by the Palisades fire.
At 6:18 p.m. in Altadena, which is across Los Angeles County from the Pacific Palisades area and outside of city limits, the Eaton fire began, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
Eight minutes later, the LAFD posted on social media that all off-duty LAFD members needed to call the Department Operations Center “with their availability for recall.”
At 7:19 p.m., Parks, the emergency manager, texted, “EOC Directors are recommending that we move to Level 1,” adding that the Level 1 status — the highest level of emergency management — would start the next morning.
At 7:22 p.m., Los Angeles Department of Water and Power Chief Executive Officer Janisse Quiñones asked Crowley if “we can safely access this point,” adding that “we got evacuated before installing a reg station” and that otherwise “we will run out of water in about 2 hours.”
The Department of Water and Power is currently facing a lawsuit from Pacific Palisades residents alleging that it was unprepared for a fire of this sort. The agency previously told ABC News that it does not comment on pending litigation, but issued a statement before the lawsuit was filed.
“The water system serving the Pacific Palisades area and all of Los Angeles meets all federal and state fire codes for urban development and housing,” the statement said. “LADWP built the Pacific Palisades water system beyond the requirements to support the community’s typical needs.”
‘I have not been fired’
The Palisades fire would not be fully contained until the end of the month. By that time, it had burned more than 23,000 acres. The Eaton Fire had torn through 14,000 acres. Entire neighborhoods were reduced to rubble and 29 people were dead.
In the days after the Palisades fire first broke out, Crowley received numerous messages of support.
“Getting mixed news reports about your future employment. If you need expert testimony in the future or simply a Jersey Guy to come out there and straighten things out with the pols, you have my number,” an unidentified individual texted on Jan. 11.
“Good to hear from you,” Crowley responded. “I have not been fired. Thanks for looking out for me.”
Bass went on to fire Crowley on Feb. 21. Crowley, who opted to take a civil service demotion to a lower rank, is appealing her dismissal. The Los Angeles City Council is expected to discuss the personnel matter on Tuesday. The council can override Bass’ move to terminate the chief.
(THE CAROLINAS) — Firefighters were battling 175 wildfires that erupted across South and North Carolina overnight amid windy and dry conditions, threatening homes and prompting evacuations, authorities said.
There are ongoing response operations to the sprawling wildfires that had burned a combined 4,200 acres across the state as of Sunday — including blazes burning in Horry, Spartanburg, Oconee, Union and Pickens counties, the South Carolina State Fire Marshal said Sunday.
One of the biggest wildfires raging Sunday morning was threatening residents in the Carolina Forest near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, in Horry County, officials said. The quick-spreading fire had burned more than 1,600 acres by the end of the day and was threatening the communities of Walkers Woods and Avalon, according to the South Carolina Forest Commission.
The fire was 30% contained as of Sunday afternoon, according to fire officials, and the evacuation order was lifted later that evening.
The South Carolina Forestry Commission posted an update on X just after 7 p.m. local time saying, “UPDATE: All areas previously evacuated due to Carolina Forest fire are now able to return, per Horry County Fire Rescue.”
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster had issued an executive order on Sunday declaring a state of emergency to support ongoing response to wildfires ravaging his state. The order enhances ongoing emergency response efforts as firefighters work to contain the wildfires affecting various regions.
“This State of Emergency ensures that our first responders, who are working tirelessly and risking their lives to protect our communities from these wildfires, have the resources they need,” McMaster said in a statement.
McMaster announced that a statewide burning ban was in effect as of Saturday.
“That means you can and will go to jail for starting a fire outdoors in South Carolina, period,” McMaster said in a social media post on Saturday night.
On Sunday, McMaster added, “Dangerous wildfire conditions require that a statewide burning ban remain in effect until further notice.”
The cause of the Carolina Forest Fire is under investigation. The blaze erupted amid wind gusts of up to 40 mph and extremely dry conditions, fire officials said.
A fire in Horry County north of the Carolina Forest had scorched more than 300 acres by Sunday morning and was burning out of control, officials said.
Red flag fire danger warnings were issued across South Carolina.
“Our first responders are risking their lives to contain many fires across South Carolina tonight,” McMaster said on Saturday.
Video footage captured plumes of smoke and flames wafting above a tree line and houses in the Carolina Forest.
Another large wildfire about 35 miles south of Myrtle Beach broke out Saturday and threatened homes in Georgetown County, South Carolina, and prompted evacuations in the town of Prince George, officials said.
The fire, according to the Prince George Fire Department, had grown to more than 800 acres by Sunday morning, but firefighters were gaining the upper hand on the blaze and nearly all evacuations have been lifted, officials said.
The fire is under investigation.
The Prince George fire flared up in an area where firefighters were conducting a prescribed or controlled burn earlier this week near the Arcadia Plantation, according to Jackie Broach, a spokesperson for Georgetown County.
In Pickens County, South Carolina, yet another fire was burning Sunday morning in the Six Mile Mountain area, prompting evacuations, according to the Pickens County Sheriff’s Office.
Firefighters quickly responded to the Six Mile Mountain Fire, stopping it from spreading to homes, according to the sheriff’s office. The fire was 85% contained after burning nearly 300 acres, officials said.
In Polk County, North Carolina, near the border with South Carolina, a fast-moving brush fire ignited just after 2 p.m. local time on Saturday and grew overnight, threatening the towns of Melrose, Tryon and Saluda, where mandatory evacuation orders were issued, according to the Saluda Fire and Rescue Department.
The Polk County Fire started at about 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, caused by a downed power line near Highway 176, officials said. By 9 p.m. Saturday, the blaze had spread to 400 acres with no containment reported, according to fire officials.
Dry and breezy conditions were prompting red flag warnings across much of the Southeast on Saturday and into Sunday. Most of the red flag warnings expired by Sunday morning as winds calmed down.
But other areas in the Southwest were bracing for critical fire weather on Sunday and into Monday, including parts of New Mexico and Texas.
ABC News’ Victoria Arancio, Jessica Gorman and Daniel Amarante contributed to this report.
