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Rapid Report: Potential Impacts to Cultural Heritage Sites from the Eaton Fire in Los Angeles County, California, USA

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posted on 2025-01-24, 16:09 authored by William Welsh, Katharyn HansonKatharyn Hanson, Hayden BassettHayden Bassett, Kaitlyn Fitzgerald, Abigail Maher, Colleen CarrollColleen Carroll, Katelynn Averyt, Madeleine Gunter-Bassett, Brian Daniels

The Eaton Fire in Los Angeles County, California is an active wildfire that was first reported on 7 January 2025. In collaboration with the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture, analysis conducted by the Cultural Heritage Monitoring Lab at the Virginia Museum of Natural History (CHML), and the Museum Conservation Institute - Smithsonian Cultural Rescue Initiative (MCI-SCRI) identified 189 cultural heritage sites potentially impacted by the Eaton Fire. This analysis is based on open-source locational data for cultural heritage sites, and the maximum extent of the Eaton fire perimeter. An additional 3 cultural heritage sites that were grantees of the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture were also potentially impacted. This review was undertaken after reports from national media and weather services of extensive damage in LA County and a Disaster Declaration by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

Names and locations of potentially impacted cultural heritage sites available upon request.

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Citation: Welsh, W., Hanson, K., Bassett, H., Fitzgerald, K., Maher, A., Carroll, C., Averyt, K., Gunter-Bassett, M., and Daniels, B. I. (2025). “Potential Impacts to Cultural Heritage Sites from the Eaton Fire in Los Angeles County, California, USA.” Virginia Museum of Natural History, Cultural Heritage Monitoring Lab; Smithsonian Institution, Museum Support Center - Smithsonian Cultural Rescue Initiative; and Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture. DOI: 10.25573/data.28259372.

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