Los Angeles fires impact local museums
In January 2025, Southern California began the new year with multiple fires spanning across the Ventura and Los Angeles counties. Both the Eaton Fire and the Palisades Fire burned roughly 40,000 acres altogether, destroying homes, schools and businesses. Within this chaos, several local museums were threatened by the high winds and fire dangers.
The Getty Villa, located in the Pacific Palisades, was impacted heavily by the fast-moving Palisades Fire. The Villa is a re-creation of a Roman country house, filled with 4,000 years of art and other collections. The Villa also contains a reflecting pool, colonnaded walkways, and views of the Pacific Ocean.
The Palisades Fire began at around 10:30 a.m. on Jan. 7, and reached the Villa property two hours later. Later that day, The Getty Museum shared on their Instagram that the Villa was closed to non-emergency staff and that Getty had made fire mitigation efforts throughout the year. Cole Calhoun, Senior Communications Lead for the J. Paul Getty Trust, said that efforts had been made to clear brush from the surrounding area of the site. “Both sites have on-site water storage and irrigation was deployed at both locations when there was the threat of fire. The Getty Villa museum galleries and library archives were sealed off from smoke by state-of-the-art handling systems. Its double-walled construction also provided significant protection for the art collections,” Calhoun said. The Getty Villa is currently closed, and will remain closed until further notice; Calhoun is hopeful that it will reopen this summer.
The Norton Simon Museum, located in Pasadena, was outside the evacuation zone for the Eaton Fire, but precautions still had to be taken regarding the smoke system. The museum holds a variety of art collected by Norton Simon. Leslie Denk, Vice President of External Affairs, said that the smoke and wind was a concern for the site and its art collection. “Our [heating, ventilation and air conditioning] system works efficiently to protect all collections in the galleries and in storage. Multiple layers of filtration protect against the intrusion of particulates and gaseous pollution, and separate computer-controlled zones ensure [a] very stable temperature and relative humidity levels throughout the museum,” Denk said.
The museum was closed to the public from Jan. 7 to Jan. 16, and free admission was offered from Jan. 16 to Jan. 20. The Facilities and Conservation staff at the Norton Simon Museum developed protocols to protect against smoke during wildfires, where they controlled potentially vulnerable points of entry during heavy smoke conditions. “They actively monitored the outdoor sculptures, which are regularly treated to protect their surfaces from pollutants, including from smoke particles,” Denk said.
Getty, along with a coalition of other arts organizations and philanthropists, created the LA Arts Community Relief Fund, providing support to artists and art workers who were impacted by the Los Angeles fires. This was announced on Jan. 15, with 12 million dollars in aid, and provided support of up to 10,000 dollars for those in Los Angeles’ creative economy, whose lives had been affected. The fund grew to 14.3 million dollars, and over 1,700 artists and art workers were able to receive support.
While firefighters and emergency services fought their hardest to keep up with the fires, many significant structures were lost. Museums play an important role, especially in education, as students are able to learn specific history through the preservation of artwork and items. Several museums were able to band together to create relief organizations for the fires that also affected them.
