Los Angeles area synagogue totally gutted in wildfire, other Jewish institutions threatened

A Los Angeles area synagogue has now been completely gutted by fire, a local television station reports, with other Jewish institutions also threatened by massive wildfires sweeping through the region.

Television footage shows flames and widespread destruction inside the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center, with a reporter on the screen describing rubble strewn about and loud pops.

A correspondent for the Jewish Daily Forward reports that Torah scrolls were taken out of the building before it was consumed by what has been dubbed the Eaton fire, which has burned over 1,000 acres and is not at all contained, according to officials.

“It’s still burning inside,” says KABC correspondent Jaysha Patel. “It’s different every single minute that goes by because these embers just keep picking up different parts of this center.”

“Pieces of the building look like they are about to fall off, you can hear the aluminum creaking,” she adds.

Eaton is one of three major fires burning in the Los Angeles area.

In Pacific Palisades, where a fire has burned over 2,900 acres and is also zero percent contained, according to CAL Fire, the state of the Reconstruction Kehillat Israel synagogue remains unknown.

According to the Forward correspondent, a rabbi for a Chabad in nearby Malibu says his synagogue is safe.

A fire is seen in a classroom at the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center on January 8, 2025. (Screen capture: ABC News/Youtube)

Flames from the Palisades Fire burn in front of the Chabad of Pacific Palisades on Sunset Boulevard during a powerful windstorm on January 7, 2025 in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, California (Apu Gomes/Getty Images/AFP)