Los Angeles Wildfires 2025

Newly-minted billionaire Edwin Castro is planning to rebuild in his hometown of Altadena ... spending roughly $10 million to rebuild properties ravaged by the Los Angeles wildfires.

Edwin told The Wall Street Journal he wants to help people looking to settle down ... "This is for a family that wants to move in. Those are the people that need to be looked out for right now."

The $10-million price tag is a drop in the bucket for Edwin ... he won the record $2 billion Powerball jackpot in 2022, on a lottery ticket purchased at Joe's Service Center in Altadena.

Travis Barker is putting his respect for first responders into action -- literally -- by linking up with incarcerated firefighters behind bars at their jail.

The Blink-182 drummer reunited this week with the men from Pine Grove fire camp, located near Sacramento. We broke the story ... Barker originally met the crew months ago when they were stationed at the Rose Bowl fighting SoCal’s massive wildfires.

Fast-forward to Friday morning, after performing at Aftershock Festival in Sacramento Thursday night, we're told Travis got up at 4:30 AM in the pouring rain to meet the Pine Grove guys at their jail facility to train with them on-site. It was all about motivation, discipline, and mutual respect.

Violet Affleck is detailing a month of arguments she had with her famous mother Jennifer Garner while they were cooped up in a hotel room, displaced by the Los Angeles wildfires in January.

The eldest child of the "13 Going on 30" star and Ben Affleck recalled the disagreement in an academic research paper published in Yale University's Global Health Review earlier this week, titled "A Chronically Ill Earth: COVID Organizing as a Model Climate Response in Los Angeles."

She candidly notes ... "I spent the January fires in Los Angeles arguing with my mother in a hotel room." She describes her mom as "shell-shocked, astonished at the scale of destruction in the neighborhood where she raised" her kids -- but to Violet, there was no need to be surprised at all.

Jason Oppenheim says fire insurance rates have skyrocketed since the Los Angeles wildfires burned through major neighborhoods in the city ... and, he says all Californians are going to pay for it for in the years to come.

We caught up with the "Selling Sunset" star outside LAVO -- a popular Italian restaurant in West Hollywood -- Friday night while he was headed out to his birthday dinner ... and, we had to ask him about the cost of fire insurance going through the roof.

Oppenheim says rates went way up in the immediate aftermath of the fires ... and, while they're coming down as the market corrects, they won't be returning to pre-fire prices.

A piece of Major League Baseball history is up for grabs -- the baseball from the final out of the 2024 World Series ... and it may be a long time before an item like this hits the open market again!!

Harlan Werner -- the CEO of the Memorabilia Network -- gave TMZ Sports an up-close look at the special item before bidding goes live on April 5 ... and he explained why similar balls hardly come around.

"To say that someone's not going to have an opportunity to buy the last out of the World Series, I believe will not happen again in my lifetime," he said. "Either the team is going to keep it, or it's just not going to happen. This is a very, very, very unique situation."

Sweet gesture from Lakers head coach JJ Redick -- he held a special basketball clinic on his day off on Sunday for kids who have been impacted by the recent wildfires in L.A.

Los Angeles' sideline manager put on the one-of-a-kind camp in conjunction with his LA Strong Sports foundation ... inviting a bunch of little tykes to help learn ball at the Lakers' practice facility in El Segundo.

Redick spoke to the campers before giving them pointers on jump shots and defense ... and check out some of the pics the Lakers shared from the event -- everyone seemed thrilled.

Spike Feresten, a veteran writer in Hollywood, is raising money for students impacted by the Palisades fire ... by putting his classic motorcycle on the auction block.

Spike is auctioning off his 1966 Triumph Bonneville T120R ... and all the proceeds are going to the Palisades Charter High School Booster Club. We're told the money will go towards fire recovery at the school.

Much of the Palisades was destroyed in the January wildfire and the rebuilding efforts are underway ... but it's going to take a lot, and Spike is doing his part.

Rihanna was finally able to get back to her favorite restaurant Giorgio Baldi for the first time in months ... and she decided to have some me time.

RiRi was snapped at the swanky Santa Monica Italian joint Friday night ... looking flawless as usual in a black trench coat.

Giorgio Baldi was among the few lucky spots spared amid the tragic Palisades fires, which ravaged L.A. in January.

Spencer Pratt went back to the burned wreckage of his home to grab an essential item ... not one he thought was important, but one Spectrum Internet just needed to get back!

Here's the deal ... Spencer shared with his followers Wednesday that after telling a member of Spectrum customer service his house burned down, he was asked if he still had the cable box to return to them.

Of course, Spencer didn't grab the box when he fled his home with Heidi Montag and their kids back in January ... and, he said as much in a frustrated Instagram post.

Kourtney Kardashian is the queen of wellness, so it only makes sense she’d be front and center in a fight over her town at a Calabasas Landfill protest.

The reality star walked the talk, joining fellow locals Thursday -- including Kendra Wilkinson -- to fight against dumping debris from January's Palisades fires in a landfill just outside city limits.

They made their opinions loud and clear, protesting the hazardous waste and toxic ash deposited in a nearby disposal site, which poses an ongoing health threat to residents ... and it's dangerously close to an elementary school.

Abby Lee Miller says she's doing her part for people affected by the Pacific Palisades wildfire ... she's giving them free use of her studio so they can keep practicing and pursuing their passion.

We caught up with the "Dance Moms" star in L.A. this week ... and, we asked her about her new push to help out the kids affected by the devastating fires in western Los Angeles last month.

ALM says she's letting all of the students from the Palisades Studio that burned down in the fire come use her L.A. studio, free of charge.

Justin Bieber wasn't afraid to play dirty during a charity hockey game, getting in a scrap with former NHL star Jeremy Roenick ... but there's no bad blood.

On Sunday, Bieber was participating in the Skate For L.A. Strong event at Crypto.com Arena ... and the game hilariously took a turn when Biebs and Roenick duked it out in the rink.

Check out the video ... JB flips Roenick's jersey over the ex-NHLer's head and playfully fakes to uppercut his chin. Fortunately, this was all in good fun, because Bieber definitely has control!

Another disaster has hit L.A. weeks after the wildfires -- a powerful storm has been wreaking havoc, with jaw-dropping footage of a car getting swept into the ocean by a raging mudflow.

The car was caught in a fierce debris flow along Malibu’s Pacific Coast Highway Thursday ... tumbling its way toward the stormy Pacific Ocean before finally getting wedged in place.

The driver was an LAFD member who, as you can see, managed to escape and reach safe ground. He was taken to the hospital with only minor injuries.

Mandy Moore is taking Amazon to task after one of the company's drivers delivered a package to the home of the star's in-laws, which was burned to the ground in the Los Angeles wildfires.

On Tuesday, the actress jumped on her Instagram Stories and posted a pic of the charred remains of her in-law's Pasadena house. The photo contained a brown box -- wrapped in what appears to be an Amazon label -- resting in front of the decimated property.

In the caption, Mandy -- clearly shocked -- didn't hold back her contempt, saying, “Do better, Amazon. Can we not have better discretion than to leave a package at a residence that no longer exists? This is my mother and father in law’s home. Smh.”

Luka Doncic is making his presence felt in an amazing way before even debuting for the Lakers ... by donating $500K to help his new city of Los Angeles recover after the wildfires.

The 5-time All-Star -- who was traded to the Lakers in a blockbuster deal last weekend -- revealed the generous contribution on Monday ... expressing how heartbreaking it was to witness the damage the blazes left behind since his arrival.

The fires, which occurred from January 7th to the 31st, killed 29 people ... and others remain missing. Over 57k acres were burned, including more than 18k structures that were either damaged or destroyed.

It may be awards season, but it's members of the Los Angeles Fire Department stealing the show lately ... and Hollywood's brightest stars don't appear to mind sharing the spotlight one bit.

The 2025 AFI Awards finally took place Thursday afternoon, almost a month after they were postponed due to the various wildfires that plagued Los Angeles in January. So, along with the star-studded guest list -- including Cynthia Erivo, Michelle Yeoh, Jesse Eisenberg, and Zoe Saldana, among others -- a very special honoree was included in the festivities at the Beverly Hills Four Seasons.

L.A. firefighter Tim Larson, who battled the blaze in Pacific Palisades, attended the celebration alongside Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos ... and reportedly received a standing ovation from the room full of stars.