Last week, a local Instagram account with over 18,000 followers posted a map of L.A. County with a giant red circle over central and Northeast L.A., a small black X stamped over the storied Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) in La Cañada Flintridge, and an ominous message:
“10 MILE BLAST / VAPOR ZONE HAD EATON FIRE REACHED JPL.”
The circled blast zone, stretching from Monrovia to Hollywood, included huge swaths of Angeles National Forest, suggesting destruction for hundreds of thousands of residents, thousands of businesses, landmarks such as the Griffith Park Observatory and Bob Hope Airport, as well as dozens of city, county, and federal buildings in Downtown Los Angeles.
“Bombshell,” the account that posted the map wrote. “Is this why West Altadena was abandoned by firefighters?”
Shelby C. Eidson, an Altadena resident impacted by the Eaton Fire who describes themselves as an “Independent Watchdog,” was listed as the source for the map.