Over 40 arrests made in Palisades Fire zone by Santa Monica police

LOS ANGELES (KTLA) – The Santa Monica Police Department has made over 40 arrests from the start of the Palisades Fire on Jan. 7 through Jan. 13.

The department said all of those arrested were in the city’s evacuation zones, and most of them violated the curfew law enforcement put in place, which lasts from sunset to sunrise.

Ten suspects were arrested for burglary, and one of them was found to have the Watch Duty app on his phone. That app shows maps of active fires and evacuation zones, including the zones in Santa Monica. Six people were in possession of burglary tools like bolt cutters, pry tools, hand saws, key fob programmers and key fobs. Two people were arrested for being in possession of concealed handguns.

None of those arrested were from Santa Monica.

The rest of those were arrested for other violations like drug possession, driving violations, outstanding warrants, parole and probation violations. None of those arrested were from Santa Monica, police say.

Officials noted that this was “a significant increase in the normal number of arrests in the neighborhoods in the evacuation zones north of Montana and Wilmont.

Many of the incidents involved arrests of more than one person.

“Our dedicated team of officers did a phenomenal job saturating the evacuation areas and tamping down criminal activity,” the department said in a media release.

The arrests come as the Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced charges against several suspects tied to arson and looting in Pacific Palisades since the fire broke out.

Arrests have also been made following the eruption of the Eaton Fire in the Pasadena and Altadena area as well.