Los Angeles-area cannabis operators are prioritizing the safety and security of their employees and relief efforts amid historic wildfires raging across the region that have killed at least 24 people, displaced countless others and decimated thousands of homes and businesses.
While it's far too early to assess potential damages in one of the world's largest regulated marijuana markets, a handful of retailers in Malibu and around Altadena are in or near evacuation areas, according to maps published by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and cross-referenced with store locations.
'Incredibly emotional time'
Nearly all the city's marijuana retailers are located away from affluent coastal areas largely because of local optouts, a commonality that ultimately shielded them from the path of some of the fires.
According to the California Department of Cannabis Control (DCC), the state's chief regulator, only two cannabis retail licensees are in Malibu, and none are in the coastal neighborhood of Pacific Palisades.
Altadena, another hotspot of wildfire activity and evacuations located in unincorporated Los Angeles County in the San Gabriel Valley, also had no licensed retailers, the agency told MJBizDaily.
Other local marijuana businesses, including retail-chain operator Catalyst Cannabis Co. and Mammoth Distribution, had accounted for all employees and reported no damages or closures.
"We've been lucky on fires, no issues," Catalyst CEO Elliot Lewis told MJBizDaily via text on Thursday morning.
Long Beach-based Catalyst operates 29 stores in the state, with the vast majority in the Los Angeles area.
A historic disaster
From the South Bay, sunset watchers on Wednesday could see giant plumes of smoke billowing across the Pacific Ocean from the hard-hit areas of the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angles and neighboring Malibu.
Nearly 180,000 residents are under mandatory evacuation orders across the region, and the number continues to rise.
The death toll also climbed to 24 and law enforcement warned of more expected fatalities, several media outlets reported.
In a nine-hour span on Thursday, the number of damaged and/or destroyed structures jumped from over 2,000 to more than 9,000, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Raging winds, which topped 65 mph on Tuesday night in some places, causing widespread flare-ups miles away, were expected to diminish by Thursday afternoon in some areas before picking up again this weekend, according to the National Weather Service.
The weather service has extended red-flag warnings in hard-hit areas in and around Malibu, Pacific Palisades and much further east to Altadena.
The two largest outbreaks had little containment as of Thursday evening:
The Palisades Fire, which has engulfed nearly 20,000 acres, was 6% contained as of press time.
The Eaton Fire above Altadena and neighboring Pasadena, which has scorched 13,690 acres, had zero containment.
The Los Angeles Department of Cannabis Regulation (DCR) is monitoring the situation and weighing assistance options, according to agency spokesperson Jen Marroquin.
"We are working with different partners to see what assistance will be possible for those affected," she told MJBizDaily via text.
"I encourage those cannabis entrepreneurs who have been impacted by the fires to reach out to DCR."
Wildfire relief underway
The Gelato brand is delivering its newly released water products throughout Los Angeles and other affected areas to first responders and evacuees.
The San Diego County-based company has been dropping off pallets of canned Gelato spring water to firefighters stationed at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, the command post for Eaton Fire response teams, at the Pasadena Civic Center and at the Dream Center in Los Angeles.
Gelato also will have a team on the ground handing out water for anyone in need.
"Even though we are based in San Diego, there was no way I could just stand by and watch these fires sweep through L.A. and do nothing," said George Sadler, CEO and co-founder of Gelato Canna Co. and its sister business, Gelato Water.
"Community is first and foremost to Gelato, so having the ability to bring some sort of relief to those affected by the fires is the least we can do.
"We will continue to bring water up to L.A., as this problem will not be solved overnight."
The Artist Tree said it is setting up donation boxes at its stores in Koreatown and central L.A. as well as its locations in West Hollywood – where the company is headquartered – and Hawthorne.
Essential items, like canned food, water, first-aid, toiletries and blankets, will be taken to shelters and various locations throughout the city accepting these donations.
