UPDATE 4 p.m.
A fleet of helicopters and tanker planes waged what the Los Angeles Times described as an “epic aerial assault” on Saturday in a desperate battle against the Palisades fire, which was threatening to march east and north toward Brentwood and Encino.
The fire was moving through the Santa Monica Mountains as shifting winds forced evacuations of both communities overnight Friday and into Saturday. Choppers and fixed-wing planes were relentlessly dropping water not far from the 405 Freeway, which so far has stood as something of a bulwark to the east of the still-raging Palisades fire.
