The Latest: Threat remains critical amid the battle against Los Angeles area wildfires

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This article was published 13/01/2025 (655 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

More powerful winds were expected to trigger new wildfires that could set back the recent progress made in containing blazes that have destroyed thousands of homes and killed at least 24 people.

Here’s the latest:

The number of people under evacuation orders in Los Angeles County has dropped to under 100,000

But officials cautioned that more evacuations could be ordered when high winds return this week.

Additional fires are possible and the wind could spread the ongoing fires, so authorities urged residents to be prepared to evacuate if needed and make a plan for their families.

Also, even after an evacuation order is lifted it still might not be safe to return home because of damaged gas and electric lines and other hazards.

Officials are confident they’ll be ready to deal with the return of strong winds this week

“We’re absolutely better prepared for this coming,” Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said when asked what will be different this time with similarly strong winds forecast as last week which fueled the massive fires.

More than 5,000 firefighters are battling the Palisades fire and more than 3,000 are working on the Eaton fire.

The state has also set up a mobilization area where resources are staged to be ready to respond to any new fires.

Marrone said he also has more firefighting aircraft on hand to help, but they could be grounded if the winds get too strong. When that happened last week, the fires spread quickly.

Marrone said he can’t be confident they’ll be able to contain every new fire, so it’s important that residents are ready to evacuate if they’re ordered to leave their homes.

National Weather Service predicts the return of hurricane-force winds that could quickly spread wildfires

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said the city is preparing to deal with another round of extreme wind.

At the same time, city officials are helping residents start to recover from losing their homes by opening centers to help them apply for replacement birth certificates and drivers licenses and other documents. Businesses are also being encouraged to apply for disaster relief loans.

The city set up a website to help people as they start picking up the pieces of their lives at recovery.lacounty.gov.

Dozens have been arrested for looting and officials are now seeing price gouging and scams

Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said they’re starting to see criminals emerge.

Nearly three dozen people have been arrested for looting since the fires began last week.

Hochman added that price gauging has been happening with hotels and short-term rentals and medical supplies. Scammers are also contacting people for fake GoFundMe efforts, though he said the official organization has done a good job of putting protections against this in place and recommended making such donations through that site.

“The criminals have decided that this is an opportunity and I’m here to tell you this is not an opportunity. You will be arrested,” Hochman said.

The death toll from the wildfires is expected to rise as officials search through the rubble

At least 24 people have died in the fires, but more victims continue to be found.

Authorities have resumed sifting through the rubble near Altadena for the third day.

“It is a very grim task. And we, unfortunately every day we’re doing this, we’re running across the remains of individual community members,” Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said.

At least 23 people are missing in the fires.

“I believe we will continue to find remains,” Luna said, asking people for patience, adding that many are saying ”‘I just want to go look at my house and I want to see what’s left.’ We know that but we have people literally looking for the remains of your neighbors.”

Fire officials welcome all the help they’ve received from across the state and beyond

Other fire departments have sent equipment and firefighters to help battle the devastating blazes. Hundreds of National Guard troops are also helping.

Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said his department has not turned down any offers for help since the fires began.

Los Angeles City Fire Chief Kristin Crowley said she’s grateful for all the first responders who are helping.

“We absolutely know that we cannot do this on our own,” she said.

The firefighting plane that was damaged by a drone last week has been repaired

Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said he expects that plane to be flying again Tuesday to help battle the fires if the Federal Aviation Administration approves the repairs.

Aerial firefighting has been crucial in the fight against the fires.

The fires spread quickly last week when firefighting planes and helicopters were grounded because of high winds.

Fire officials say thousands of firefighters are working hard to contain the wildfires

But with more strong winds in the forecast, the threat remains critical. The anticipated winds, low humidity and dry conditions will keep the fire risk high.

“Please be assured that all fire departments and all law enforcement agencies in the area will be prepared,” LA County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said.

Officials have pre-positioned fire engines throughout the city so they’ll be ready to respond to any new fires and firefighters are patrolling high risk areas.

LA fire official says she’s pre-positioned strike teams and task forces in case new fires break out in the city

“We are not in the clear as of yet and we must not let our guard down,” LA Fire Chief Kristin Crowley said during the Monday news conference.

Anticipated winds, low humidity and dry conditions will keep the fire threat in all of Los Angeles County critical

That’s according to LA County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone, who was speaking at a news conference Monday morning.

Beyoncé donates $2.5 million to Los Angeles-area wildfire relief

Beyoncé has contributed $2.5 million to a newly launched LA Fire Relief Fund created by her charitable foundation, BeyGOOD.

The announcement was posted on the BeyGOOD foundation Instagram account Sunday.

“The fund is earmarked to aid families in the Altadena/Pasadena area who lost their homes, and to churches and community centers to address the immediate needs of those affected by the wildfires,” the caption read.

Founded in 2013, the BeyGOOD foundation concentrates on economic equity, by “supporting marginalized and under-resourced programs,” according to its mission statement.

Last week, Beyoncé’s mother Tina Knowles shared that her Malibu bungalow was destroyed in the Los Angeles-area fires.

“It was my favorite place, my sanctuary, my sacred happy place. now it is gone,” she wrote on Instagram. “God Bless all the brave men and women in our fire department who risked their lives in dangerous conditions.”

How much damage have the wildfires caused?

It’s impossible to know exactly how much damage the fires have caused at this point, but it appears they could be one of the costliest natural disasters ever in the country.

No official estimates have been released, but AccuWeather, a private company that provides data on weather and its impact, said Sunday night that it believes the fires have now caused more than $250 billion damage. And the fires continue to burn.

By comparison, AccuWeather estimated the damage and economic losses caused by Hurricane Helene, which tore across six southeastern states last fall, at $225 billion to $250 billion. It could take several months for officials to develop any kind of official estimate of how much damage the fires caused.

Accuweather has increased its damage estimate several times since last week as more structures continue to burn.

The California wildfires could be leaving deeper inequality in their wake

The sight of celebrity mansions and movie landmarks reduced to ashes can make it seem like the wildfires roaring through the Los Angeles area affected a constellation of movie stars.

But a drive through the charred neighborhoods around Altadena shows that the fires also burned through a remarkable haven for generations of Black families avoiding discriminatory housing practices elsewhere. They have been communities of racial and economic diversity, where many people own their own homes.

Some now fear the most destructive fires in California’s history have altered that for good. Recovery and rebuilding may be out of reach for many, and pressures of gentrification could be renewed.

The number of people without power fell to about 50,000 Monday morning

But that could change in the next couple days when strong Santa Ana winds are forecast to return.

Pedro Pizarro, the president and CEO of Edison International, told “Good Morning America” his utility has warned some 450,000 customers that their power could be shut off to help keep utility lines from sparking any additional wildfires. Pizarro said the utility hasn’t been able to determine if its equipment and lines played any role in igniting the devastating wildfires that have destroyed more than 12,000 structures throughout the Los Angeles area.

Arrests have been made for looting

Looting continued to be a concern, with authorities reporting more arrests as the devastation grew. Those arrested included two people who posed as firefighters going into houses, Los Angeles Police Department Capt. Michael Lorenz said.

With California National Guard troops on hand to guard properties, Gov. Gavin Newsom posted on X: “California will NOT allow for looting.”

The fires have scorched more than just landmarks and celebrity homes

While the fires have reduced a number of celebrity mansions and movie landmarks to ashes, they also burned through a haven in Altadena for generations of Black families avoiding discriminatory housing practices elsewhere. They have been communities of racial and economic diversity, where many people own their own homes.

The fires have destroyed several places of worship, including a mosque, a synagogue, a Catholic parish and a half-dozen Protestant churches.

A dad and daughter help evacuees learn whether their homes survived

A father-daughter team in the Los Angeles area are staying in their home behind the fire barricades and taking inventory of destroyed properties.

Vanessa Prata and her parents had packed up to leave their home in Altadena. Instead, the Pratas have remained in their family home of 27 years, which is somehow still standing, even as homes just over a block away burned.

And as residents who did flee are kept away by police or military barricades, Prata and her dad have taken it upon themselves to check on their neighbors’ homes.

On Friday, they posted to an Altadena community group on Facebook to say they were willing to take the addresses of people who had evacuated their homes and check on their property.

Vanessa and her father, Aluizio Prata, visited more than two dozen homes Friday and Saturday. Fewer than half are still standing.

What ignited the deadly California wildfires? Investigators consider an array of possibilities

Investigators are considering an array of possible ignition sources for the huge fires that have killed at least 24 people and destroyed thousands of homes and businesses in the Los Angeles area.

In the Pacific Palisades, officials have placed the origin of the wind-whipped blaze behind a home on Piedra Morada Drive, which sits above a densely wooded arroyo.

According to the National Fire Protection Association, lightning is the most common cause of fires in the U.S., but investigators were able to rule that out quickly. There were no reports of lightning in the Palisades area or the terrain around the Eaton Fire, which started in east Los Angeles County and has destroyed hundreds of homes.

The next two most common causes: fires intentionally set, and those sparked by utility lines.

John Lentini, owner of Scientific Fire Analysis in Florida, who has investigated large fires in California including the Oakland Hills Fire in 1991, said the size and scope of the blaze don’t change the approach to finding out what caused it.

Firefighters continue battling the flames

Crews from California and nine other states are part of the ongoing response that includes nearly 1,400 fire engines, 84 aircraft and more than 14,000 personnel, including newly arrived firefighters from Mexico.

After a fierce battle Saturday, firefighters managed to fight back flames in Mandeville Canyon, home to Arnold Schwarzenegger and other celebrities near Pacific Palisades not far from the coast, where swooping helicopters dumped water as the blaze charged downhill.

Ripples of Los Angeles fires continue as Meghan delays Netflix series launch, composer’s works lost

Several projects and awards shows have been delayed, with the Producers Guild opting not to announce its nominations Sunday due to the ongoing effects of the fire. Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, also announced she wouldn’t launch a Netflix lifestyles program until March.

The publisher of composer Arnold Schoenberg’s works says original manuscripts and scores were lost in the Los Angeles wildfires.

“We have lost our full inventory of sales and rental materials,” the company said in a statement. “We hope that in the near future we will be able to ‘rise from the ashes’ in a completely digital form. … There are some scores and performing materials for which we have digital scans.”

Meanwhile, The Screen Actors Guild has joined the Walt Disney Co., the Grammys and other entertainment entities pledging millions in relief to help those affected by the fires.

Death toll from the wildfires rises to 24

After making some progress battling wildfires that destroyed thousands of homes and killed at least 24 people in the Los Angeles area, firefighters prepared for a return of dangerous winds that could again stoke the flames.

The relative calm Sunday allowed some people to return to previously evacuated areas. But even as containment increased in the worst of the fires, more bad news emerged from the ashes: The death toll surged late Sunday with an update from the Los Angeles County medical examiner. At least 16 people were missing, a number authorities said was also likely to rise.