Fires devastating Los Angeles grow more slowly as fierce winds die down

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — The two biggest fires devastating the Los Angeles area grew just slightly as firefighters began Friday to gain some control of blazes that have killed at least 10 people, obliterated neighborhoods and left the nation’s second-largest city on edge.

Officials expressed optimism that an easing of the punishing winds that had been stoking the flames will allow firefighters to make headway on the fires that have burned an area bigger than San Francisco and destroyed more than 10,000 homes and other structures since Tuesday.

“These fires are not out, though today we’re going to make a lot of progress,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Friday.

Metropolitan LA and its 13 million residents, who haven’t seen rain in more than eight months, woke up Friday to another day of strong winds and the threat of new flareups. The gusts were expected to diminish by evening, however, and already have died down from earlier in the week, when hurricane-force winds blew embers that ignited hillsides.

But meteorologist Rich Thompson warned the break could be short-lived.

“We’re looking for a little respite on Friday and Saturday from the Santa Ana winds but then they’re going to pick up again Sunday through most of next week,” he said Thursday evening.

LA Mayor Karen Bass, who faces a critical test of her leadership as her city endures its greatest crisis in decades, said Friday that firefighters had contained several smaller fires in the past 24 hours. A brush fire in the suburbs far north of downtown set off a new evacuation order later Friday, not far from the site of another ongoing blaze.

The level of devastation is jarring even in a state that has grown used to massive wildfires. Dozens of blocks of scenic Pacific Palisades were flattened to smoldering rubble. In neighboring Malibu, oceanfront homes next to a fire station were in ruins.

Bridget Berg, who watched her home in Altadena erupt in flames live on TV while she was at work, came back with her family “just to make it real.”

They searched through charred debris of the house they bought 16 years ago, finding pottery and a piece of petrified wood handed down by her husband’s grandmother.

“It’s not like we just lost our house,” she said. “Everybody lost their house.”

No cause has been identified for the largest fires.

A firefighting plane had to be grounded Thursday after it was struck by a drone flown by a civilian, the Los Angeles County Fire Department said. Nobody was injured. It’s a federal crime to fly a drone during firefighting.

Firefighters for the first time have made progress containing the Eaton Fire north of Pasadena, officials said Friday. It started Tuesday night and has burned more than 5,000 structures, a term that includes homes, apartment buildings, businesses, outbuildings and vehicles.

To the west, the fire in Pacific Palisades, the largest burning in the LA area, has destroyed over 5,300 structures. The blaze is already the most destructive in Los Angeles’ history.

At least five churches, a synagogue, seven schools, two libraries, boutiques, bars, restaurants, banks and groceries have been burned. So too were the Will Rogers’ Western Ranch House and Topanga Ranch Motel, local landmarks dating to the 1920s.

A Queen Anne-style mansion in Altadena that dated back to 1887 and was commissioned for wealthy map-maker Andrew McNally was lost in the Eaton Fire.

The government has not yet released figures on the cost of the damage. AccuWeather, a private company that provides data on weather and its impact, on Thursday estimated the damage and economic loss would rise to between $135 billion and $150 billion.

Search for victims continues

Authorities have set up a center for people looking for missing loved ones.

Of the 10 deaths so far, Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley confirmed two were in the Palisades Fire. County officials said the Eaton Fire had killed five.

Two of the dead were Anthony Mitchell, a 67-year-old amputee, and his son, Justin, who had cerebral palsy. They were waiting for an ambulance to come and did not make it to safety when the flames roared through, Mitchell’s daughter, Hajime White, told The Washington Post.

Shari Shaw told KTLA that she tried to get her 66-year-old brother, Victor Shaw, to evacuate Tuesday night but he wanted to stay and fight the fire. Crews found his body with a garden hose in his hand.

Evacuations, school closures and arrests

Roughly 150,000 people remained under evacuation orders, and the fires have consumed about 56 square miles (145 square kilometers), larger than the size of San Francisco.

All schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District, the nation’s second largest, were closed again Friday because of heavy smoke wafting over the city.

California National Guard troops arrived on the streets of Altadena before dawn Friday to help protect property in the fire evacuation zone and evening curfews were set to begin in those areas to prevent looting after several earlier arrests.

Actors among those who lost homes

Many celebrities live in areas devastated by fire. Actor Steve Guttenberg said his Pacific Palisades home was miraculously spared but found his once-picturesque neighborhood charred and unrecognizable. He returned to help with relief efforts.

“There’s really a lot of pain going on right now,” he said. “I’m doing whatever I can to help alleviate it.”

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This story has been updated to correct that the Palisades Fire has seen some containment, not the Eaton Fire.

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Seewer reported from Toledo, Ohio, and Watson from San Diego. Associated Press journalists Manuel Valdes, Eugene Garcia, Krysta Fauria and Christopher Weber in Los Angeles; Ethan Swope in Pasadena, California; Hallie Golden in Seattle; Mark Thiessen in Anchorage, Alaska; Heather Hollingsworth in Mission, Kansas; Jeff Martin in Atlanta; Janie Har in San Francisco; Brian Melley in London; Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire; Sarah Brumfield in Cockeysville, Maryland; and Tammy Webber in Detroit contributed.