LOS ANGELES –
Firefighters raced Sunday to make more progress against wildfires that destroyed thousands of homes and killed 16 people in the Los Angeles area, as forecasters again warned of dangerous weather with the return of high winds this week. At least 16 people were missing and authorities said that number was expected to rise.
The National Weather Service issued red flag warnings for severe fire conditions through Wednesday, with sustained winds of 50 mph (80 km/h) and gusts in the mountains reaching 70 mph (113 km/h). The most dangerous day will be Tuesday, said weather service meteorologist Rich Thompson.
“There will be very strong wind gusts in Santa Ana, a very dry atmosphere and still very dry brush, so we still have some very critical fire weather conditions,” Thompson said at a community meeting Saturday night.
Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony C. Marrone said 70 additional tankers arrived to help firefighters fend off flames spread by new gusts. “We are prepared for the next wind event,” Marrone said. Fire retardant dropped from a plane on Sunday will act as a barrier along the slopes, officials said.
The ferocious Santa Anas have been largely blamed for turning last week’s wildfires into infernos that leveled entire neighborhoods around the city where there has been no significant rain in more than eight months.
Twelve people were missing within the Eaton Fire area and four were missing in the Palisades Fire, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said. Luna added that “dozens” more reports could have come in Sunday morning and investigators were reconciling whether some of the missing could be among the dead. There are no children among the missing, he said.
Meanwhile, the death toll rose to 16 over the weekend. Five of the deaths were attributed to the Palisades Fire and 11 resulted from the Eaton Fire, the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office said in a statement Saturday night.
A home stands on the rubble of the Palisades Fire in Malibu, Calif., Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025. (Mark J. Terrill/AP Photo)
Authorities said they expected that number to rise as teams with cadaver dogs conduct systematic searches of razed neighborhoods. The authorities have established a center where people can report the missing.
Authorities were also creating an online database to allow evacuated residents to see if their homes were damaged or destroyed. Meanwhile, Los Angeles City Fire Chief Kristin Crowley urged people to stay away from charred neighborhoods.
“There are still active fires within the Palisades area, making it extremely, extremely dangerous for the public,” Crowley said at a briefing Sunday. “There’s no electricity, there’s no water, there are broken gas pipes and we have unstable conditions.” structures. “First responders are working as quickly as possible to ensure it is safe for you to return to your communities.”
Authorities warned that the ashes may contain lead, arsenic, asbestos and other harmful materials.
About 150,000 people in Los Angeles County remained under evacuation orders, and more than 700 residents took shelter in nine shelters, Luna said.
On Sunday morning, Cal Fire reported that the Palisades, Eaton, Kenneth and Hurst fires had consumed more than 160 square kilometers (62 square miles), an area larger than San Francisco. The Palisades Fire was 11 percent contained and the Eaton Fire was at 27 percent containment. Those two fires accounted for 59 square miles (nearly 153 square kilometers).
Crews from California and nine other states are part of the ongoing response that includes 1,354 fire trucks, 84 aircraft and more than 14,000 personnel, including firefighters recently arrived from Mexico.
Fighting to save public and private spaces
Minimal growth was expected Sunday for the Eaton Fire “with flames burning and creeping continuously,” according to an incident report from the Los Angeles County Fire Department. Most evacuation orders for the area have been lifted.
After a fierce battle on Saturday, firefighters managed to battle the flames in Mandeville Canyon, home of Arnold Schwarzenegger and other celebrities near Pacific Palisades, not far from the coast, where helicopters dropped water as the fire moved downhill.
The fire moved across chaparral-covered hillsides and also briefly threatened to jump Interstate 405 and reach densely populated areas in the Hollywood Hills and the San Fernando Valley.
Arrests for looting
Looting remains a concern and authorities report more arrests as the devastation grows. Michael Lorenz, captain of the Los Angeles Police Department, said seven people have been arrested in the last two days.
“We even arrested two people who were actually posing as firefighters going in and out of houses, so we’re paying very, very close attention to everyone,” Lorenz said at Saturday night’s community meeting.
When asked exactly how many looters had been arrested, Lorenz said he couldn’t give an exact number, but that officers detained about 10 people a day. California National Guard troops arrived Friday to help protect the properties.
California Governor Gavin Newsom posted on Saturday that “California will NOT allow looting.”
Historical cost
Fires that started Tuesday just north of downtown Los Angeles have burned more than 12,000 structures.
The cause of the largest fires has not been determined and early estimates indicate that the wildfires could be the costliest ever recorded in the country. A preliminary estimate from AccuWeather puts the damage and economic losses so far between $135 billion and $150 billion.
In an interview broadcast Sunday on NBC, Gov. Gavin Newsom said the fires could end up being the worst natural disaster in U.S. history.
“I think it will be just in terms of the costs associated with it, in terms of scale and scope,” he said.
Inmate firefighters on the front line
Along with teams from other states and Mexico, hundreds of inmates from the California prison system were also assisting in firefighting efforts. Nearly 950 incarcerated firefighters were dispatched “to cut fire lines and remove fuel to slow the spread of the fire,” according to an update from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Homes are seen along the Pacific Coast Highway burned by the Palisades Fire, Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025, in Malibu, Calif. (Mark J. Terrill/AP Photo)
Although the state has long relied on prison labor to fight fires, the practice is controversial as inmates are paid little for dangerous and difficult work. Inmates are paid up to about $10.24 per day, with additional money for 24-hour shifts, according to the corrections department.
Overflowing kindness
Volunteers overwhelmed donation centers and some had to be turned away at places like the Santa Anita Park racetrack, where people who lost their homes sorted through piles of donated shirts, blankets and other household items.
Altadena resident José Luis Godínez said three homes occupied by more than a dozen members of his family were destroyed.
“Everything is gone,” he said, speaking in Spanish. “My whole family lived in those three houses and now we have nothing.”
Reconstruction will be a challenge
Newsom issued an executive order Sunday aimed at speeding up the rebuilding of destroyed properties by suspending some environmental regulations and ensuring that property tax assessments do not increase.
“We have to let people know that we have their back,” he said. “Don’t leave because we want you to come back, rebuild and rebuild with higher quality construction standards and more modern standards. “We want to make sure the costs associated with this are not disproportionate, especially in a middle-class community like this.”
The White House said that as of Sunday more than 24,000 people had registered for federal assistance available following President Joe Biden’s major disaster declaration last Wednesday.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said Sunday that she has spoken with members of the incoming presidential administration and said she hopes Donald Trump will visit the devastated region.
Leadership accused of skimping
Bass faces a critical test of his leadership during the city’s biggest crisis in decades, but accusations of leadership failures, political blame and investigations have begun.
Newsom on Friday ordered state officials to determine why a 117 million gallon (440 million liter) reservoir was out of service and some hydrants had run dry.
Los Angeles Fire Chief Crowley said city leadership failed her department by not providing enough money for firefighting. He also criticized the lack of water.
“When a firefighter approaches a hydrant, we expect there to be water,” Crowley said.
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Ramer reported from Concord, New Hampshire. Associated Press writers Julie Walker in New York, Sophia Tareen in Chicago and Ben Finley in Norfolk, Virginia, contributed.
