Devastation laid bare as dangerous LA winds roar again

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

The relative calm on Sunday (Monday AEDT) 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 on Sunday (Monday evening AEDT) 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.

And the forecast was worrying. The National Weather Service issued a rare warning of a “particularly dangerous situation”, beginning overnight on Monday into Tuesday (Tuesday into Wednesday AEDT).

It predicted severe fire conditions through Wednesday, with sustained winds of up to 64km/h and gusts in the mountains reaching 105km/h. The most dangerous day would be Tuesday, warned fire behaviour analyst Dennis Burns at a community meeting on Sunday night.

Fierce Santa Ana winds have been largely blamed for turning the wildfires sparked last week into infernos that levelled entire neighbourhoods around the nation’s second-largest city where there has been no significant rainfall in more than eight months.

In all, four fires have consumed more than 160 square kilometres, an area larger than San Francisco. The Eaton fire near Pasadena and the Palisades fire, in a wealthy enclave along the Pacific Coast, alone accounted for 59nearly 153 square kilometres. Each fire had some containment, which increased over the weekend.

Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony C Marrone said 70 additional water trucks arrived to help firefighters fend off flames spread by renewed gusts.

“We are prepared for the upcoming wind event,” Marrone said.

Fire retardant dropped by aircraft would act as a barrier along hillsides, officials said.

Residents check on their homes

Some residents have been able to return to their homes to survey the damage.

Jim Orlandini, who lost his hardware store in Altadena, a hard-hit neighbourhood next to Pasadena, said his home of 40 years survived.

“Tuesday night we didn’t sleep at all because we figured the house was gone,” he said on Sunday as he recalled the moment the fires spread to his neighbourhood.

“The whole time I was thinking, I don’t know what I’m going to find when I get back here and after 40 years, you know, you got a lot of stuff you forget about that would disappear if the house burned down. So we’re thankful that it didn’t.”

Sixteen of the 24 deaths were attributed to the Eaton fire and eight to the Palisades fire, according to the Los Angeles County coroner’s office.

Twelve people were missing within the Eaton fire zone and four were missing from the Palisades fire, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said.

Luna added that “dozens” more reports might have come in Sunday morning and investigators were reconciling whether some of the missing might be among the dead.

There are no children among those reported missing, he said.

Meanwhile, the death toll rose to 24 over the weekend.

The toll could rise as cadaver dogs conducted systematic searches in levelled neighbourhoods. Authorities established a centre where people could report the missing.

Officials were also building an online database to allow evacuated residents to see if their homes were damaged or destroyed. In the meantime, LA city Fire Chief Kristin Crowley urged people to stay away from scorched neighbourhoods.

“There are still active fires that are burning within the Palisades area, making it extremely, extremely dangerous for the public,” Crowley said at a Sunday morning briefing.

“There’s no power, there’s no water, there’s broken gas lines, and we have unstable structures.”

Officials warned the ash can contain lead, arsenic, asbestos and other harmful materials.

About 150,000 people in Los Angeles County remained under evacuation orders, with more than 700 residents taking refuge in nine shelters, Luna said.

Officials said most of the orders in the Palisades area were unlikely to be lifted before the red flag warnings expire Wednesday evening.

“Please rest assured that first thing Thursday we will begin talking about repopulation,” Marrone said.

Firefighters continue to battle flames

Crews from California and nine other states are part of the ongoing response that includes nearly 1400 fire engines, 84 aircraft and more than 14,000 personnel, including newly arrived firefighters from Mexico.

After a fierce battle on 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.

The fire ran through chaparral-covered hillsides and also briefly threatened to jump over Interstate 405 and into densely populated areas in the Hollywood Hills and San Fernando Valley.

Arrests for looting

Looting continues to be a concern, with authorities reporting more arrests as the devastation grows.

Michael Lorenz, a captain with the Los Angeles Police Department, said seven people have been arrested in recent days, with two suspects “posing as firefighters coming and in and out of houses”.

Asked exactly how many looters have been arrested, Lorenz said he couldn’t give a precise number but that officers were detaining about 10 people a day.

California National Guard troops arrived Friday to help guard properties.

California Governor Gavin Newsom posted on X Saturday that “California will NOT allow for looting”.

Historical cost

The fires that began on Tuesday just north of downtown LA have burned more than 12,000 structures.

No cause has been determined for the largest fires and early estimates indicate the wildfires could be the nation’s costliest ever.

A preliminary estimate by AccuWeather put the damage and economic losses so far between $US135 billion and $US150 billion ($219 billion to $244 billion).

In an interview that aired on Sunday on NBC, Newsom said the fires could end up being the worst natural disaster in US history.

“I think it will be in terms of just the costs associated with it, in terms of the scale and scope,” he said.

Inmate firefighters on the front lines

Along with crews from other states and Mexico, hundreds of inmates from California’s prison system were also helping firefighting efforts.

Nearly 950 incarcerated firefighters were dispatched “to cut fire lines and remove fuel to slow fire spread,” according to an update from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Though the state has long relied on prison labour to fight fires, the practice is controversial as the inmates are paid little for dangerous and difficult work.

Inmates are paid up to roughly $US10.24 ($16.64) each day, with additional money for 24-hour shifts, according to the corrections department.

Overflowing kindness

Volunteers overflowed donation centres and some had to be turned away at locations including the Santa Anita Park horse racing track, where people who lost their homes sifted through stacks of donated shirts, blankets and other household goods.

Altadena resident Jose Luis Godinez said three homes occupied by more than a dozen of his family members were destroyed.

“Everything is gone,” he said, speaking in Spanish.

“All my family lived in those three houses and now we have nothing.”

Rebuilding will be a challenge

Newsom issued an executive order on Sunday aimed at fast-tracking the rebuilding of destroyed property by suspending some environmental regulations and ensuring that property tax assessments are not increased.

“We’ve got to let people know that we have their back,” he said.

“Don’t walk away because we want you to come back, rebuild, and rebuild with higher quality building standards, more modern standards.

“We want to make sure that the associated costs with that are not disproportionate, especially in a middle-class community like this.”

The White House said as of Sunday more than 24,000 people have registered for federal assistance made available by President Joe Biden’s major disaster declaration last Wednesday.

LA Mayor Karen Bass said Sunday that she has spoken with members of the incoming presidential administration and said she expects Donald Trump will come visit the devastated region.

Leadership accused of skimping

Bass faces a critical test of her leadership during the city’s greatest crisis in decades, but allegations of leadership failures, political blame and investigations have begun.

Newsom on Friday ordered state officials to determine why a 440 million-litre reservoir was out of service and some hydrants had run dry.

Crowley, the LA fire chief, said city leadership failed her department by not providing enough money for firefighting. She also criticised the lack of water.

“When a firefighter comes up to a hydrant, we expect there’s going to be water,” Crowley said.