Officials have warned strengthening winds forecast for the coming days threaten to fan wildfires burning across Los Angeles — but the city’s fire chief promises crews are “ready for this next event”.
At least 24 people have died in the fires, according to an updated death toll from the County of Los Angeles Department of Medical Examiner. Eight of the dead were found in the Palisades Fire zone and 16 in the Eaton Fire zone.
More than 12,300 structures destroyed, including the homes of two New Zealanders according to the Consul-General, by three wildfires that remained not controlled or contained. Los Angeles county sheriff Robert Luna said at least another 16 people were missing and the death toll was certain to rise.
The National Weather Service issued red flag warnings for severe fire conditions through until Wednesday (local time), with sustained winds of 80km/h and gusts in the mountains reaching 113km/h.
The most dangerous day would be Tuesday, said weather service meteorologist Rich Thompson.
“You’re going to have really strong gusty Santa Ana winds — a very dry atmosphere and still very dry brush — so we still have some very critical fire weather conditions out there.”
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said Southern California was facing “critical fire weather”, and LAFD chief Kristin Crowley, who publicly criticised the city for budget cuts to firefighting last week, said the impending winds demanded close attention.
“This wind event is approaching us, and approaching us very, very quickly.
“I want to reassure you that your LAFD, all of our regional partners, every single agency that has come from up and down this state and outside the state, we are ready.”
Scale ‘hard to come to terms with’ — NZ Consul-General
NZ Consul-General to Los Angeles Katja Ackerley has been staying in a hotel since Tuesday last week with her family after evacuating from her Santa Monica residence.
She told 1News two New Zealand families had lost their homes, that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade were aware of — one of them being Football Fern captain Ali Riley’s parents’ home in the Palisades.
“It’s a tragedy on the scale that is just hard to come to terms with.”
Ackerley said her sons’ school in the Palisades had been “seriously damaged” and around half of the children in their class had lost their homes.
“They’re really talking about it as one of the most expensive disasters, and I think the scale is really hard to wrap your head around at this point.”
Consular staff were trained for situations such as this and “well practiced” at working from home and so services remained active remotely, she added.
“There’s a very active, vibrant community of Kiwis here that stand ready to support one another in times of crisis like this.”
Thousands remain evacuated or without power
About 150,000 people were under evacuation orders with more than 700 taking refuge in nine shelters. Officials said Sunday most of those orders were unlikely to be lifted before the red flag warnings of expected high winds expire Wednesday evening.
Cal Fire reported containment of the Palisades Fire at 11% and the Eaton Fire at 27% on Sunday.
The Kenneth Fire, which broke out near West Hills in the San Fernando Valley, was 100% contained as of Sunday morning, while the Hurst Fire was 89% contained.
Nearly 70,000 customers were without power across California as of Sunday morning, more than half of them in Los Angeles County, according to PowerOutage.us, which tracked outages nationwide.
Sewer, water and power infrastructure across the region were significantly damaged, officials said.
Thousands have fled and many have lost their homes, including Hollywood stars Billy Crystal and Mandy Moore and Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick.
Investigators searching for the cause
No cause had been determined yet for the fires.
Lightning was the most common source of fires in the US, according to the National Fire Protection Association, but investigators quickly ruled that out. There were no reports of lightning in the Palisades area or the terrain around the Eaton Fire, which started in east Los Angeles County.
The next two most common causes were 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.
“This was once a small fire,” Lentini said. “People will focus on where the fire started, determine the origin and look around the origin and determine the cause.”
So far there has been no official indication of arson in either blaze, and utility lines have not yet been identified as a cause either.
— additional reporting by the Associated Press