The latest situation of the Los Angeles wildfire: the death toll has risen to 24, and strong winds are expected to intensify the fire
- Jake Horton
- BBC reporter
California's weather agency warned that high winds that fueled blazes around Los Angeles are expected to intensify again this week, and firefighters on the ground are making progress in their efforts to control three wildfires.
California officials warned that after a relatively calm weekend, strong Santa Ana winds will strengthen again and blow again from Sunday night (January 12) into Wednesday, with winds reaching 60 miles per hour (96 kilometers per hour).
Before the winds picked up, some progress had been made in stopping the deadly Palisades and Eaton fires, which were burning on opposite ends of the city. Local firefighters were being assisted by crews arriving from eight other states as well as Canada and Mexico.
The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner on Sunday updated the death toll to 24. Officials earlier said at least 16 people were still missing.
The wildfire is expected to become one of the costliest in U.S. history.
Private forecaster AccuWeather on Sunday raised its initial estimate of financial losses from the fires to between $250 billion and $275 billion.
Sixteen bodies were found in the Eaton Fire area and eight in the Palisades area.
Three major fires continue to burn around Los Angeles.
The largest fire is in the Palisades, which has burned more than 23,000 acres and is currently 11% contained.
The Eaton Fire is the second largest fire, having burned more than 14,000 acres. It is currently 27% contained.
The Hurst Fire has grown to 799 acres and is almost fully contained.
While crews have successfully contained the largest fires, authorities warned that incoming Santa Ana winds could cause "potentially catastrophic wind conditions" and that fires are a threat across Los Angeles County.
Pasadena fire chief Chad Augustin told the BBC: "Unfortunately, between now and Wednesday we are going to be in red flag conditions again with the potential for some catastrophic wind conditions, with peak winds expected on Tuesday."
"While we are making some progress, firefighting is far from over," he said.
Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley called on residents near the evacuation zone to be prepared to flee the area and stay away from the roads as much as possible to avoid hindering rescue workers.
Alice Husum, 67, a Topanga Canyon resident, told the BBC that a new fire that started in the area overnight was quickly brought under control, but she and her neighbours were "dreading Tuesday" because wind speeds were expected to peak on Tuesday.
Ms Husum, who stayed put despite the evacuation order, said the weather forecast was "a little better than the 100-mile gusts that hit us earlier in the week".
New fires continued to break out Sunday, threatening communities in the San Fernando Valley and near NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).
Firefighters on Sunday quickly stopped the spread of a new blaze in the Angeles National Forest, which surrounds facilities at the heart of the U.S. space program and holds top-secret technology.
At least 29 people were arrested for looting in mandatory evacuation zones. Two people were arrested for impersonating firefighters and stealing belongings from evacuees.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said at a news conference Sunday that he had requested additional National Guard troops to bolster the 400 already in the region.
California Governor Gavin Newsom has since announced that he will deploy an additional 1,000 National Guard members.
"When I was in the Malibu area, I saw a gentleman who looked like a firefighter. I asked him if he was OK because he was sitting. I didn't realize we had him handcuffed," Sheriff Luna told reporters.
"We turned him over to the LAPD because he was dressed like a firefighter, but he wasn't. He had just been busted for burglary. So these are issues that our frontline officers are dealing with."
Sheriff Luna said there are currently 14,000 firefighters in the Southern California region, with 84 aircraft and 1,354 fire trucks providing assistance.
The number of evacuations is declining, with about 105,000 residents still under mandatory evacuation orders and 87,000 under evacuation warnings.
FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell told CNN on Sunday that a significant threat remains.
“I know a lot of people might want to return to the area to check on their properties, but with the wind picking up, you never know which way they’re going to go,” she said.
Where are the current fires?
Two fires were raging in the wider Los Angeles area, while another smaller fire was largely under control, according to California fire officials.
Pacific Palisades : This was the first fire to break out on Tuesday and is the largest in the area, which could become the most destructive fire in California history. The fire has burned more than 23,654 acres of land, including the upscale Pacific Palisades community. As of noon Saturday, firefighters had contained 11% of the fire.
Eaton : The Eaton Fire hit north of Los Angeles and burned through the Altadena area. It is the second largest fire in the area, burning nearly 14,000 acres. The fire is 27% contained.
Hurst : Located north of San Fernando, the fire that started burning Tuesday evening has grown to 799 acres and is almost fully contained.
Earlier, fires in Kenneth, Archer, Sunset, Lidia, Woodley and Olivas were under control.
BBC fact-checks criticism of California Democrats over LA wildfires
Days after the Los Angeles wildfire broke out, the fire is still burning, and some people are blaming politicians for mismanaging resources, which has caused the fire to worsen.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is targeting California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, who he says is responsible for Los Angeles' troubled water supply.
A lack of water in fire hydrants is believed to be one of the reasons why the wildfire has continued to burn for so long.
Meanwhile, others blamed Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass for cutting the city's fire department budget.
The BBC Fact Check team investigates the facts behind these political influences.
What did Trump say?
In a social media post published on Saturday night (January 11), Trump blamed the current situation on California leaders.
He wrote on his social media platform Truth Social: "The fire in Los Angeles is still raging. Incompetent police don't know how to put out the fire. Thousands of magnificent homes are gone, and more will soon be gone."
“They just couldn’t put out the fire,” he added. “What’s wrong with them?”
Earlier this week, he criticized Gov. Newsom for refusing to sign a water restoration declaration "that was before him and would have allowed millions of gallons of water" to be used to fight the fires.
But the statement he specifically referred to does not appear to exist. We also searched for this document but could not find it.
Newsom has previously opposed efforts to divert more water to Southern California.
That included a 2020 presidential memorandum in which Trump sought to divert water from Northern California to farmland further south.
Newsom opposed it at the time, saying he wanted to protect "highly endangered fish species."
Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt has confirmed that this is what Trump was referring to in his post blaming Newsom for his response to the wildfires, saying the governor "wanted to protect a basically worthless fish."
Newsom called Trump's claims "fabrication" and "delusional" in an interview with the liberal blog Pod Save America on Saturday.
California's attorney general ultimately blocked a measure to divert water south, citing potential harm to endangered species and saying it was not scientifically justified.
“The federal government is not going to move water from Northern California to Southern California,” said Jeffrey Mount, a senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California’s Water Policy Center.
“While efforts to save Delta smelt, as well as salmon and steelhead trout, did reduce the amount of water the state transferred from Northern California at certain times, it has no impact on current firefighting water use.”
Although Southern California is currently experiencing a drought, data shows that its reservoirs are currently mostly above historical averages for this time of year.
However, Santa Ynez Reservoir, a large reservoir in the Pacific Palisades, was closed for maintenance and was empty when the fire broke out.
Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (DWP) officials said that if the Santa Ynez Reservoir were put into operation, it could increase water supplies, but it is unclear what the ultimate effect would be.
Is there no water in the fire hydrant?
On Friday, Newsom confirmed Trump's assertion that some fire hydrants were without water, hampering emergency response.
Firefighters in Los Angeles told the BBC they were experiencing water shortages.
Newsom called for an independent investigation into the loss of water pressure at fire hydrants and the "reported lack of water supply at the Santa Ynez Reservoir."
Newsom said in a letter to the heads of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and Los Angeles County Public Works that reports of insufficient water supplies were "deeply troubling."
“The loss of hydrants may impact efforts to protect some homes and evacuate corridors,” he wrote.
“We need to know how this happened,” he said, adding that he wants the agencies to share information and records from California’s investigation with “full transparency.”
Los Angeles Fire Department Captain Adam Van Gerpen confirmed to the BBC that his firefighters had been battling the Pacific Palisades Fire while other firefighters battled other wildfires, but they had all run out of water, forcing them to "improvise."
As of 08:30 local time (16:30 GMT) on Sunday, Cal Fire data showed that firefighters had fully contained one of the remaining fires, the Kenneth fire, and had made significant progress on another, the Hurst fire. However, the largest fire in the Palisades was only 11% contained, while the Eaton fire was 27% contained.
Did the Los Angeles mayor cut the Fire Department budget?
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is facing criticism for cutting the city's fire department budget.
The Los Angeles Fire Department's budget was cut by $17.6m (£14.3m) in the last financial year.
Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley told CNN the budget cuts had "severely" impacted the department's ability to respond to disasters.
She said the department was already understaffed and the elimination of civilian positions such as mechanics meant 100 pieces of firefighting equipment could not be used.
Mayor Bath responded to the criticism, saying: "No reductions will impact what we have been dealing with over the last few days."
According to the Los Angeles Times, after the 2024-25 budget was passed, the City Council approved a $53 million pay raise for firefighters and $58 million for new equipment such as fire trucks.
Once that funding is factored in, the fire department's operating budget technically increased this year, the newspaper reported.
The Los Angeles Fire Department's total budget is close to $1 billion, and it's not the only department dealing with fires.
For example, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, the Los Angeles County Fire Department, and the federal government are all involved in the rescue effort.
Additional reporting by Joshua Cheetham and Merlyn Thomas.
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