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Dangerous winds have returned to Los Angeles, threatening to worsen wildfires that have killed 16 people. Video / AFP
Dangerous winds have returned to Los Angeles, threatening to worsen wildfires that have killed at least 24 people.
Firefighters are prepared with new resources, but evacuations and search operations continue amid high winds.
Video footage show “fire tornadoes” – red-hot spirals that occur when a blaze is so intense it creates its own weather system.
Firefighters were battling massive wildfires on Monday that have ravaged Los Angeles and killed at least 24 people, with officials warning of incoming dangerous winds that could whip up the blazes further.
The fires ripped through the United States' second-largest city for the seventh day, reducing whole communities to scorchedrubble and leaving thousands without homes.
Massive firefighting efforts have staunched the spread of the Palisades Fire, which was looming toward upscale Brentwood and the densely populated San Fernando Valley.
But conditions are set to dramatically worsen, with “extreme fire behaviour and life-threatening conditions” over the coming days.
Winds up to 110km/h mean a “particularly dangerous situation” will be declared from early Tuesday, said National Weather Service meteorologist Rose Schoenfeld.
Those gusts could fan flames and whip up embers from existing burn zones into new areas, firefighters warned.
Los Angeles County Fire Department chief Anthony Marrone said his department had received resources including dozens of new water trucks and firefighters from far afield and was primed to face the renewed threat.
Firefighters were seen monitoring the Palisades fire over the weekend, as it spread near the Mandeville Canyon neighbourhood and Encino, forcing new evacuations. Photo / AFP
Asked whether hydrants could run dry again, as they did during the initial outbreak of fires last week, Mayor Karen Bass replied: “I believe the city is prepared.”
There was frustration for evacuees who were told they would not be returning home until at least Thursday when winds subside.
Some have queued for hours in the hope of getting back to homes they fled to pick up medication or a change of clothes.
Search for bodies
But Sheriff Robert Luna said escorts into those areas were being suspended on Sunday because of the winds and dangerous conditions among the wreckage, as well as the need to retrieve victims' bodies.
Teams with cadaver dogs were carrying out grid searches with the grim expectation that the confirmed death toll would rise.
Several more arrests of looters were made, including one burglar who had dressed as a firefighter to steal from homes.
Nighttime curfews in evacuated zones have been extended and additional National Guard resources have been requested.
Henry Levinson was trying to get to his home in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood.
“I wanted to collect my dad’s ashes, which we had to leave behind, as well as my grandma’s ashes, which we also had to leave behind,” Levinson, an editor, told AFP on Sunday.
A cadaver dog, from the Los Angeles County Sheriff, sniffs through the rubble of beachfront properties destroyed by the Palisades Fire along the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu. Photo / AFP
‘Fire tornadoes’
The Palisades Fire has consumed 9500ha and was just 13% contained.
Video footage showed “fire tornadoes”, red-hot spirals that occur when a blaze is so intense it creates its own weather system.
But containment of the 5700ha Eaton Fire in Altadena had improved, figures showed, with 27% of its perimeter controlled.
The County of Los Angeles Medical Examiner published a list of fatalities without giving details of any identities. Eight of the dead were found in the Palisades Fire zone, and 16 in the Eaton Fire zone, the document said.
The total number of residents under evacuation orders dropped to around 100,000, from a peak of almost 180,000.
A firefighting helicopter drops water as the Palisades Fire grows near the Mandeville Canyon neighbourhood and Encino, California. Photo / AFP
The LA Times reported that the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), adjacent to the Palisades evacuation zone, was almost emptied as students voluntarily left despite there being no evacuation order issued for the campus.
The sudden rush of people needing somewhere to live has posed a growing problem for the city, with reports of illegal price gouging from opportunistic landlords.
California Governor Gavin Newsom vowed the city would rebuild, saying there would be a “Marshall Plan” – a reference to the US support that put Europe back on its feet after World War II.
“We already have a team looking at reimagining L.A. 2.0,” he said.
Some will have treasured items incinerated in the blaze replaced. Olympic chief Thomas Bach has promised US swim star Gary Hall Jr. that his lost medals will be replaced.
Trump: ‘Worst catastrophes’
US President-elect Donald Trump has accused California officials of incompetence, even though a heroic firefighting operation has operated 24/7 since the first flames erupted.
That effort was bolstered Sunday with the arrival of crews from Mexico.
They join teams from all over California and across the western United States who have come to help out.
Firefighters work in the Mandeville Canyon neighbourhood of Los Angeles. Photo / AFP
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy even offered on Sunday to send 150 personnel to California from his war-ravaged country.
A huge investigation by federal and local authorities was underway to determine what caused the blazes.
While the ignition of a wildfire can be deliberate, they are often natural and a vital part of an environment’s life cycle.
But urban sprawl puts people more frequently in harm’s way, and the changing climate – supercharged by humanity’s unchecked use of fossil fuels – is exacerbating the conditions that give rise to destructive blazes.
