As four fires continue to wreak havoc throughout the expansive Californian city, at least 16 people have lost their lives in the Los Angeles fires.
Search teams and cadaver dogs are searching through charred debris following the most destructive wildfire in the city’s history.
Poweroutage.us, an outage monitor that tracks blackouts across the United States, reports that about 35,000 homes and businesses are without electricity.
Following the discovery of two people entering properties while posing as firefighters, police confirmed that more than 20 people had been arrested for looting.
What’s the latest?
Although firefighters have made some progress in increasing containment, the largest fire in the Palisades has now spread to over 20,000 acres.
The upscale Brentwood neighborhood, which is home to the Getty Center, a renowned art museum that has already been evacuated, is in danger as the fire moves eastward.
Classes at the nearby University of California, Los Angeles are being conducted virtually as students await official updates.
Five people have been confirmed dead in the Palisades fire and eleven in the Eaton fire.
Local authorities in Los Angeles County issued evacuation orders for over 153,000 people as of Saturday. An additional 166,000 people were warned to evacuate.
The fires have destroyed over 12,000 buildings. Officials define “structures” as dwellings, sheds, mobile homes, cars, and outbuildings.
The Eaton fire has destroyed over seven thousand buildings.
At least 426 homes are among the 5,300 buildings that have been destroyed by the Palisades fire.
Following reports of looting, authorities say a curfew that is in effect from 18:00 local time (02:00 GMT) to 6:00 is being “strictly enforced” in the areas affected by the Palisades and Eaton fires.
Twenty-two people have been arrested: three in the Palisades fire zone and nineteen in the Eaton fire area. Two people were taken into custody after being arrested for violating curfew.
The others were detained on suspicion of drug possession, ID theft, burglary, and looting. One person was carrying a concealed weapon while on parole.
According to officials, there are roughly 400 National Guard members stationed throughout the area to assist with critical infrastructure missions and road closures.
According to AccuWeather’s preliminary estimate, the fires could end up being the most expensive in US history, potentially costing anywhere from $135 billion to $150 billion.
It is anticipated that insured losses will exceed $8 billion (£6.5 billion) due to the high value of the damaged properties.
Paris Hilton, Leighton Meester and Adam Brody, who were at the Golden Globes a few days ago, and Mel Gibson are among the celebrities who have lost their homes.
Where are the fires?
According to California fire officials, there are four fires burning in the surrounding area:
Palisades: The largest fire in the area and the first to break out on Tuesday, it has the potential to be the most destructive fire in the history of the state. More than 23,654 acres have been burned, including the upscale Pacific Palisades neighborhood. As of Sunday morning, it was 11% contained.
Eaton: It has ravaged parts of Altadena and the northern part of Los Angeles. With over 14,000 acres burned, it is the second largest fire in the region. 15% of it is contained.
Hurst: It started burning Tuesday evening and is situated just north of San Fernando. It is nearly completely contained and has expanded to 799 acres.
Kenneth: This fire started on the boundary between Ventura and Los Angeles counties on Thursday. 1,052 acres have been covered thus far. According to authorities, it has halted its progress and is nearly completely contained.
All of the previous fires—Archer, Sunset, Lidia, Woodley, and Olivas—have been put out.
Was Los Angeles prepared for the fires?
The discovery that some fire crews’ hoses ran dry has sparked a political dispute regarding the city’s readiness.
Governor Gavin Newsom of California has demanded an independent inquiry into the reason behind the closure of the Santa Ynez Reservoir for maintenance and its empty state at the start of the fire, as well as the loss of water pressure to hydrants.
“Losing supplies from fire hydrants likely impaired the effort to protect some homes and evacuation corridors,” he stated.
The city was on fire when Mayor Karen Bass returned from a prearranged trip to Ghana. She has been the subject of intense scrutiny regarding the water problems, her leadership during this crisis, and the region’s readiness.
At a news conference on Saturday, she sidestepped inquiries about how she was managing the situation by saying, “Right now, our first and most important obligation to Angelenos is to get through this crisis.”
The fire chief for the city of Los Angeles warned in a memo prior to the fires that the department’s capacity to respond to emergencies was being hampered by budget cuts.
Anthony Marrone, the fire chief for LA County, denied separately on Saturday that his department had been unprepared.
“I did everything in my power to make sure that we had enough personnel and resources before the first fire started,” he stated.
“This disaster was not the consequence of poor planning or poor judgment. A natural disaster occurred,” Marrone continued.
Residents claim that alerts that were inadvertently sent to every mobile phone in Los Angeles on Thursday exacerbated their fear of a fire, which infuriated some. The county is home to about 10 million people.
“Frustrating, unacceptable” is how city officials described the software glitch they blamed during a news conference on Saturday morning. They announced that they were integrating the California state emergency notification system with their alerting system.
What caused the fires?
Detectives are still looking into the potential causes, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna.
“Everything is absolutely on the table,” he stated.
The Palisades and Eaton fires have been determined not to have been caused by lightning, which is the most frequent cause of fires in the United States.
To date, there has also been no official confirmation that any of the fires were started by arson or utility lines, the next two most common causes of fires.
The drought of last year dried out the vegetation that had grown so much during California’s extremely wet years of 2022–2023, producing an abundance of kindling.
Wildfire conditions have also been made favorable by a combination of an exceptionally dry spell—downtown Los Angeles has only received 0.16 inches (0.4 cm) of rain since October—and strong offshore gusts known as the Santa Ana winds.
Rainfall is not expected in the region for at least the next week, according to BBC weather forecaster Sarah Keith-Lucas.
Forecasters cautioned that although winds were predicted to moderate somewhat on Friday and Saturday, they would increase once more on Sunday and Monday.
What impact has climate change played?
Experts say climate change is changing the background conditions and raising the likelihood of such fires, even though strong winds and a lack of rain are fueling the fires.
California and a large portion of the western United States were vulnerable due to a decades-long drought that ended only two years ago.
Recent “whiplash” swings between dry and wet seasons produced an enormous amount of tinder-dry, fire-ready vegetation.
There is no question that climate change is causing wildfires in the western United States to grow larger and more intense.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, “the risk and extent of wildfires in the western United States have increased due in large part to climate change, which includes increased heat, prolonged drought, and a thirsty atmosphere.”
Although it is commonly believed that the southern California fire season lasts from May to October, the governor has previously noted that fires have become a recurring problem. “There’s no fire season,” he declared. “It’s fire year.”
