Abandoned cars melted by the heat of the fire are seen on Sunset Boulevard in Pacific Palisades in Los Angeles on Friday, January 10, 2025. Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI |
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Jan. 12 (UPI) -- The death toll from wildfires around Los Angeles has grown to 24 on Sunday night as California authorities revealed that more people have been reported missing. Meanwhile, firefighting crews fully contained three of the fires and made some progress on the two main blazes impacting the city, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Sunday.
At least three large fires continue to burn, but slightly calmer winds Sunday allowed crews to make some progress on containment efforts, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, also known as Cal Fire.
The Palisades Fire, which began Tuesday, was at 23,713 acres and 13% contained. At least 1,105 structures have been destroyed with another 12,250 threatened, according to a 7 p.m. PST update from Cal Fire, which state's the blaze has claimed two lives.
The Eaton Fire north of Pasadena, which also began Tuesday, was at 14,117 acres and 27% contained as of Sunday night. About 1,422 structures have been damaged, another 212 destroyed with more than 39,400 threatened, and the blaze was responsible for the deaths of at least 11 people, Cal Fire said in a 7:30 p.m. update.
The Hurst Fire in Sylmar, northwest of San Fernando, which also started Tuesday, was roughly at 800 acres and almost 90% contained.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said at a news conference Sunday that at least 16 people have been reported missing in the areas of the Eaton and Palisades fires and that "dozens" more reports might have come in overnight. He expects the number of people reported missing to grow. So far, at least 24 people have also been confirmed dead by the Los Angeles medical examiner he as of 5 p.m. PST Sunday.
The National Weather Service on Sunday issued another red flag warning for fire danger in Southern California in effect through Wednesday. It's the third high-level alert in three months.
The National Weather Service forecast winds will gust from 45 to 70 mph Tuesday morning through Wednesday morning, which increases fire danger. The Los Angeles Fire Department has issued guidelines on how already fire-weary residents can prepare.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office said on social media Sunday that there would be "zero tolerance for looters." Authorities are enforcing curfews in evacuation order zones, and preventing entry into affected areas of Altadena.
Luna said that some 29 people had been arrested in fire zones -- 25 around the Eaton fire and four near the Palisades fire. He said that one man had impersonated a firefighter to burglarize a home.
"Deputies are enforcing curfew in Altadena and being vigilant to prevent looting," Sergeant Miguel Meza with the sheriff's office said on Instagram early Sunday morning.
Altadena resident Craig Curtis lives with his wife and cat in a home less than a half mile from Eaton Canyon that somehow survived the fire when flames exploded Tuesday night and destroyed nearly everything in its path, including a massive Jewish temple.
"We are the most fortunate of the most fortunate," he said in a telephone interview Sunday night with UPI. "Something happened that caused the damage near the canyon to be less severe than it was further away. I live on a street that survived. We are unbelievably lucky."
Curtis said driving through his neighborhood Thursday morning to check on his house and cat was like driving through an apocalyptic movie set. Nearly everything was reduced to smoking ash with water heaters the only things standing where houses used to be.
National Guard soldiers replaced sheriff's deputies guarding the neighborhood later in the week and were not allowing anyone back in. Prohibited from checking on his house, Curtis and his wife are staying in a small, local hotel, contemplating what's next, and looking for signs of normalcy amid the chaos.
"We touched base with normal life today with another lunch and grocery/drug store run," Curtis wrote in an email to family members, which he shared with UPI. "Pasadena [which abuts Pasadena] is still up and running, but relatively quiet. I'd say maybe half of all businesses are open. There are more places offering relief services of one kind or another, and the insurance companies have begun to appear with their mobile claims offices. A group from State Farm is here in the hotel."
As an indication of how fast the fire blew up, Curtis and his wife had gone out to see a movie Tuesday night and by the time they got home, the whole area was on fire and deputies were denying anyone access to the neighborhood.
"We left with the clothes on our backs and two half charged cell phones," Curtis said of being turned away from his neighborhood Tuesday night as the flames were bearing down, stunned and uncertain of the fate of the home he has lived in for decades.
Newsom, on social media, revealed that the Kenneth, Sunset and Lidia fires had reached 100%.
Jeremiah Wittwer, in an operational briefing regarding the Palisades fire, said Sunday that "yesterday was a day of progress" in battling the blaze."Last night, the fire laid down a little bit when we got some work in with the helicopters in there," Wittwer said about the fire's northeastern front. "The crews started going in direct, getting in behind those houses, starting to button that up."
Wittwer said that calls for service have started going down around the community of Pacific Palisades, between Malibu and Santa Monica. But as brutal winds began into the morning, the fire began to pick up again in some areas, he said.
Still, Pacific Palisades remained Sunday under a do not drink order for fire-related contaminants in tap water as much of the area remained under evacuation orders.
"Last night firefighters continued tactical patrols and responded to public calls for service. Strong winds overnight contributed to active fire behavior with interior flare-ups. Today, minimal fire growth is expected with continued smoldering and creeping," Cal Fire said in a Sunday morning update regarding the Eaton fire.
"Burned structures and heavy fuels will continue to hold heat. In addition to perimeter control, crews will work to mitigate hazard trees along roadways to provide safety for firefighters and the public."
Cal Fire said that aerial imagery shows some 7,081 structures have been damaged or destroyed by that fire, while the cause remains under investigation. Some 604 structures have been destroyed and another 83 damages by the Palisades fire.
Some 44,947 homes and businesses were without power Sunday morning in Los Angeles, according to tracker Poweroutage.us.
The largest number of people affected were 26,768 customers of Southern California Edison and 18,034 customers of Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. Southern California Edison said online that 62,850 of its customers were without power in the region.