Los Angeles wildfires death toll rises as crews fight heavy winds to save homes and landmarks
LOS ANGELES — The death toll from the wildfires ravaging the Los Angeles area rose to 16 as crews battled to cut off the spreading flames before possible return of strong winds that could carry the flames to some of the city’s most famous landmarks Push.
Five of the deaths were attributed to the Palisades Fire and 11 resulted from the Eaton Fire, the Los Angeles County coroner’s office said in a statement Saturday evening.
The previous number of confirmed fatalities before Saturday was 11, but officials said they expected that number to rise as cadaver dog teams conduct systematic grid searches of leveled neighborhoods. Authorities have set up a center for people to report the missing.
There were fears that winds could move the fires to the J. Paul Getty Museum and the University of California, Los Angeles, while new evacuation warnings put more homeowners on edge.
Saturday evening, Cal Fire reported that the fires in the Palisades, Eaton, Kenneth and Hurst had destroyed about 100 square miles, an area larger than San Francisco. The Palisades and Eaton fires covered 59 square miles (almost 153 square kilometers).
In a briefing posted online Saturday evening, Michael Traum of the California Office of Emergency Services said 150,000 people in Los Angeles County were under evacuation orders, while more than 700 people took refuge in nine shelters.
Crews from California and nine other states are part of the ongoing response, which includes 1,354 fire trucks, 84 aircraft and more than 14,000 personnel, including newly arrived firefighters from Mexico, he said.
With Cal Fire reporting that the Palisades Fire has reached 11% and the Eaton Fire 15% by Saturday evening, the fight will continue.
“Weather conditions are still critical and a new round of strong winds are expected from Monday,” Traum said.
A fierce battle took place Saturday in Mandeville Canyon, home to Arnold Schwarzenegger and other celebrities, not far from the Pacific coast, where emerging helicopters dumped water as the fire raged downhill. Firefighters on the ground used hoses in an attempt to battle the leaping flames as thick smoke blanketed the chaparral-covered hillside.
CalFire Operations Chief Christian Litz said Saturday that the main focus was on the Palisades Fire burning in the canyon area not far from the UCLA campus.
New evacuations were ordered Friday evening after a flare-up on the east side of the Palisades Fire.
The National Weather Service warned about this strong Santa Ana wind could return soon. Those winds are largely responsible for turning the wildfires into infernos that completely razed them to the ground neighborhoods to a city that has seen more than no significant rainfall eight months.
The fire also threatened to jump Interstate 405 and into densely populated areas in the Hollywood Hills and San Fernando Valley.
The fires that started just north of downtown LA on Tuesday have burned more than 12,000 structures.
Firefighters made their first progress Friday afternoon on the Eaton Fire north of Pasadena, which has burned more than 7,000 structures, a term that includes homes, apartment buildings, businesses, outbuildings and vehicles. Most evacuation orders for the area have been lifted, officials said.
No cause has been determined for the largest fires and early estimates indicate that the wildfires could be nationwide most expensive ever. A preliminary estimate from AccuWeather puts damage and economic losses to date at between $135 billion and $150 billion.
Volunteers flooded into donation centers and some had to be turned away at locations like Santa Anita Park’s horse track, where people who had lost their homes sifted through piles of donated shirts, blankets and other household items.
Altadena resident Jose Luis Godinez said three homes where more than a dozen of his relatives lived were destroyed.
“Everything is gone,” he said in Spanish. “My whole family lived in those three houses and now we have nothing.”
Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna warned residents not to return to destroyed homes to sift through the rubble for souvenirs.
“There are people driving around trying to get in just to look. Stay away,” Luna said, urging people to adhere to the curfew.
Officials warned Saturday that the ash could contain lead, arsenic, asbestos and other harmful materials.
“When you kick that stuff up, you’re breathing it in,” said Chris Thomas, a spokesman for the unified incident command at the Palisades Fire, who warned that the material was “toxic.”
Residents will be allowed to return with protective equipment after damage teams evaluate their properties, Thomas said.
LA Mayor Karen Bass faces a critical test of her leadership during the city’s biggest crisis in decades, but accusations of leadership failure, political blame and investigations have begun.
Governor Gavin Newsom on Friday ordered state officials to determine why a 100 million gallon reservoir was out of service and some fire hydrants had dried up.
Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley said city leadership has failed her department by not providing enough money for firefighting. She also criticized the lack of water.
“When a firefighter comes to a hydrant, we expect there will be water,” Crowley said.
The The level of destruction is shocking even in a state that regularly experiences massive forest fires. Traum from the state emergency services agency said those affected by the fires can apply for immediate government assistance online.
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Ramer reported from Concord, New Hampshire. Associated Press writers Gene Johnson in Seattle, Justin Pritchard in Los Angeles and videographer Manuel Valdes in Arcadia, California, contributed.