Wildfires latest: A final round of dangerous fire weather and dry conditions is in the forecast

Millions of Southern Californians were on edge as winds began picking up during a final round of dangerous fire weather forecast for the region Wednesday where two massive blazes have killed at least 25 and destroyed thousands of homes. A day after firefighters got a reprieve with lighter winds than expected, gusts were hitting up to 35 mph (56 kph) on the coast and valleys and 55 mph (88 kph) in the mountains before dawn, National Weather Service meteorologist Todd Hall said. Here's the latest: Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass acknowledged there is no way to replace much of what has been lost in the wildfires. “You’ve lost memories, family. All of the experiences that took place there are gone, and gone unexpectedly, gone rapidly,” Bass said. Earlier this week, Bass issued an executive order to expedite rebuilding by eliminating some of the red tape. “As we prepare to make it through the rest of the emergency, we also have to start putting in place what we need to do to rebuild,” she said. Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman promised that the consequences would be “swift and significant” for anyone violating the law. Hochman said his office is also investigating price gouging concerns. Hochman called price gouging “particularly despicable” because offenders are taking advantage of desperate people who need somewhere to stay. Hochman said charity and insurance scams have also been reported. He encouraged people to check out any charities before donating to them and avoid sending cash or bitcoin. Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell said one person admitted starting a fire “because he liked the smell of burning leaves.” McDonnell said another person said “she enjoyed causing chaos and destruction.” Dozens of others have been arrested for looting, burglary and violating curfews or other violations. One person was arrested on Tuesday night for impersonating a firefighter. The evacuations could be ordered if the strong winds spread the existing fires or help start new ones, officials said on Wednesday morning. Officials caution it may not be safe for residents to return to the different areas, even where evacuation orders have been lifted. Los Angeles City Fire Chief Kristin Crowley said significant safety areas remain in the burned areas including downed power lines and broken gas lines. LA County Sheriff Robert Luna said Wednesday that deputies have searched 78% of the Eaton Fire zone — more than 5,500 properties. While the death toll from the fires has stayed steady at 21 while missing person cases dipped a bit to just over a couple dozen, Luna said. Luna said there are still about 30 active missing persons reports overall. Luna added that about 82,400 people were still under evacuation orders on Wednesday morning. The fire threatened homes but firefighters aggressively responded and extinguished it within 34 minutes, Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley said on Wednesday morning. Winds between 30 and 40 mph (48 kph to 64 mph) were observed Tuesday. Infrared flights indicated there are still “numerous hotspots” within the burn zone of the Palisades Fire, Crowley said. “The danger has not yet passed,” she said. As if they aren’t already facing enough, firefighters in California also could encounter fire tornadoes — a rare but dangerous phenomenon in which wildfires create their own weather. The National Weather Service warned Tuesday that the combination of high winds and severely dry conditions has created a “particularly dangerous situation” in which any new fire could explode in size. The advisory, which runs into Wednesday, didn’t mention tornadoes, but meteorologist Todd Hall said they’re possible given the extreme conditions. Fire tornadoes can make fires stronger by sucking up air. Leila Carvalho, professor of meteorology and climatology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, said. “It creates a tornado track, and wherever this goes, the destruction is like any other tornado.” More than 94,000 customers were without power on Wednesday morning, according to PowerOutage.us, a website that tracks outages. Southern California Edison said it shut off power to 71,000 customers because of the fire risk and may shut off as many as 266,000 more. The National Weather Service is predicting another day of strong winds that could spread the existing fires and spark new ones. The wind will be slower than last week’s gusts that fueled the fires, but still strong. Ventura County is expected to see some of the strongest winds. However, the weather service said the strongest winds will be far away from the massive Palisades fire, and Wednesday is expected to be the last really windy day this week. Wednesday’s wind is expected to decrease after 3 p.m. PT. “They are canceling coverage, making it more difficult for young homeowners who are just buying their first home, not even insuring them,” Vice President Kamala Harris said, speaking Wednesday at an event hosted by the National Action Network. Harris said climate change has exacerbated extreme weather events, and she said “communities of color, hardworking communities, black folks” are more likely to be harmed. She mentioned Altadena as an example, which was devastated by the recent fires. The town was a haven for “some of the first hard-working black families who were able to buy property in California and then pass down those homes through generations.” Now, Harris said, they’ve “lost everything.” Firefighters are facing challenging conditions and terrain, according to Todd Hall, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. Critical fire weather conditions were still expected Wednesday with some of the driest fuels, he said. There have been four Santa Ana wind events, so firefighters are contending with very dry fuels amid low humidity and very gusty winds. Firefighters are also battling blazes in a place where the elevation can rapidly change from the coast into the mountains, he said. “To put it in perspective, these firefighters when they show up to these fires, they’re facing flame lengths that are about three- to five-story buildings,” he said. Firefighters will use bulldozers if they can get them up fire roads, but Hall said many crews must hike up to 4,000-foot (1,219-meter) elevations to build perimeters around fires. “There will be some dicey situations here for some firefighters,” he said. “So we’ll have to monitor that and be in touch with them constantly as far as letting them know what the latest forecast is and when that transition is supposed to occur because that wind shift can essentially blow that fire back towards them when they’re building these lines.” The southern California wildfires remain hard to control amid the current high winds, but firefighters are making progress and the fires haven’t spread very much over the past couple of days. Altogether the wildfires in the Los Angeles area have burned roughly 63 1/2 square miles (164 square kilometers) and damaged or destroyed more than 12,000 structures. The Eaton Fire that devastated Altadena and the surrounding area was 45% contained as of Wednesday morning. Cal Fire said firefighters have also made some progress battling the larger Palisades fire. That fire is now about 19% contained. The smaller Hurst Fire is now 97% contained after burning a little over 1 square mile (2.6 square kilometers). The newest fire known as the Auto Fire is 47% contained. Fire danger remains high in parts of Los Angeles that have been ablaze for days, but there is hope that better weather over the weekend will give firefighters battling the flames some much-needed relief. After calmer weather on Tuesday helped firefighters snuff out fires, a rare warning of a “Particularly Dangerous Situation” was issued for Wednesday in an area near the two fires that killed at least 25 people and destroyed thousands of homes. A red flag warning was issued by the National Weather Service from Central Coast to the border with Mexico from 3 a.m. to 3 p.m. Forecasts suggest that conditions for firefighting will improve later in the week. ▶ Read more about what those conditions look like and when LA could see relief About 40,000 people have applied for assistance from Federal Emergency Management Agency, which has already disbursed more than $8 million for immediate needs like water, food, baby formula and gas. The initial money goes directly into bank accounts, regional FEMA administrator Robert J. Fenton, Jr. said Tuesday, denying misinformation about vouchers. President Joe Biden did say that the federal government would pay 100% of the firefighting and recovery costs in the first 180 days. But that doesn’t mean FEMA will cover 100% of individual families’ costs — the maximum amount FEMA can provide is $43,600, Fenton said. Representatives from FEMA, the Small Business Administration, the state and several charities gathered to explain the process at a disaster recovery center at UCLA Research Park West and Pasadena City College Community Education Center. FEMA offers up to $770 to help cover the evacuees’ immediate needs, but its larger grants generally aren’t available until after insurance companies pay out. Someone who receives a maximum grant from FEMA might be eligible for another $10,000 grant from the state. For other needs beyond what insurance and FEMA cover, the Small Business Administration offers low-interest loans: Businesses can borrow up to $2 million, while homeowners can borrow up to $500,000 for rebuilding and another $100,000 for personal property. As if they aren’t already facing enough, firefighters in California also could encounter fire tornadoes — a rare but dangerous phenomenon in which wildfires create their own weather. The National Weather Service warned Tuesday that the combination of high winds and severely dry conditions have created a “particularly dangerous situation” in which any new fire could explode in size. The advisory, which runs into Wednesday, didn’t mention tornadoes, but meteorologist Todd Hall said they’re possible given the extreme conditions. ▶ Read more about the threat of fire tornadoes When the Palisades Fire broke out in Los Angeles last Tuesday, Hollywood’s awards season was in full swing. The Golden Globes had transpired less than 48 hours earlier and a series of splashy awards banquets followed in the days after. But the enormity of the destruction in Southern California has quickly snuffed out all festiveness in the movie industry’s high season of celebration. At one point, the flames even encroached on the hillside above the Dolby Theatre, the home of the Academy Awards. The fires have struck at the very heart of a movie industry still trying to stabilize itself after years of pandemic, labor turmoil and technological upheaval. Not for the first time this decade, the Oscars are facing the question of: Should the show go on? And if it does, what do they mean now? The Oscars remain as scheduled, but it’s certain that they will be transformed due to the wildfires, and that most of the red-carpet pomp that typically stretches between now and then will be curtailed if not altogether canceled. With so many left without a home by the fires, there’s scant appetite for the usual self-congratulatory parades of the season. ▶ Read more about what the impact of the wildfires means for award season As California’s massive wildfires burn, a barrage of GoFundMe campaigns for victims have become an outlet for onlookers transfixed by the blazes and eager to do something to help. Those appeals for help — plastered with photos of saffron flames or the charcoal aftermath or, most of all, the faces of the people at the center of the plea — are personalizing a tragedy too big to comprehend. “I feel connected in a strange way to all these people that I don’t know,” says Rachel Davies, a 27-year-old writer in New York, who went through hundreds of GoFundMe’s wildfire campaigns and felt drawn in to stories of strangers, donating to fundraisers for landscapers, housekeepers and a cook. Davies was moved by the little details of victims’ stories — like the fact that someone lost their home just as they were bringing a baby home from the hospital — and compiled and circulated a list of GoFundMe sites, thinking others would feel the same and be spurred to donate. “Those stories,” Davies says, “will stick with me.” ▶ Read more about the fundraising efforts for the victims of the wildfires Millions of Southern Californians were on edge as a final round of dangerous fire weather was forecast for the region on Wednesday, along with a rare warning of a “Particularly Dangerous Situation” for an area near where two massive blazes have killed at least 25 and destroyed thousands of homes. Firefighters got a reprieve Tuesday when winds were unexpectedly light and they were able to make progress battling the two huge Los Angeles area fires and quickly snuff out several new fires. The Eaton Fire burning just north of Los Angeles and the Palisades Fire that destroyed much of the seaside LA neighborhood of Pacific Palisades broke out Jan. 7 in conditions similar to what’s expected Wednesday. High winds last week pushed flames at remarkable speed and carried fire-sparking embers sometimes miles away. The National Weather Service issued red flag warnings – done when temperatures are warm, humidity is low and strong winds are expected – from 3 a.m. to 3 p.m. from the Central Coast 275 miles (443 kilometers) south to the border with Mexico. The “Particularly Dangerous Situation” was in effect for an area that includes parts of Los Angeles and Ventura counties. More than 77,000 households were without electricity as utilities shut off power to prevent their lines from sparking new blazes. ▶ Read more about the dangerous conditions forecasted for Wednesday