Firefighters race to contain Los Angeles wildfires as winds expected to increase on 2025

Evacuation orders throughout the Los Angeles wildfires area cover 153,000 residents, with 57,000 structures at risk.

Firefighters are racing to stop wildfires spreading around Los Angeles before potentially high winds return, while new evacuation warnings left more homeowners on edge.

An intense effort was underway Saturday in the upscale Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles after the wildfire spread to additional areas overnight.

Residents were warned of possible worsening weather conditions in the coming days that could further fuel the fire.

Cal Fire official Todd Hopkins told reporters at a news conference that the Palisades Fire had spread to the Mandeville Canyon neighborhood and was threatening to jump to Brentwood, an upscale neighborhood.

Cal Fire Chief of Operations Christian Litz said the main focus Saturday would be the Palisades Fire burning in the canyon area, not far from the UCLA campus.

“We need to be aggressive,” Litz said.

Meanwhile, evacuation orders across the Los Angeles area now cover 153,000 residents, with 57,000 structures at risk.

Another 166,000 residents have been warned they may have to evacuate, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said.

Luna added that his agency has sent 40 search and rescue team workers to work closely with other agencies, including using cadaver dogs to search for victims’ remains and help reunite families who have been separated.

At least 11 dead

Six simultaneous fires that have swept through Los Angeles County neighborhoods since Tuesday have killed at least 11 people and damaged or destroyed 10,000 structures, a term that includes homes, apartment buildings, businesses, outbuildings and vehicles.

It is estimated that at least 13 people are missing so far. The death toll is expected to rise as firefighters are able to conduct house-to-house searches.

The fierce Santa Ana winds that fanned the infernos subsided Friday night. But the Palisades Fire on the city’s western edge was taking a new direction as winds came off the Pacific Ocean and threatened the densely populated foothills of the San Fernando Valley.

The fire, the most destructive in Los Angeles history, has devastated entire neighborhoods, leaving only the smoldering ruins of what had been people’s homes and possessions.

Before the latest outbreak, firefighters had reported progress in extinguishing the Palisades and Eaton fires in the hills east of the metropolis after they burned out of control for days.

On Saturday, the Palisades Fire was 11 percent contained and the Eaton Fire in the east was 15 percent contained, the state Cal Fire agency said.

The two large fires combined had consumed more than 36,000 acres (14,500 hectares), or 56 square miles (145.6 square kilometers), 2.5 times the land area of ​​Manhattan.

Seven neighboring states, the federal government and Canada have rushed aid to California, beefing up aerial crews dropping water and fire retardant on burning hills and ground crews attacking fire lines with hand tools and hoses.

Winds are forecast to decrease

The National Weather Service said conditions in the Los Angeles wildfires area would improve over the weekend, with sustained winds decreasing to about 20 mph (32 km/h), with gusts between 35 mph and 50 mph (56-80 km/h).

“There aren’t as many gusts, so that should help firefighters,” NWS meteorologist Allison Santorelli said, adding that conditions were still critical with low humidity and dry vegetation.

Authorities have declared a public health emergency due to thick, toxic smoke.

Private analyst AccuWeather estimated damage and economic losses at between $135 billion and $150 billion, presaging a difficult recovery and skyrocketing homeowners’ insurance costs.

President Joe Biden declared the fires a major disaster and said the U.S. government would reimburse 100 percent of the recovery over the next six months.