Flames from the Palisades Fire burn along the ridge line near Mandeville Canyon while fire crews attempt to prevent northern expansion toward homes around and into the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles, Saturday, Jan. 11, 2025.
| Photo Credit: AP

Firefighters raced Saturday (January 11, 2025) to cut off spreading wildfires before potentially strong winds returned, which could push the flames toward the world-famous J. Paul Getty Museum and the University of California, Los Angeles. Meanwhile, new evacuation warnings left more homeowners on edge.

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A fierce battle against the flames was underway in Mandeville Canyon, home to Arnold Schwarzenegger and other celebrities not far from the Pacific coast, where swooping helicopters dumped water as the blaze charged downhill. Firefighters on the ground used hoses in an attempt to beat back leaping flames as thick smoke blanketed the chaparral-covered hillside.

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

“We need to be aggressive out there,” Mr. Litz said.

County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath said the LA area “had another night of unimaginable terror and heartbreak, and even more Angelenos evacuated due to the northeast expansion of the Palisades Fire.”

Light breezes were fanning the flames, but the National Weather Service warned that strong Santa Ana winds — the nemesis of firefighters — could soon return. Those winds have been largely blamed for turning the wildfires into infernos that leveled entire neighborhoods around to city where there has been no significant rainfall in more than eight months.

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The fire also was threatening to jump over Interstate 405 and into densely populated areas in the Hollywood Hills and San Fernando Valley.

The grim work of sifting through the devastation continued Saturday, with teams conducting systematic grid searches with cadaver dogs, said Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna. He said a family assistance center was being established in Pasadena, and he urged residents to abide by curfews.

“We have people driving up and around trying to get in just to look. Stay away,” he said.

The fires have consumed about 56 square miles (145 square kilometers) — an area larger than San Francisco. Tens of thousands of people remained under evacuation orders and new evacuations were ordered Friday evening after a flare up on the eastern side of the Palisades Fire.

Since the fires first began Tuesday just north of downtown LA, they have burned more than 12,000 structures, a term that includes homes, apartment buildings, businesses, outbuildings and vehicles.

No cause has been determined for the largest fires, and early estimates indicate the wildfires could be the nation’s costliest ever. A preliminary estimate by AccuWeather put the damage and economic losses so far between $135 billion and $150 billion.

So many volunteers showed up to help at donation centers Saturday that some were being turned away. That was the case at a YMCA in the Koreatown neighborhood. By late morning, cars with would-be helpers were also being turned back from the Santa Anita Park horse racing track, where donations of necessities were being accepted.

At the race track Friday, people who lost their homes could be seen sifting through stacks of donated shirts, blankets and other household goods. Altadena resident Jose Luis Godinez said three homes occupied by more than a dozen of his family members were destroyed.

“Everything is gone,” he said, speaking in Spanish. “All my family lived in those three houses and now we have nothing.”

Some residents have been venturing back to see what can be salvaged after wildfires destroyed their homes, sifting through rubble for keepsakes. But officials on Saturday urged them to stay away, warning that the ash can contain lead, arsenic, asbestos and other harmful materials.

“If you’re kicking that stuff up, you’re breathing it in,” said Chris Thomas, a spokesman for the unified incident command at the Palisades Fire. “All of that stuff is toxic.”

Residents will be allowed to return — with protective gear — after damage teams have evaluated their properties, Thomas said.

Allegations of leadership failures and political blame have begun and so have investigations. Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday ordered state officials to determine why a 117 million-gallon (440 million-liter) reservoir was out of service and some hydrants had run dry. Meanwhile, Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley said city leadership failed her department by not providing enough money for firefighting. She also criticized the lack of water.

“When a firefighter comes up to a hydrant, we expect there’s going to be water,” she said.

At least 11 people have been killed, five in the Palisades Fire and six in the Eaton Fire, according to the LA County medical examiner’s office. Officials said they expected that number to rise as cadaver dogs search leveled neighborhoods and crews assess the devastation, and on Friday authorities established a center where people could report the missing.

Firefighters for the first time made progress Friday afternoon on the Eaton Fire north of Pasadena, which has burned more than 7,000 structures. Officials said most evacuation orders for the area had been lifted.

LA Mayor Karen Bass, who faces a critical test of her leadership as her city endures its greatest crisis in decades, said several smaller fires also were stopped.

The level of devastation is jarring even in a State that regularly confronts massive wildfires.

Californians on Friday (January 10, 2025) demanded to know who is at fault for the vast devastation caused by the raging Los Angeles wildfires, as a strict curfew went into force to prevent looting and lawlessness.

At least 11 people died as flames ripped through neighbourhoods and razed thousands of homes in a disaster that U.S. President Joe Biden likened to a “war scene.”

While Angelenos grapple with the heart-rending ruin, anger has risen over officials’ preparedness and response, particularly for a series of false evacuation alarms and after hydrants ran dry as firefighters battled the initial blazes.

Governor Gavin Newsom on Friday (January 10, 2025) ordered a “full independent review” of the city’s utilities, describing the lack of water supplies during the initial fires as “deeply troubling.”

“We need answers to how that happened,” he wrote in an open letter.

Residents like Nicole Perri, whose home in the upscale Pacific Palisades burnt down, told AFP that officials “completely let us down.”

“I don’t think the officials were prepared at all,” said James Brown, a 65-year-old retired lawyer across the city in Altadena.

A flare-up late Friday (January 10, 2025) prompted new mandatory evacuations from ritzy neighbourhoods along the fire’s eastern flank, which include the famous Getty Centre.

Built at a cost of $1 billion and constructed partly of fire-resistant travertine stone, the acclaimed museum boasts 1,25,000 artworks.

Meanwhile, as fears of looting grow, a sunset-to-sunrise curfew took effect in evacuated areas.

Around two dozen arrests have already been made across Los Angeles, where some residents have organized street patrols and kept armed watch over their own houses.

“If we see you in these areas, you will be subject to arrest,” Los Angeles Police Department chief Jim McDonnell said.

Violators face up to six months in prison or $1,000 fines, he said.

The National Guard has been deployed to bolster law enforcement.

‘Devastating’

Five separate fires have so far burned more than 37,000 acres (15,000 hectares), destroying around 10,000 buildings, California’s fire agency reported.

The Los Angeles County medical examiner’s office confirmed an additional fatality on Friday (January 10, 2025), bringing the overall death toll so far to 11.

“It reminded me of more of a war scene, where you had certain targets that were bombarded,” said Mr. Biden, as he received a briefing on the fires at the White House.

Winds calmed Friday (January 10, 2025), providing a much-needed if fleeting window of opportunity for firefighters battling blazes around the clock for a fourth consecutive day.

At the biggest of the blazes, in Pacific Palisades and Malibu, firefighters said they were starting to get the fire under control, with eight percent of its perimeter contained.

“Braveheart” actor Mel Gibson was the latest celebrity to reveal his Malibu home had burned down, telling NewsNation the loss was “devastating.”

Meanwhile the Eaton Fire in the Altadena area was 3%contained, with fire chief Jason Schillinger reporting “significant progress” in quelling the blaze.

A third fire that exploded Thursday (January 9, 2025) afternoon near the wealthy Hidden Hills enclave, home to celebrities like Kim Kardashian, was 50% surrounded.

But emergency chiefs warned the situation is “still very dangerous” and reprieve from the intense gusts that spread embers will not last.

“The winds have died down today, but… are going to increase again in the coming days,” said Deanne Criswell, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

‘Demagogues’

Authorities have said it was too early to know the cause of the blazes.

Mr. Biden took a veiled swipe at incoming president Donald Trump, who has spread misinformation over the flames that has then been amplified on social media.

“You’re going to have a lot of demagogues out there trying to take advantage of it,” Mr. Biden said of the fires.

Governor Newsom, who has been blamed for the disaster by the president-elect, invited Mr. Trump to visit Los Angeles and survey the devastation with him.

“In the spirit of this great country, we must not politicize human tragedy or spread disinformation from the sidelines,” said Mr. Newsom.

Wildfires occur naturally, but scientists say human-caused climate change is altering weather and changing the dynamics of the blazes.

Two wet years in southern California have given way to a very dry one, leaving ample fuel on the ground primed to burn.

Emergency managers apologized Friday after false evacuation alerts were erroneously sent to millions of mobile phones, sparking panic.

“I can’t express enough how sorry I am,” said Kevin McGowan, the director of the Los Angeles County Office of Emergency Management.

Los Angeles fire chief Kristin Crowley blamed recent funding cuts, telling Fox News affiliate KTTV her department was chronically “understaffed” and “under-resourced.”