Los Angeles:

Two devastating wildfires in Los Angeles were declared fully contained by firefighters on Friday after burning for more than three weeks, killing about 30 people and displacing thousands more.

The Palisades and Eaton fires in Southern California’s Los Angeles County were the most destructive in the history of the second-largest US city, burning more than 37,000 acres (150 square kilometers) and over 10,000 homes, causing damage estimated to cost hundreds of billions of dollars.

Cal Fire, the state’s firefighting agency, updated the figures on its website on Friday to show 100 percent containment of both fires, meaning their perimeters were completely under control.

Evacuation orders were lifted earlier, with the fires not posing a serious threat for days.

Both blazes started on January 7 and their exact cause remains under investigation.

But human-driven climate change set the stage for the infernos by reducing rainfall, parching vegetation, and extending the dangerous overlap between flammable drought conditions and powerful Santa Ana winds, according to an analysis published this week.

The study, conducted by dozens of researchers, concluded that the conditions fueling the blazes were approximately 35 percent more likely due to global warming caused by burning fossil fuels.

The two fires destroyed thousands of structures over more than three weeks in the affluent Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles and Malibu, and in the Altadena community in Los Angeles County, forcing thousands of residents to evacuate their homes.

“Our recovery effort is based around getting people back home to rebuild as quickly and safely as possible,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said in a statement Friday. “We are making sure that the Palisades will be safe as residents access their properties.”

City police chief Jim McDonnell said the presence of law enforcement officers in the area would be “more than 10 times” what it was before the start of the fires.

Private meteorological firm AccuWeather has estimated the damage and economic loss at between $250 billion and $275 billion.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

A firefighter and his wife were overcome with emotion after he found his wedding ring amid the rubble of their home, now destroyed in the Los Angeles wildfires.

Pasadena Fire Engineer Chien Yu, accompanied by CNN’s Erin Burnett, was searching through the rubble when one of his colleagues discovered a silver ring and handed it to him. Upon realising it was his wedding ring, which had been misplaced in the chaos, he showed it to his wife. Overcome with emotion, the couple hugged and cried outside their destroyed home, where they had lived for nearly eight years.

“That’s it-oh my God!” Mr Yu said after fellow firefighters dug through the ruins of his home and found the ring. Asked how he expected his wife would react, Chien Yu said that she had no idea it was missing. Filled with emotion, she said, “What! Oh, my gosh!” and froze for a moment before the two hugged each other.

Speaking to CNN, Mr Yu said when he saw the fire approaching last week, he evacuated his wife and two children before buckling up for a 16-hour shift combating the fire in his neighbourhood. He had no idea his home had been demolished until he got off work that day.

The couple and their two sons have moved, but the kids are having a hard time adjusting. “It’s never going to be the same for the kids,” he said. “They’re doing the best they can, you know?” They frequently ask when they can go back to their house or return to school, which was destroyed in the fire and was located next door, said Mr Yu.

According to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, the Eaton Fire had burned 14,117 acres of land and is 55 per cent contained as of January 16. The Palisades Fire has burned 23,713 acres and is 27 per cent contained.

At least 27 people have died and the death count may climb further, as per the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner. Over 30 people are still reported missing.

Los Angeles Wildfires LIVE Updates: Los Angeles Wildfires that have killed at least five people continue ravaging the city. United States’ second-largest city lay in ruins. California’s National Guard has been deployed to assist in managing the crisis. The biggest blaze had ripped through over 19,000 acres of the upscale Pacific Palisades neighborhood, while another fire in Altadena had torched 13,000 acres. Neither of the two fires was contained on Thursday, but the spreading has slowed, the firefighters said. Over 9,000 structures across the city have been damaged. Nearly 180,000 people across Los Angeles remain under evacuation orders.

Amid this, looting has broken out. At least 20 people have been arrested in the aftermath of wildfires that started on Tuesday.

Here are LIVE updates on California wildfires: