LOS ANGELES (AP) — The number of deaths from the wildfires ravaging the Los Angeles area has risen to 16, as teams fought to contain the flames before potentially strong winds resumed that could push the fire towards some of the city’s most iconic locations.
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Five of the deaths were attributed to the Palisades fire and 11 to the Eaton fire, reported the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office in a statement on Saturday night.
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The previous number of confirmed deaths before Saturday was 11, but officials said they expected that figure to increase as teams with cadaver-sniffing dogs conducted systematic searches in grids in devastated neighborhoods.
Authorities have set up a center where people can report disappearances. There were fears that winds could push the fires towards the J. Paul Getty Museum and the University of California in Los Angeles, while new evacuation warnings left more property owners in suspense.
By Saturday night, Cal Fire reported that the Palisades, Eaton, Kenneth, and Hurst fires had consumed approximately 160 square kilometers (62 square miles), an area larger than San Francisco. The Palisades and Eaton fires alone covered nearly 153 square kilometers (59 square miles).
In an online press conference on Saturday night, Michael Traum from the California Office of Emergency Services stated that 150,000 people in Los Angeles County were under evacuation orders, with over 700 individuals taking refuge in nine shelters.
Teams from California and nine other states are part of a deployment that includes 1,354 fire trucks, 84 aircraft, and more than 14,000 personnel, including firefighters recently arrived from Mexico.
Cal Fire indicated that the Palisades fire was 11% contained and the Eaton fire was at 15% containment on Saturday night, so the battle was far from over.
"The weather conditions remain critical and another round of strong winds is expected starting on Monday," Traum said.
A fierce battle occurred on Saturday in Mandeville Canyon, home to Arnold Schwarzenegger and other celebrities near the Pacific coast, where helicopters were dropping water as the fire advanced down the hillside. Ground firefighters used hoses in an attempt to repel the flames that were jumping while dense smoke covered the chaparral-covered hillside.
Christian Litz, CalFire's chief of operations, said on Saturday that one of the priorities was the Palisades fire burning in the canyon area, not far from the UCLA campus.
On Friday night, new evacuations were ordered after the east side of the fire reignited.
The National Weather Service warned that the strong Santa Ana winds could return soon. It is believed that these winds are largely responsible for turning forest fires into infernos that have ravaged entire neighborhoods in the city, where there has been no significant rainfall in over eight months.
The fire also threatened to jump the Interstate 405 and spread into densely populated areas in the hills of Hollywood and the San Fernando Valley.
The fires that started on Tuesday just north of downtown Los Angeles have burned more than 12,000 structures.
Firefighters made progress for the first time on Friday afternoon in 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 had been lifted, officials said.
The cause of the largest fires has not been determined yet, and preliminary estimates indicate that the wildfires could be the costliest in the nation to date. A preliminary estimate by AccuWeather valued the damages and economic losses so far between $135 billion and $150 billion.
The volunteers overwhelmed the donation centers and some had to be sent back home to places like the Santa Anita Park horse racing track, where people who lost their homes sifted through piles of donated shirts, blankets, and other household items.
Jose Luis Godinez, a resident of Altadena, said that three homes occupied by more than a dozen members of his family had been destroyed. His whole family lived in those three houses, he noted while speaking in Spanish, and they had lost everything.
The chief of the Los Angeles County police, Robert Luna, warned residents not to try to return to destroyed homes to search for memories among the rubble.
"We have people driving and trying to get in just to look. Stay away," Luna said, urging people to respect the curfew.
Authorities warned on Saturday that the ash may contain lead, arsenic, asbestos, and other harmful materials.
"If you're lifting it, you're inhaling it," said Chris Thomas, spokesperson 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 assessment teams evaluate their properties, said Thomas.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass was facing a critical test of her leadership during the city's biggest crisis in decades, as allegations of lack of leadership, political responsibilities, and investigations began to emerge.
On Friday, Governor Gavin Newsom ordered state officials to determine why a 440 million liter (117 million gallon) reservoir was out of service and some fire hydrants had run dry.
Los Angeles Fire Chief, Kristin Crowley, said that the city government failed her department by not providing enough money for firefighting efforts. She also criticized the lack of water.
"When a firefighter approaches a fire hydrant, we expect there to be water," said Crowley.
The level of devastation is surprising even in a state that usually faces massive wildfires. Traum, from the state's Emergency Services Office, said that those affected by the fires can request immediate government assistance online.