Firefighters on Sunday struggled to contain massive wildfires around Los Angeles as strong winds drove the flames toward previously unaffected neighbourhoods, threatening some of the city's iconic landmarks.
At least 16 people were confirmed dead from the fires that have ripped through the city, leaving communities in ruins and testing the mettle of thousands of firefighters -- and millions of California residents.
Five of the deaths were attributed to the Palisades Fire and 11 resulted from the Eaton Fire, the Los Angeles County coroner's office said in a statement Saturday evening.
Teams with cadaver dogs were combing through the rubble, with several people known to be missing and fears that the death toll will grow.
Fears mounted as winds threatened to push the fires toward the J. Paul Getty Museum, the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and the densely populated San Fernando Valley, prompting new evacuation warnings and leaving more homeowners on alert.
In some areas, the fire had turned houses to ashes and left streaks of molten metal flowing from burnt-out cars.
Footage from the Mandeville Canyon area showed one home consumed, with a wall of flame licking up a hillside to menace others.
A brief lull in the wind was rapidly giving way to gusts that forecasters warned would feed the blazes for days to come.
"Critical fire-weather conditions will unfortunately ramp up again today for southern California and last through at least early next week," the National Weather Service said. It added that this may lead to "the spread of ongoing fires as well as the development of new ones."
By Saturday evening, Cal Fire reported the Palisades, Eaton, Kenneth and Hurst fires had consumed about 62 square miles (160 square kilometers), an area larger than San Francisco. The Palisades and Eaton fires accounted for 59 square miles (nearly 153 square kilometers).
In a briefing posted online Saturday evening, Michael Traum of the California Office of Emergency Services said 150,000 people in Los Angeles County were under evacuation orders, with more than 700 people taking refuge in nine shelters.
Crews from California and nine other states are part of the ongoing response that includes 1,354 fire engines, 84 aircraft and more than 14,000 personnel, including newly arrived firefighters from Mexico, he said.
With Cal Fire reporting containment of the Palisades Fire at 11% and the Eaton Fire at 15% on Saturday night, the fight is set to continue.
"Weather conditions are still critical and another round of strong winds is expected starting Monday," Traum said.
Official figures show more than 12,000 structures burned, but Cal Fire's Todd Hopkins said not all were homes, and the number would also include outbuildings, recreational vehicles and sheds.
The sudden rush of people needing somewhere new to live in the months ahead looked set to make life hard for already-squeezed renters in the city.
"I'm back on the market with tens of thousands of people," said a man who gave his name as Brian, whose rent-controlled apartment has burned. "That doesn't bode well."
Prevented from entering an evacuation zone, Altadena resident Bobby Salman, 42, said: "I have to be there to protect my family, my wife, my kids, my mom and I cannot even go and see them."
The long queues left some people fuming about poor management, the latest gripe from a population already angry over hydrants that ran dry in the initial firefight.
Fighting to save public and private areas
A fierce battle occurred Saturday 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.
CalFire Operations Chief Christian Litz said Saturday that a main focus was the Palisades Fire burning in the canyon area, not far from the UCLA campus.
New evacuations were ordered Friday evening after a flare up on the eastern side of the Palisades Fire.
The National Weather Service warned that strong Santa Ana winds 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.
The fire also threatened to jump over Interstate 405 and into densely populated areas in the Hollywood Hills and San Fernando Valley.
Historical cost
The fires that began Tuesday just north of downtown LA have burned more than 12,000 structures.
Firefighters for the first time made progress Friday afternoon on 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 were lifted, officials said.
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.
Overflowing kindness
Volunteers overflowed donation centers and some had to be turned away at locations including the Santa Anita Park horse racing track, where people who lost their homes sifted 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."
Officials warn against returning
Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna warned residents against venturing back to destroyed homes to sift through rubble for keepsakes.
"We have people driving up and around trying to get in just to look. Stay away," Luna said, urging people to abide by curfews.
Officials on Saturday warned 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 who warned the material was "toxic."
Residents will be allowed to return with protective gear after damage teams evaluate their properties, Thomas said.
Leadership accused of skimping
LA Mayor Karen Bass faces a critical test of her leadership during the city's greatest crisis in decades, but allegations of leadership failures, political blame and investigations have begun. City officials put on a united front on Saturday after reports of a behind-the-scenes row and suggestions that Mayor Bass had sacked her fire chief Kristin Crowley.
An at-times tense joint press conference came after Crowley complained her fire department was short of cash and criticized the lack of water. "When a firefighter comes up to a hydrant, we expect there's going to be water," Crowley said.
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.
The level of devastation is jarring even in a state that regularly confronts massive wildfires. Traum of the state Office of Emergency Services said those impacted by the fires can apply online for immediate government assistance.
President-elect Donald Trump accused California officials of incompetence over their handling of the fires.
"The fires are still raging in L.A. The incompetent pols (politicians) have no idea how to put them out," Trump said on his Truth Social platform.
"This is one of the worst catastrophes in the history of our Country. They just can't put out the fires. What's wrong with them?" he wrote.
(With inputs from AP and AFP)
