Los Angeles County officials said on Sunday that the death toll from the deadly wildfire has risen to 24, while many are believed to be missing. More than 12000 structures are either damaged or destroyed in the wildfires that spread across the county starting Tuesday. Weather forecasters are now warning the fierce winds that fuelled infernos around Los Angeles are expected to pick up again this week.
Officials warned that after a weekend of relatively calm winds, the Santa Ana winds would again pick up from Sunday night until Wednesday.
Just ahead of the increased wind, some firefighters have made some progress in stopping the spread of the deadly fire. Local firefighters are being assisted by firefighters from eight other states, Canada, and Mexico.
Currently, the largest fire is in the Palisades, which has burned through more than 23000 acres of land and is 13% contained. The second biggest fire is in Eaton, which has burned through 14000 acres of land and is 28% contained. The Hurst fire on the other hand has burned over 700 acres and is almost fully contained.
“Unfortunately, we’re going right back into red flag conditions with some potential disastrous wind conditions between now and Wednesday, with the peak winds expected to be on Tuesday,” said the Pasadena fire chief Chad Augustin.
The National Weather Service has also issued a ‘Particularly Dangerous Situation’ alert for Tuesday, warning of extreme fire behavior from 4:00 PM local time till mid-day on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, 29 people have also been arrested for looting the evacuation zones, among them two were caught posing as firefighters in order to steal from the evacuees.
