Los Angeles wildfire deaths rise to 24 as more fierce winds are forecast

A growing force of firefighters moved into the Los Angeles area on Monday, as more powerful winds were expected to trigger new wildfires that could set back the recent progress made in containing blazes that have destroyed thousands of homes and killed at least 24 people.

Crews and equipment arrived from across the US and from Canada and Mexico, including water lorries and planes that drop firefighting chemicals, as the National Weather Service warned that the coming days could become “particularly dangerous”.

It predicted severe fire conditions will last until Wednesday, with wind gusts in the mountains reaching 65 mph.

The most dangerous day will be Tuesday, said fire behaviour analyst Dennis Burns at a community meeting on Sunday.

The relative calm on Sunday allowed some people to return to previously evacuated areas.

But even as containment increased in the worst of the fires, more bad news emerged from the ashes.

The death toll surged late Sunday with an update from the Los Angeles County medical examiner. At least 16 people were missing, a number authorities said was also likely to rise.

Fierce Santa Ana winds have been largely blamed for turning the wildfires sparked last week into infernos that levelled entire neighbourhoods around the nation’s second-largest city where there has been no significant rainfall in more than eight months.

In less than a week, four fires have ignited more than 62 square miles.

Most of that destruction has been from the Eaton Fire near Pasadena, and the Palisades Fire, in a wealthy enclave along the Pacific Coast.

Firefighters have made progress on both fronts in recent days, and the Eaton Fire is roughly one-third contained.

The returning high winds could trigger explosive growth of the existing fires and new outbreaks in areas untouched so far, creating new challenges for firefighting crews already stretched thin.

Los Angeles County fire chief Anthony C Marrone said 70 additional water lorries arrived to help firefighters fend off flames spread by renewed gusts. “We are prepared for the upcoming wind event,” Mr Marrone said.

Fire retardant dropped by aircraft will act as a barrier along hillsides, officials said.

A group of artists, musicians and friends in Topanga Canyon banded together to stop fires breaking out in new areas by turning off gas lines and propane tanks.

“We helped hopefully save a couple of houses and we put out a couple of spot fires,” Derek Mabra said, as he drove along the coast looking at the destruction. “It’s complete and total devastation.”

Some residents have been able to return to their homes to survey the damage.

Jim Orlandini, who lost his hardware store in Altadena, a hard-hit neighbourhood next to Pasadena, said his home of 40 years survived.

“Tuesday night we didn’t sleep at all because we figured the house was gone,” he said on Sunday as he recalled the moment the fires spread to his neighbourhood.

“The whole time I was thinking, I don’t know what I’m going to find when I get back here and after 40 years, you know, you got a lot of stuff you forget about that would disappear if the house burned down. So we’re thankful that it didn’t.”

Sixteen of the 24 deaths were attributed to the Eaton Fire and eight to the Palisades Fire, according to the Los Angeles County coroner’s office.

Twelve people were listed as missing within the Eaton Fire zone and four were missing from the Palisades Fire, Los Angeles County sheriff Robert Luna said.

Meanwhile, LA city fire chief Kristin Crowley urged people to stay away from scorched neighbourhoods.

“There are still active fires that are burning within the Palisades area, making it extremely, extremely dangerous for the public,” Ms Crowley said on Sunday.

“There’s no power, there’s no water, there’s broken gas lines, and we have unstable structures.”

Officials said the ash can contain lead, arsenic, asbestos and other harmful materials.

About 50,000 people in Los Angeles County remained under evacuation orders, with more than 700 residents taking refuge in nine shelters, Mr Luna said.

Officials said most of the orders in the Palisades area were unlikely to be lifted before the red flag warnings expire on Wednesday.

“Please rest assured that first thing Thursday we will begin talking about repopulation,” Mr Marrone said.

Crews from California and nine other states are part of the ongoing response that includes nearly 1,400 fire engines, 84 aircraft and more than 14,000 personnel, including newly arrived firefighters from Mexico.

Firefighters over the weekend managed to fight back flames in Mandeville Canyon, home to Arnold Schwarzenegger and other celebrities near Pacific Palisades not far from the coast, where swooping helicopters dumped water as the blaze charged downhill.

Looting continued to be a concern, with authorities reporting more arrests as the devastation grew.

Those arrested included two people who posed as firefighters going into houses, Los Angeles Police Department captain Michael Lorenz said.

With California National Guard troops on hand to guard properties, governor . Gavin Newsom posted on X: “California will NOT allow for looting.”

The fires that began on Tuesday just north of central LA had burned more than 12,000 structures. No cause for the largest fires was determined.

Mr Newsom issued an executive order on Sunday aimed at fast-tracking rebuilding, by suspending some environmental regulations and ensuring that property tax assessments were not increased.

“We’ve got to let people know that we have their back,” he said. “We want you to come back, rebuild, and rebuild with higher quality building standards, more modern standards.”

Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass said on Sunday that she had spoken to President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration and expected that he would visit the city.

Meanwhile, a lawsuit filed on Monday against Southern California Edison claims the utility’s equipment sparked the Eaton Fire .

Edison has acknowledged fire agencies are investigating whether its equipment may have started a smaller LA-area fire that broke out the same day.

Edison said in a filing with the California Public Utilities Commission that “a downed conductor was discovered at a tower” near the start of the Hurst Fire that broke out in the Los Angeles neighbourhood of Sylmar.

But it utility added it “does not know whether the damage observed occurred before or after the start of the fire”.

That fire burned more than a square mile and is now mostly contained.