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Additional water tankers and scores of firefighters arrived at the Los Angeles area on Monday ahead of fierce winds that were forecast to return and threaten the progress made so far on two massive infernos that have destroyed thousands of homes and killed at least 24 people.
Planes doused homes and hillsides with bright pink fire-retardant chemicals, while crews and fire engines were being placed near particularly vulnerable spots with dry brush. Dozens of water trucks rolled in to replenish supplies after hydrants ran dry last week when the two largest fires erupted.
Tabitha Trosen and her boyfriend said she feels like they are “teetering” on the edge with the constant fear that their neighborhood could be the next under threat.
“Our cats are ready to go, we have their carriers by the door prepped with their little stuffed animals and things like that,” Trosen said, adding that she’s packed things as she thinks about what she could lose. “It’s like, how do I take care of myself, and what are the things that will ground me as a human and remind me of my background and my life and my family.”
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and other officials — who have faced criticism over their initial response to fires that began last week — expressed confidence Monday that the region was ready to face the new threat with additional firefighters brought in from around the U.S., as well as Canada and Mexico.
“We’re absolutely better prepared,” LA County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said when asked what will be different from a week ago when hurricane-force winds propelled multiple fires across the parched, brush-filled region that hadn’t seen rain in more than eight months.
The winds are predicted to pick up late Monday into early Tuesday, but they are not expected to reach hurricane-force like last week. However, they could ground firefighting aircraft, Marrone said, warning if winds reach 70 mph (112 kph), “it’s going to be very difficult to contain that fire.”
Fire officials advised residents in high-risk areas to just leave home – and not wait for formal evacuation orders -- if they sense danger.
That’s exactly what Tim Kang of La Crescenta did last Wednesday. Feeling sick from the smoky air and fearful of nearby fires spreading, Kang and his brothers packed up and stayed away from their neighborhood.
“Everything just felt like, ‘Oh man, the world’s ending,’” said Kang, who’s staying with his girlfriend in Pasadena.
In less than a week, four fires around the nation’s second-biggest city have scorched more than 62 square miles (160 square kilometers), roughly three times the size of Manhattan.
The National Weather Service warned the weather will be “particularly dangerous” on Tuesday when wind gusts could reach 65 mph (105 kph). A large part of Southern California around Los Angeles is under this extreme fire danger warning through Wednesday, including densely populated Thousand Oaks, Northridge, and Simi Valley.
The Eaton Fire near Pasadena is roughly one-third contained, while the largest blaze in Pacific Palisades on the coast is far less contained.
Search for victims continues
The death toll is likely to rise, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said Monday. At least two dozen were missing, he said.
Luna said he understands that people are eager to return to their homes and neighborhoods to survey the damage, but he asked for their patience. “We have people literally looking for the remains of your neighbors,” he said.
At a Monday evening community meeting about the Palisades Fire, a Los Angeles Police Department official said many people reported as missing had been found. It wasn’t clear if there was an overlap in the numbers shared by the sheriff.
Checking on their homes
The slower winds over the weekend allowed some people to return to previously evacuated areas. Many had no idea if their homes or neighborhoods were still standing.
Jim Orlandini, who lost his hardware store in Altadena, a hard-hit neighborhood next to Pasadena, said his home of 40 years survived.
“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.”
Warnings to stay out of disaster zones
LA City Fire Chief Kristin Crowley urged people to stay away from burned neighborhoods filled with broken gas lines and unstable buildings.
Just under 100,000 in Los Angeles County remained under evacuation orders, half the number from last week.
Fighting flames on multiple fronts
Firefighters over the weekend fought flames in Mandeville Canyon — home to Arnold Schwarzenegger and other celebrities — after the Palisades Fire spread, prompting new evacuation orders. Crews continued battling there Monday before potentially strong winds could push the flames toward the famous J. Paul Getty Museum and the University of California, Los Angeles.
Beyoncé, Disney, and other celebrities and entertainment organizations have pledged millions to help those who have been displaced or lost their homes. Other stars — and ordinary people — have left large donations of clothing and other items along street corners around the city.
Investigating looting, fundraising scams
Dozens of people have been arrested for looting after the wildfires. Officials are now starting to see price gouging and scams, including with hotels short-term rentals and medical supplies, said Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman.
Counting up and investigating the destruction
The fires that began Tuesday north of downtown LA have burned more than 12,000 homes, cars and other structures.
Authorities haven’t determined an official cause for any of the fires. Southern California Edison has acknowledged agencies are investigating whether its equipment may have started a smaller blaze.
A lawsuit filed Monday claims the utility’s equipment sparked the much bigger Eaton Fire. Edison did not respond to a request for comment and last week said it had not received any suggestions that its equipment ignited that blaze.
AccuWeather’s early estimates suggest the fires could be the nation’s costliest ever, topping $250 billion including what’s to come in the next days. The reconstruction cost for commercial and residential properties inside areas with active fires could be $14.8 billion, according to real estate data tracker CoreLogic.
The image of a plane or helicopter flying over a wildfire and dropping a mysterious red cloud over the forests has been a popular firefighting depiction for years, but how many people actually know what that substance is?
Known as Phos-Chek, the fire retardant has been used to fight blazes since 1963 and has been the main long-term fire retardant used by the California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection in recent years. While the exact formula of ingredients isn’t disclosed to the public, the components are mainly phosphate and sulfate salts along with different types of gum and clay that thicken the product.
“We mainly use aerial fighting with fire retardants to direct and steer the fire in directions,” Heather Williams, a spokesperson with Cal Fire, told AccuWeather. “Our main aim is to keep the fire away from things like communities or structures.”
According to a report from Phos-Chek about its Class A Foam, one of the main retardants used by CAL FIRE, the foam reduces the amount of water needed to fight a fire. By using less water, the manufacturer claims that the foam helps prevent property damage.
Following the devastating fires that expanded across areas of Los Angeles and Ventura counties over the last week and resulted in multiple fatalities, AccuWeather forecasters warn that another round of dangerous Santa Ana winds is expected early this week.
Another high-wind setup
A storm developing offshore from Southern California paired with high pressure centered over the West is creating yet another setup for dry, offshore winds from Monday to Wednesday.
"The magnitude and timing of the most intense wind gusts early week will depend on the location of a storm off the Pacific Coast," explained AccuWeather Lead Long-Range Forecaster Paul Pastelok.
Forecasters warn that this round of strong winds from Monday to early Wednesday can rival the initial event in some areas that allowed the Palisades, Eaton, and Hurst Fires to rapidly spread, with gusts to 60-80 mph possible across the cities of Ventura and Santa Clarita.
The AccuWeather Local StormMax™ for this wind event is 100 mph and is most likely in the higher terrain and mountains surrounding the Los Angeles basin.
Winds in the immediate Los Angeles basin should not be quite as strong as that of the extreme and rare event last week. However, winds of any sort will pose a fire risk even in the most urban areas of L.A.
Any fires could advance rapidly
Winds of the magnitude forecast can make firefighting efforts extremely challenging and cause ongoing blazes to spread hastily.
"The winds are expected to be gusty from the northeast-to-east direction during the early week period with humidity levels remaining low," added Pastelok.
"Due to the high-velocity winds anticipated once again for part of the region, any fire that breaks out could be extremely fast-moving," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski warned. "Any fire still burning from last week's event could jump containment lines, and burning embers could be carried long distances and spark new spot fires."
Dry conditions to persist early week
Relative humidity levels are expected to generally remain below 20-30% early wnext eek across much of Southern California. The dry setting paired with the return of blustery conditions will mean a continuance of the extreme fire threat throughout the region.
The dry landscape is in dire need of moisture, forecasters say. The parched vegetation has provided a ready supply of fuels for area fires scorching the region.
"Dating back to April of last year, Los Angeles has not yet crested the 1-inch mark for rainfall. This is a period when downtown L.A. typically receives between 5-6 inches of rain," highlighted Sosnowski.
Unfortunately, locations across the Southwest and portions of the South Central states are projected to remain below the historical average through the remainder of January. The dryness factor may keep the fire risk elevated for many locations.
As we continue to monitor the intensity of the upcoming wind threat returning to Southern California early next week, forecasters are also watching for the chance for winds to surge once again later in the period. However, one main difference for the midweek pattern could be slightly higher moisture levels.
"The wind could subside from late Tuesday into Wednesday [across Southern California]. However, the wind could change direction and increase again midweek, this time onshore. This should increase humidity levels some," noted Pastelok.
"Higher humidity levels tend to reduce the risk of new fires and may help with firefighting efforts, Sosnowski said, "Still, a large established fire can compensate by drying out and heating up the local landscape. It is possible winds from the opposite direction could assist firefighting efforts by naturally forcing the fire back toward previously burnt areas."
High winds have been a key ingredient of the devastating Los Angeles wildfires, and after a brief lull at the end of last week they are forecast to intensify through the middle of this week. That’s certain to complicate the fight against blazes that have killed at at least 24 people, incinerated thousands of buildings and are likely to be one of the costliest natural disasters ever in the U.S.
Here’s a deeper look at the science behind wind, including what it is, what causes it, and how it behaves in the geography around southern California.
What is wind?
It’s the movement of air that results from differences in atmospheric pressure across a landscape. The greater the pressure differences, the stronger the winds.
Topography matters, too — treeless mountain peaks are typically windier without those trees, or buildings, to slow the winds. And different parts of Earth — water and land — heat from sunlight at different rates, which shapes wind.
What are Santa Ana winds?
Southern California’s winds typically flow onshore from the Pacific, carrying moist air onto land. The Santa Ana winds are warm currents that move in the opposite direction. They typically occur from September through May and are so dry that they’re linked with some of the worst wildfires the region has ever seen, in part because the lack of humidity in the air contributes to vegetation quickly drying.
How does Southern California’s geography affect wind?
When the wind rushes into southern California from the northeast, as it does during a Santa Ana, it’s coming from Nevada and western Utah, over and between the mountains in between. High pressure over those states, combined with a low-pressure system in Mexico, results in air funneling rapidly along those mountain passes or climbing up and over peaks like a roller coaster, picking up speed as it goes.
Where wildfires are burning, those winds contribute to the fires’ speed and erratic movement since air pressure is so much more variable in mountainous terrain compared to flat land.
Is climate change affecting winds?
Alex DaSilva, a meteorologist at AccuWeather, said it’s difficult to make a connection between climate change and the Santa Ana winds. However he did note that research shows drought conditions will worsen in the future along with climate change, which means increased fire risk from high winds.
Victor Gensini, a Northern Illinois University climate scientist, was more emphatic.
“There is no established link between these types of winds causing wildfires and climate change,” Gensini said in an email.
Fires tearing through the Los Angeles area have killed at least 24 people, displaced thousands of others, and destroyed more than 12,000 structures in what might be the most expensive conflagrations in the nation’s history.
The blazes started last Tuesday, fueled by fierce Santa Ana winds that forecasters expect to kick back up through at least midweek. Cal Fire reported that the Palisades, Eaton, Kennet,h and Hurst fires have consumed about 62 square miles (160 square kilometers).
The Palisades Fire, along the coast, has been blamed for eight deaths, while the Eaton Fire farther inland has been blamed for 16 others, the LA County medical examiner’s office said. At least 23 people are missing.
Investigators are still trying to determine what sparked the fires. They could be the nation’s costliest ever. Government agencies haven’t provided preliminary damage estimates yet, but AccuWeather, a company that provides data on weather and its impact, puts the damage and economic losses at $250 billion to $275 billion.
Here’s a closer look at what to know about the fires.
Forecasters warn of a “particularly dangerous situation”
The National Weather Service issued a rare warning about a “particularly dangerous situation” related to severe fire conditions beginning overnight Monday into Tuesday.
Sustained winds of up to 40 mph (64 kph) and gusts in the mountains reaching 65 mph (105 kph) are predicted through Wednesday, forecasters said. Winds picked up on Monday and were expected to strengthen on Tuesday, fire behavior analyst Dennis Burns said.
Strong Santa Ana winds have been largely blamed for turning the wildfires into infernos that leveled neighborhoods in and around Los Angeles where there has been no significant rainfall in over eight months.
Southern California’s winds typically flow onshore from the Pacific, carrying moist air onto land. The Santa Ana winds are warm currents that move in the opposite direction. They usually occur from September through May.
Firefighters are using pink flame retardants
Fire agencies say the suppressants are an invaluable tool as flames race through canyons and other rugged areas that are difficult for firefighters on the ground to reach. The hot-pink mixture is generally considered safe for people, but some worry about potential effects on wildlife.
Daniel McCurry of the University of Southern California says the suppressants are typically a mix of water, ammonium phosphate fertilizer, and iron oxide, which is added to make the retardant visible. Aircraft are dropping hundreds of thousands of gallons of the suppressant ahead of the flames in a desperate effort to stop them before they destroy more neighborhoods.
Interactive maps showthe locations of damaged homes
LA County Recovers, a government-run program, posted interactive maps on its website that show the damage.
The maps for the Eaton and Palisades fires allow users to click on an icon and get a description of the type of structure, such as a home or commercial building, and the type of damage, such as “major” or “destroyed.”
Addresses may be entered into a search bar to find a specific location. Users can also see photos of the damaged buildings.
Looting and price gouging add to the problems
Nearly three dozen people have been arrested for taking items from damaged homes and businesses, authorities said.
“We’re starting to see the criminal emerge,” Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said at a news conference Monday.
Price gouging has become an issue with hotels, short-term rentals, and medical supplies. Scammers are also soliciting donations for bogus relief efforts, authorities said.
Thousands remain evacuated or without power
Flames have threatened and burned through several highly populated neighborhoods over the past week, including Pacific Palisades, Altadena, and others.
Officials on Monday lowered the number of people under evacuation orders from about 150,000 to under 100,000. However, they cautioned that more evacuations could be ordered when high winds return.
Cal Fire reported containment of the Palisades Fire at 14% and the Eaton Fire at 33% as of Monday morning.
The Kenneth Fire, which broke out near West Hills in the San Fernando Valley, was completely contained, while the Hurst Fire was 95% contained.
About 92,000 customers, more than half in Los Angeles County, were without power across California as of Monday afternoon, according to PowerOutage.us, which tracks outages nationwide.
Sewer, water and power infrastructure across the region has been significantly damaged, officials said.
Thousands have fled and many have lost their homes, including Hollywood stars Billy Crystal and Mandy Moore, and Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick.
The fires have scorched more than just landmarks and celebrity homes
Although the fires have reduced a number of celebrity mansions and movie landmarks to ashes, they also burned through more affordable communities such as Altadena, which has served generations of Black families who might have faced discriminatory housing practices elsewhere.
The fires have also destroyed several places of worship, including a mosque, a synagogue, a Catholic parish, and a half-dozen Protestant churches.
Investigators are looking into what caused the fires
Investigators haven’t determined the cause. But a person whose home was destroyed in the Eaton blaze claims in a lawsuit filed Monday that Southern California Edison’s equipment sparked it. Gabriela Ornelas, an Edison spokesperson, said the utility is aware that a lawsuit has been filed but has not yet reviewed it.
Lightning is the most common source of fires in the U.S., according to the National Fire Protection Association, but investigators quickly ruled that out. There were no reports of lightning in the Palisades area or the terrain around the Eaton Fire, which started in eastern Los Angeles County.
The next two most common causes are fires that are intentionally set or caused by electricity lines.
Donations pour in for response and recovery
Health insurer Anthem Blue Cross and media companies Netflix and Comcast NBCUniversal said they each plan to donate $10 million to bolster response and recovery efforts.
Meanwhile, singer Beyoncé has contributed $2.5 million to a newly launched LA Fire Relief Fund created by her charitable foundation, BeyGOOD. And Metallica’s foundation, All Within My Hands, pledged $500,000 to the relief effort.
The theater world also is joining the donation drive. The nonprofit fundraising group Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS has awarded $500,000 in emergency grants to help with meals, shelter, medical care, clothing, and emergency financial help.
President Joe Biden said Monday the federal government is covering most costs associated with the devastation for the next 180 days, but it will take tens of billions of dollars for a full recovery. Congress “needs to step up” and provide funding, he said.
As fires continue to rage across Southern California and the scope of catastrophic damage, loss of life, business disruptions, and other economic impacts becomes clearer, AccuWeather has updated and increased its preliminary estimate of the total damage and economic loss to between $250 billion and $275 billion.
“These fast-moving, wind-driven infernos have created one of the costliest wildfire disasters in modern U.S. history,” AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jonathan Porter said. “Hurricane-force winds sent flames ripping through neighborhoods filled with multi-million-dollar homes. The devastation left behind is heartbreaking, and the economic toll is staggering."
The worst of the fires are burning in an area from Santa Monica to Malibu, impacting some of the most expensive real estate in the country, with median home values over $2 million. Should a large number of additional structures be burned in the coming days, it may become the worst wildfire in modern California history based on the number of structures burned and economic loss,” Porter added.
A car drives past homes and vehicles destroyed by the Palisades Fire at the Pacific Palisades Bowl Mobile Estates on Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
To put the magnitude of loss into context, this latest damage and economic estimate for the fires burning in Southern California surpasses the damage and economic loss numbers for the entire 2020 wildfire season, which was a very active U.S. wildfire season, Porter noted. The damage and economic loss in Los Angeles is far higher than the deadly Maui wildfires in 2023, which were $13 billion to $16 billion and have also surpassed the $225 to $250 billion estimate for damages and economic loss after 2024's Hurricane Helene.
“Tragically, lives have been changed forever in just a matter of minutes. Many families may not be able to afford to rebuild or repair and return. Businesses may not be able to recover, and jobs will be permanently lost. Thousands of people are in desperate need of help, initially the basic and life-sustaining needs of food, water and shelter, as this tragedy unfolds," Porter said. "Many families will face significant unexpected costs to relocate to another area in Southern California. The recovery process will be extremely expensive and emotionally challenging in the months and years to come.”
This update accounts for new and additional information, including the damage and destruction of thousands of homes and businesses, damage to utilities and infrastructure, the financial impact of evacuation orders, the long-term cost of rebuilding or relocation for people in densely populated areas whose homes were destroyed, anticipated cleanup and recovery costs, emergency shelter expenses, as well as immediate and long-term health care costs for people who were injured or exposed to unhealthy air quality from wildfire smoke.
AccuWeather’s estimate also accounts for lost wages and housing displacement for thousands of people across Southern California whose jobs have been temporarily impacted, which may ultimately result in large numbers of furloughs, layoffs, or businesses shutting down and jobs being eliminated.
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