Wildfires death toll rises to 24 as L.A. area faces fresh threats
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A cadaver dog, from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's office, searches through the rubble of beachfront properties destroyed by the Palisades Fire along the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, California, on Sunday. Photo: Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images
Los Angeles County is facing "critical fire conditions" after firefighters have for days battled deadly wildfires that have razed entire neighborhoods, and the situation is expected to worsen this week.
Threat level: The National Weather Service issued a rare "Particularly Dangerous Situation" red flag warning that's due to start early Tuesday into Wednesday for parts of L.A. County and Ventura County, warning that winds will be high enough to cause "explosive fire growth."
- The areas under this warning do not include the Eaton Fire, but do include western Santa Monica, Simi Valley, Porter Ranch, Ventura and other parts of the hard hit region.
- The winds will not be as strong as the previous event but strong enough to meet the high-end criteria.
The big picture: The death toll rose to at least 24, per the L.A. County medical examiner's Sunday evening update. Another 16 people have been reported as missing, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said during a Sunday briefing.
- More than 100,000 residents remain under evacuation orders and over 12,000 structures have been destroyed.
Situation report: The Kenneth, Sunset and Lidia fires have been 100% contained, Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a Sunday update.
- The Hurst Fire was at 89% containment Sunday evening, per Cal Fire.
- The Palisades and Eaton fires, the biggest of the blazes, were 13% and 27% contained, respectively.
- Sixteen of the reported deaths have been attributed to the Eaton Fire, while the remaining eight have been categorized with the Palisades Fire.
- Newsom announced he's deployed a further 1,000 California National Guard personnel to the Los Angeles area, taking the number assisting in firefighting efforts to 2,500.
State of play: Red flag warnings for much of Los Angeles and Ventura counties are set to remain in place until Wednesday as gusty winds and low relative humidity persist, the National Weather Service's L.A. office said Sunday evening.
- NWS expects the offshore Santa Ana winds that have been making fighting the fires extremely difficult to pick back up after a brief reprieve, which could complicate firefighters' efforts to contain the flames.
- Dry vegetation coupled with "prolonged extreme fire conditions" will support "rapid spread and erratic behavior" of new or existing fires, per NWS. The Eaton Fire may be less affected by strong winds than the other blazes.
By the numbers: Over 35,000 customers in Los Angeles County were without power about 12:30am Monday ET, per PowerOutage.us.
Context: Parts of Southern California are experiencing their driest start on record.
- An overlap of rare climate factors is in part to blame for the rapidly spreading blazes, as the bone-dry region grapples with the worst high wind event in Southern California since 2011, per Axios' Andrew Freedman.
- While the fires are not the largest wildfires the state has faced, they are among the most destructive on record.
Go deeper: Why fire hydrants ran dry as wildfires ravaged Los Angeles
Editor's note: This article has been updated with new details throughout.
