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Thousands of firefighters labored to contain the four wildfires raging across the Los Angeles area Saturday before evening winds forecasted to fan additional flames.
In the Pacific Palisades, incarcerated firefighters dug wide trenches across the charred landscape in an attempt to contain the blaze, which has been called the most destructive in the city’s history. Across the city, in Altadena, first responders dragged hoses over burned-out cars and rebar. In Mandeville Canyon, where the Palisades fire grew closer to the UCLA campus – prompting evacuation orders across the Brentwood and Encino neighborhoods – firefighting planes dropped water and retardant in an aggressive aerial attempt to halt the fire’s path.
As containment levels on the two largest fires grew, city and county officials began the difficult work of identifying victims. At least 11 fatalities were confirmed in the Palisades and Eaton fires Saturday, according to the Los Angeles county medical examiner. Relatives have begun coming forward to identify the victims, which include several older Black residents of Altadena who refused to leave their longtime homes, and multiple people with disabilities or receiving home healthcare, who could not be moved, including an Australian former child actor.
The Los Angeles county sheriff, Robert Luna, said the death toll is expected to rise as authorities deploy search dogs to devastated areas. The sheriff also said 13 people are reported missing.
The fires, which have consumed an area about two and a half times the size of Manhattan, have displaced 200,000 people and destroyed more than 12,000 homes and structures, including entire residential neighborhoods. They have also prompted a political brawl – in both Los Angeles and nationally.
On Friday, California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, ordered an inquiry into LA county’s water management after reports emerged that a critical reservoir was offline when the fires started, leaving some emergency hydrants with low water pressure before running dry. The LA fire chief, Kristin Crowley, has been vocal about how the water supply issues – and budget cuts – “failed” her firefighters.
A spokesperson for the water and power department confirmed the Santa Ynez reservoir, which helps supply water in the Pacific Palisades, had been offline for scheduled maintenance when the fire ignited.
On Saturday, the LA department of public works issued its own statement “correcting misinformation” about the water system.
“Water pressure in the system was lost due to unprecedented and extreme water demand to fight the wildfire without aerial support,” it said. The department “was required to take the Santa Ynez Reservoir out of service to meet safe drinking water regulations,” it added.
The water supply debacle has prompted national debate, with Donald Trump chiming in.
At the same time, nearby blue and red states as well as foreign countries are making their own political statements in their decisions to deploy firefighters to aid California. On Saturday, the Republican Texas governor, Greg Abbott, announced that his state would deploy first responders to left-leaning California – just a day after Mexico and Canada announced both countries would send firefighters to aid the United States even as Trump has threatened to levy tariffs against both.
Arrests and more evacuation orders
On the ground in California on Saturday, Los Angeles county officials said they had made 22 arrests – 19 people in the Eaton fire and three in the Palisades fire. At least some of those charges were for burglary and looting. Hours earlier, the sheriff’s office had issued a 6pm to 6am curfew in all mandatory evacuation areas affected by the Palisades and Eaton wildfires, in part to protect the property of homeowners who had obeyed orders to evacuate from being looted.
The most recent areas to be put under evacuation orders are close to Brentwood’s Mandeville Canyon Road, a two-lane road that makes emergency access to the pricey homes difficult. The orders also encompass the s, the Los Angeles Times reported.
A spokesperson for the J Paul Getty Trust, which funds the museum, said the institution was complying with the evacuation order and is now closed, with only emergency personnel in place.
The Veterans Affairs Medical Center in west LA says it relocated residents from its community-living facility on the north campus “out of an abundance of caution”.
Earlier, US officials declared a public health emergency due to the air-quality effects of the California fires.
The LA public health department said it had declared a local health emergency and issued a public health order in response “to the widespread impacts of the ongoing multiple critical fire events and windstorm conditions”. The order applies to all areas of Los Angeles county.
The department said in a statement that “the fires, coupled with strong winds, have severely degraded air quality by releasing hazardous smoke and particulate matter, posing immediate and long-term risks to public health”.
It advises anyone who must go outside for long periods of time in areas with heavy smoke or where ash is present to wear a mask.
According to the California department of forestry and fire protection, the Palisades fire is 11% contained, and the Eaton fire, affecting Altadena and Pasadena, is 15% contained. Smaller wildfires – such as the Kenneth and Hurst fires, some of which may have been set deliberately – are more in the control of firefighters.
The Santa Ana winds that drove the wildfire destruction earlier in the week are forecast to come and go over the next several days. Strong gusts are forecast for Monday night and into Tuesday, but they are not expected to attain the 100mph strength that drove the firestorms earlier.