LA fires may have been started by NYE fireworks

The Los Angeles fires may have been a reignition of a blaze that began on New Year’s Eve due to residents setting off fireworks.

An analysis by the Washington Post found that the blaze began on part of the Temescal Ridge in the Santa Monica Mountains, a place where an earlier fire had been ignited and put out.

Satellite imagery shows that 20 minutes after the Palisades fire began last Tuesday, the outline of the smoke matched with the burn scar from the previous blaze.

Residents in the area around the Skull Rock Trailhead said that agents from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) told them that the fire was “started by idiots” on New Year’s Eve.

One local said that on December 31st he heard fireworks going just after midnight and saw a fire had started.

Fire crews responded soon after and put it out by 5am and mop-up operations were continued to ensure there were no flare-ups.

The resident said: “You got to know better. It’s dry. There’s no precipitation. When you go camping and put a fire out, that doesn’t mean that it’s not hot below. Then the Santa Anas came on Monday, and that’s what started, that’s what reignited the fire”.

Firefighters were rushing to clear vegetation and make fire breaks before the arrival of more dangerous weather in Los Angeles.

At least 24 people had been confirmed dead by early Monday morning as a result of six simultaneous blazes that have ripped across the country’s second-largest city since Tuesday.

It’s believed at least 16 people are missing, and about 12,000 structures – many of them family homes – have been damaged or destroyed.

Gavin Newsom, the California Governor, said the fires could be the country’s worst natural disaster “in terms of just the costs associated with it, in terms of the scale and scope”.

The total damage and economic loss caused by the wildfires is estimated to be between $250-$275bn (£205-£225bn), according to AccuWeather.

The National Weather Service has warned that a return of high winds threatens a resurgence in the spread of wildfires.

“There will be the potential — especially late Monday night through Wednesday — for explosive fire growth as those winds pick back up,” warned Ariel Cohen, the meteorologist in charge of the National Weather Service office in Oxnard.

Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said on Sunday that 70 additional water trucks had arrived to help firefighters fend off flames spread by renewed gusts. Fire retardant dropped by aircraft would act as a barrier along hillsides, officials said.

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

Elon Musk also arrived in Pacific Palisades, where he said several Cybertrucks would be stationed with terminals of SpaceX’s satellite internet service to maintain connectivity.

Thousands of volunteers flocked to an improvised donation centre at the Santa Anita Park racetrack in Arcadia, near the Eaton fire, to lend a hand.

The Santa Anita effort began when street vendor Jimmy Medina Jr. announced on TikTok that he wanted to serve hot dogs to firefighters. People who had been inundated with images of destruction jumped at a chance to do something positive, he said.

Captain Michael Lorenz of the Los Angeles Police Department said officers are detaining around 10 people a day amid an ongoing scourge of looting in evacuated areas.

“We even made arrests of two individuals that were actually posing as firefighters coming and in and out of houses, so we’re paying very, very close attention to everybody,” Mr Lorenz said on Saturday.

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03:37 PM GMT

That’s all for today

Thank you for following our live coverage.

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02:53 PM GMT

Musk visits Los Angeles

Elon Musk has turned up in Los Angeles as the fires still rage in the latest instance of the billionaire inserting himself in world events, writes Dan Bates.

The richest man in the world went to Pacific Palisades where he said several Cybertrucks would be stationed with terminals of SpaceX’s satellite internet service to maintain connectivity.

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, the social network he owns, Mr Musk said: “We are going to position Cybertrucks with Starlinks and free Wi-Fi in a grid pattern in the areas that most need it in the greater LA/Malibu area”.

Mr Musk also got a private briefing from fire officials at the command centre which he streamed to his 211 million followers on X.

Since the fires began last week, Mr Musk has taken aim at California governor Gavin Newsom and spread conspiracy theories about the cause.

Mr Newsom fired back on X that Mr Musk’s briefing shot down his theory that poor governance was to blame for fire hydrants running dry.

In fact, no amount of water could have stopped the blaze, Mr Musk was told by one fire official.

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02:34 PM GMT

Wildfires could ‘take off’ again, warns fire chief

Pasadena Fire Chief Chad Austin has warned that the return of high winds could mean the wildfires “take off” once more.

Mr Austin told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that firefighting efforts were at a “fork in the road”.

“Once we get past Wednesday night I’m going to be saying, ‘Woah, we made it and this fire is just about under control’ and then we’re going to spend the next couple of weeks just mopping up hotspots and embers,” he said.

“Or, ‘This fire’s going to take off on Tuesday or Wednesday with these increased wind conditions.’”

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02:06 PM GMT

Original Schoenberg scores lost in fire

The publisher of composer Arnold Schoenberg’s works says original manuscripts and scores were lost in the Los Angeles wildfires.

“We have lost our full inventory of sales and rental materials,” the company said in a statement.

“We hope that in the near future we will be able to ‘rise from the ashes’ in a completely digital form. … There are some scores and performing materials for which we have digital scans.”

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01:40 PM GMT

Pictured: Firefighters halt spread in Mandeville Canyon

Firefighters managed to restrict the blaze in Mandeville Canyon, home to Arnold Schwarzenegger and other celebrities near Pacific Palisades, where swooping helicopters dumped water as the flames spread downhill.

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

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01:19 PM GMT

High winds threaten ‘explosive fire growth’

The National Weather Service has warned that a return of high winds threatens a resurgence in the spread of wildfires.

“There will be the potential — especially late Monday night through Wednesday — for explosive fire growth as those winds pick back up,” warned Ariel Cohen, the meteorologist in charge of the National Weather Service office in Oxnard.

“In the case of an evacuation order being issued, you have to follow that immediately. Seconds could save your life,” he added.

It predicted severe fire conditions through Wednesday, with sustained winds of up to 40 mph (64 kph) and gusts in the mountains reaching 70 mph (113 kph). The most dangerous day will be Tuesday, warned fire behaviour analyst Dennis Burns at a community meeting on Sunday night.

A “particularly dangerous situation (PDS)” will be declared from early Tuesday as high winds up to 70 mph are expected to return, said National Weather Service meteorologist Rose Schoenfeld.

Asked whether hydrants could run dry again, as they did during the initial outbreak of fires last week, Mayor Karen Bass replied: “I believe the city is prepared.”

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12:50 PM GMT

Damage estimates surpass $250bn

The total damage and economic loss caused by the wildfires is estimated to be between $250-$275bn (£205-£225bn), according to AccuWeather.

“This is already one of the worst wildfires in California history,” said Jonathan Porter, AccuWeather’s chief meteorologist.

Gavin Newsom, the California Governor, said the fires could be the country’s worst natural disaster “in terms of just the costs associated with it, in terms of the scale and scope”.

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12:36 PM GMT

Ukrainians take part in relief effort

In between boxes of clothing, diapers, canned goods and kitchen supplies at the Santa Anita Park improvised donation centre, Ganna Bubnova waved a sign that read “Free Ukrainian Food.”

Olha Leonova, who left Ukraine two years ago after the invasion by Russia, stood next to her holding a tray of bread and bowls of borscht, a traditional Ukrainian dish.

“I know how it feels to lose your home and to be in a situation when you have nothing,” Ms Leonova said. “It’s really nice to be able to pay back and to help others as much as they helped me.”

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12:15 PM GMT

Pictured: Scorched neighbourhoods

LA fire chief Kristin Crowley urged people to stay away from fire-ravaged parts of the city.

“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.”

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12:02 PM GMT

Getty museum ‘confident’ it can protect art

The J Paul Getty Museum is “confident” its art collections will be protected amid the wildfires raging across the Los Angeles area.

There were fears that winds could fan the flames towards the Getty Centre, which is located in the Brentwood area and houses world-famous works including Vincent Van Gogh’s Irises.

Katherine Fleming, the president and chief executive of the J Paul Getty Trust, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Our facility was built to withstand the various things that this region tends to throw our way, earthquakes and forest fires or brush fires among them.

“So, yes, we’re certainly not cavalier or cocky, but we are confident.”

Fleming said the building also has “very sophisticated air circulation systems” because the main concern is smoke damaging the collection, and sections of the gallery can be isolated if one was to be breached.

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11:28 AM GMT

Superheroes join donation effort

Yuri Williams donned a red superhero costume and hauled $2,000 worth of toys to a temporary Los Angeles-area donation centre on Sunday, hoping to bring cheer to people displaced by this week’s devastating wildfires.

A child waved and shouted “Hi, Deadpool!” to Mr Williams as he offered them crayons, chalk, board games and more.

Williams was one of hundreds offering help at a donation centre staged at the Santa Anita Park racetrack in Arcadia, a city close to the Eaton Fire.

“People need a distraction, and I’m here to be the distraction,” Mr Williams said, promising to be back on Monday. “Maybe I’ll bring Wolverine with me.”

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11:19 AM GMT

Thousands lend a hand at wildfire donation centre

Thousands of volunteers have flocked to the donation centre at the Santa Anita Park racetrack in Arcadia, near the Eaton fire, to lend a hand.

Yesenia Ortega, who grew up in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles, drove 40 miles (64 km) from her current home with her 16-year-old daughter to volunteer with another mother and daughter.

“When disaster comes, we just become one,” she said. “We all become a family.”

Anastasia Anderson, also a volunteer in Arcadia, said: “It’s times like this where your neighbour is one of the most important people.”

The Santa Anita effort began when street vendor Jimmy Medina Jr. announced on TikTok that he wanted to serve hot dogs to firefighters. People who had been inundated with images of destruction jumped at a chance to do something positive, he said.

“From there it just blew up,” Mr Medina said.

He initially provided food at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. After the effort swelled, it was moved to the Santa Anita site.

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10:48 AM GMT

Inside the Los Angeles wildfires blame game

To some, the LA wildfires that devoured thousands of homes were down to a perfect storm of hurricane winds, drought and over-development.

To others, it was the fault of gay firefighters.

“All of them are lesbians named Kristin,” one conservative provocateur close to Donald Trump said, reeling off a string of officials including Kristina Crowley, the fire chief who has spent decades fighting fires across the region.

Furious residents are rightly raising questions about how parts of their city turned to cinders in a matter of hours.

Read the full story here. 

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10:17 AM GMT

Ten arrests a day over looting

Captain Michael Lorenz of the Los Angeles Police Department said officers are detaining around 10 people a day amid an ongoing scourge of looting in evacuated areas.

“We even made arrests of two individuals that were actually posing as firefighters coming and in and out of houses, so we’re paying very, very close attention to everybody,” Mr Lorenz said on Saturday.

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

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10:08 AM GMT

Most schools set to reopen

Schools in Los Angeles outside of mandatory evacuation zones are set to reopen on Monday, after closing for all 429,000 students in the Los Angeles Unified School District on Thursday and Friday, Superintendent Alberto Carvalho announced.

The authority said it would notify families of any changes by 5:30 local time (13:30 GMT).

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10:03 AM GMT

Newsom suspends environmental regulations to fast track rebuilding

California Governor Gavin Newsom issued an executive order 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, adding: “We want you to come back, rebuild, and rebuild with higher quality building standards, more modern standards.”

More than 24,000 people had registered for federal assistance made available by a major disaster declaration by President Joe Biden, according to the White House.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said on Sunday that she had spoken with Donald Trump’s incoming administration and expected that he would visit the city.

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08:50 AM GMT

Pictured: Pets shelter after fires

The Pasadena Humane Society has been taking in pets after owners were forced to flee the fires.

Many people have been forced to turn their pets over to shelters temporarily while they remain in temporary accomodation.

“We are now seeing more injured animals coming in,” president and chief executive of Pasadena Humane Dia DuVernet said on Sunday.

“We’re also starting to see people who brought their animals for what we thought would be temporary shelter, but they don’t have homes to go back to, and so it’s turning into a longer-term sheltering situation.”

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08:40 AM GMT

Monday weather forecast

The National Weather Service has warned that “critical fire weather conditions” will continue on Monday.

However, the most dangerous day will be Tuesday, warned fire behavior analyst Dennis Burns on Sunday night.

“It will kind of ebb and flow over the next couple days,” Burns said. “Tomorrow night, it will really ramp up.”

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07:43 AM GMT

Zelensky offers firefighters to Los Angeles

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky offered assistance to wildfire-ravaged Los Angeles, saying Ukraine’s firefighters can “help Americans save lives” as the city struggles to combat new blazes.

Deadly infernos have ripped through Los Angeles, killing at least 24 people in less than a week, reducing whole communities to scorched rubble and leaving thousands without homes.

Conditions could dramatically worsen in the United States’ second-largest city as strong gusts fan flames and whip up embers, with firefighters warning the blazes could move from existing burn zones into new areas.

Zelensky said on Sunday evening that he had instructed Ukraine’s minister of internal affairs “to prepare for the possible participation of our rescuers in combating the wildfires in California”.

“The situation there is extremely difficult, and Ukrainians can help Americans save lives,” he said in a video posted on social media platform X, adding the aid is “currently being coordinated”.

“150 of our firefighters are already prepared.”

The United States under President Joe Biden has been Kyiv’s biggest wartime backer, providing military aid worth more than $65 billion since Moscow’s invasion in February 2022.

Incoming president-elect Donald Trump has promised to resolve the conflict in “24 hours” once in office, raising fears in Ukraine that it will be forced to make major concessions in exchange for peace.

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06:30 AM GMT

How many prisoners are on the frontline?

Nearly 950 incarcerated firefighters have been dispatched from state prisons “to cut fire lines and remove fuel to slow fire spread,” according to an update from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Though the state has long relied on prison labour to fight fires, the practice is controversial.

Inmates are paid up to roughly $10 – about £8 pounds – per day, with additional money for 24-hour shifts, according to the corrections department.

Here are some of the prisoners at work on Sunday:

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06:28 AM GMT

Kardashian wants higher pay for firefighting prisoners

Kim Kardashian has called for higher salaries for the hundreds of incarcerated firefighters who are battling the wildfires.

Posting on Instagram, Kardashian thanked firefighters for “using every ounce of their strength to save our community”.

“On all 5 fires in Los Angeles, there are hundreds of incarcerated firefighters, risking their lives to save us,” one post read.

“I see them as heroes,” the reality star and businesswoman posted, adding that the prisoners “get paid almost nothing”.

She said Governor Gavin Newsom should “do what no Governor has done in four decades” and raise the pay rate to one that “honours a human being risking their life to save our lives and homes”.

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06:12 AM GMT

By the numbers

• About 150,000 people remain under evacuation orders;

• At least 700 residents taking refuge in nine shelters;

• Six fires burning since Tuesday;

• Four of the fires covered more than 62 square miles, an area larger than San Francisco;

• Palisades fire is 13 per cent contained;

• Eaton fire is 27 per cent contained;

• Hurst fire is 89 per cent contained;

• 1,400 fire engines on site;

• 84 firefighting aircraft in the sky;

• 14,000 firefighters and crew on shifts;

• At least $135 billion worth of damage and economic losses so far.

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05:39 AM GMT

Tennis star’s message of support

In Melbourne on the second day of the Australian Open, Coco Gauff has scribbled on a television camera following her victory over fellow American Sofia Kenin.

“Stay strong LA,” the athlete wrote alongside love hearts.

“Thank you fire fighters!”

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05:31 AM GMT

‘It is not safe to go home’

Tens of thousands of people forced from their homes will not be able to return for at least four days, officials said.

Frustrated evacuees have formed lines at checkpoints, desperate to get back to homes they had to flee with just a few moments’ notice to pick up medicines or clothes they did not have a chance to grab.

Others want to find out if their houses and pets have survived.

But Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone warned residents that gusting winds forecast this week mean the fire emergency is far from over.

“They can’t go home, simply because it’s not safe,” he told a press conference.

“It’s our collective priority… to be able to get residents back in their homes just as quickly as possible.

“That conversation is not going to occur until the end of the predicted red flag event that’s on its way.

“Please rest assured that first thing Thursday, we will start talking about repopulation.”

Lines several city blocks long have seen people queuing for up to 11 hours for a short escorted visit to their home in an evacuation zone.

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05:19 AM GMT

In pictures: Searching for bodies

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05:10 AM GMT

Dangerous winds on the way

Although the Santa Ana winds that have fanned the flames had calmed some over the weekend, the National Weather Service (NWS) warned that stronger gusts of up to 70 mph (110 kph) could return.

Local officials said they expect the strongest winds to occur on Tuesday.

Red Flag warnings remain in effect for LA and Ventura counties through to Wednesday, the NWS said.

“These winds, combined with dry air and dry vegetation, will keep the fire weather threat in the area,” it said. Conditions were expected to moderate by Thursday.

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04:50 AM GMT

More people reported missing

Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said that authorities had received “dozens” more reports of people missing in the fire zone.

Before his update on Sunday night, the latest information was that 16 people – all adults – were yet to be found.

Twelve people were missing within the Eaton Fire zone and four were missing from the Palisades Fire, Mr Luna said.

Investigators were reconciling whether some of the people reported missing might be among those who had since confirmed dead.

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04:48 AM GMT

Death toll rises

The death toll from the LA fires rose overnight to 24.

Eight of the deaths were attributed to the Palisades Fire and 16 resulted from the Eaton Fire, the Los Angeles County coroner’s office said in a statement Sunday night.

Officials said they expected that figure to increase as teams with cadaver dogs conduct systematic grid searches in levelled neighbourhoods. Authorities have established a centre where people can report the missing.

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04:46 AM GMT

Welcome to our live coverage

We’ll be bringing you all the latest updates on the wildfires in Los Angeles.

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