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LA faces ‘very high’ fire threat as strong winds return

Malibu fire damage

Source: X/Ali A Olomi

Firefighters are scrambling to contain multiple ongoing blazes in Los Angeles amid warnings that dangerous Santa Ana winds are expected to pick up again.

The LA fire chief said the fire threat was “very high” due to the anticipated strong winds and the low humidity.

Fires are still raging after six days of savage flames that have incinerated entire neighbourhoods, fuelled by dry air, high winds and dry vegetation.

The National Weather Service on Monday (AEDT) issued ‘red flag’ warnings for “critical fire weather conditions” through to Wednesday (local time), with strong wind gusts of up to 110km/h.

Dangerous winds were expected on Sunday before easing during the day and whipping up again late Monday into Tuesday.

“The very dry vegetation combined with the prolonged extreme fire weather conditions will support rapid spread and erratic behaviour of any new or existing fires,” the warning said.

Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said power was being shut off in high-risk areas to prevent “the next wildfire natural disaster”.

“These winds, combined with low relative humidities and low fuel moistures, will keep the fire threat in Los Angeles County very high,” he said.

“I asked our county residents in wildfire-prone areas to understand that the necessary public safety power shut-offs are important for our collective safety.”

Conditions were expected to moderate by Thursday.

At least 16 people are believed to have died, including Australian man Rory Sykes, 32, who was killed in the Pacific Palisades inferno.

His mother Shelley Sykes told the ABC her son, who had cerebral palsy, lived in a self-contained cottage on her Malibu property.

“Rory locked the door. He wasn’t coming out because he’d got swollen feet and he needed the bathroom … and he said, ‘mum, just leave me, you go sort yourself out. I’m good,'” she told the ABC.

“No mum can leave their baby when there’s a fire raging round about.”

She raced away to seek help, but returned to find the entire property was gone.

“The shock when I got there … Everything, all three cottages that are fireproofed and built to code and everything, within an hour, had burnt to the ground,” she told the ABC.

“There was nothing. It was black ash. There were no walls, there were no tiles from his shower. There was nothing standing. It was just blackened.”

Shelly sykes and Rory Sykes

Shelley Sykes is grieving her son Rory who died on their property. Photo: Supplied

Firefighters have made progress on the fire that tore through the Pacific Palisades neighbourhood.

But still-spreading flames threaten communities in the populous San Fernando Valley.

Aircraft dropped water and fire retardant on steep hills to stem the eastward spread of the Palisades Fire.

“LA County had another night of unimaginable terror and heartbreak,” Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath said.

The blazes have damaged or destroyed 12,000 structures, fire officials said.

The flames have reduced whole neighbourhoods to smouldering ruins, destroying the homes of the rich and famous and ordinary folk alike and leaving an apocalyptic landscape.

Over the past 24 hours, the Palisades Fire spread over an additional 400 hectares, consuming more homes, officials reported.

Cal Fire official Todd Hopkins said that while 11 per cent of the Palisades Fire was contained, it had burned more than 8900 hectares.

Hopkins said fire had spread into the Mandeville Canyon and threatened to jump into Brentwood, an upscale neighbourhood that is home to many celebrities, and the San Fernando Valley.

It also inched towards the north-south 405 freeway.

On Saturday, some residents were allowed to return to their ruined homes to see what they could salvage from the wreckage.

Teams with the LA County Sheriff’s Department worked to sift through the rubble with sniffer dogs to search for human remains.

Evacuation orders throughout the Los Angeles area cover areas home to 153,000 residents.

Another 166,000 residents have been warned that they may have to leave, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said.

US President Joe Biden has spoken to officials for updates, and has been briefed by aides on federal resources that are being dispatched.

His declaration of a major disaster unlocked federal assistance for those affected by the wildfires, clearing the way for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide support.

In Altadena, official Don Fregulia said managing the Eaton Fire and its effects would be a “huge, herculean task” that he said would take “many weeks of work”.

The two big fires combined have consumed more than 14,500 hectares, in one of the worst disasters in Los Angeles’ history.

Officials have declared a public health emergency due to the thick, toxic smoke and poorer air quality as the fires lofted traces of metals, plastics and other synthetic materials.

But progress was reported in bringing electrical power back to Los Angeles neighbourhoods.

Southern California Edison CEO Steven Powell said about 50,000 customers were without power, down from more than half a million days earlier.

-with AAP

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