The stars and stripes flutters over ruined buildings
MIKE BLAKE/REUTERS
Cesar Plaza is overcome with emotion while looking at the remains of his home in Altadena
NIC COURY/AP
Desiree Johnson looks at the rubble of her home in Altadena
ZAYDEE SANCHEZ/REUTERS
Of the ten people who have been killed, officials say five died in the Eaton fire and there were two confirmed deaths in the Palisades fire.
Two of the dead were Anthony Mitchell, a 67-year-old amputee, and his son, Justin, who had cerebral palsy. They were waiting for an ambulance to come and did not make it to safety when the flames roared through, Mitchell’s daughter, Hajime White, told The Washington Post.
Victor Shaw died trying to fight the fire at his Altadena home. Fire crews found his body with a garden hose in his hand.
Recovery crews also announced they had pulled a body from rubble of what was a beachfront residence in Malibu.
Fire crews are continuing to battle the blazes
ETHAN SWOPE/AP
An area of Malibu destroyed by the fires
MARIO TAMA/GETTY IMAGES
The financial cost of the Los Angeles wildfire has risen to between $135 billion $150 billion, according to the latest estimate from the private forecaster Accuweather.
Jonathan Porter, the company’s chief meteorologist described it as “one of the costliest wildfire disasters in modern US history”.
The figure has almost tripled since Thursday, when the estimate was put at between $52 billion and $57 billion.
President Biden has promised that the federal government will reimburse 100 per cent of the costs of recovery for the next 180 days, including the removal of debris, setting up shelters and paying the salaries of emergency service workers. “I told the governor, local officials, spare no expense to do what they need to do and contain these fires,” Biden said on Thursday.
A California fire chief has told the BBC there is no “conclusive evidence” yet that the wildfires were started deliberately.
However David Acuna, battalion chief with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said the investigations were only just beginning as the priority up until now had been saving lives.
He told the Today programme on Radio 4: “Now that the life safety is primarily taken care of, and that we have sufficient resources to assist with that, now they’re able to start digging into the investigation and see what they can discover.”
It follows the arrest of a man on suspicion of arson in the Woodland Hills area of Los Angeles.
A satellite image shows the extent of the Palisades fire, one of the most deadly to engulf the region
MAXAR TECHNOLOGIES/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Los Angeles is considering imposing a curfew in some of the fire-ravaged areas and is and calling on the National Guard to help manage some of the worst affected areas to prevent looting.
County sheriff Robert Luna announced several measures overnight to beef up security in areas that have been evacuated, particularly areas of the city devastated by the two fiercest blazes, the Palisades fire and the Eaton fire.
“The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has officially requested the support of the California National Guard for both fires,” said Luna. “They will be assisting us with traffic control and critical infrastructure protection.
“Having additional resources, having the National Guard with us will help send a stronger message, keep people out of the impacted areas, so we don’t continuously victimise the people who have already been victimised.”
The curfew would run from 6pm to 6am. So far, 20 people have been arrested in connection with looting and theft.
A helicopter drops water on the Kenneth fire
ETHAN SWOPE/AP
A man has been arrested on suspicion of arson close to the area hit by the new Kenneth wildfire.
The suspect was spotted trying to start a blaze in Ybarra Road in the Woodland Hills area of Los Angeles at around 4.30pm local time on Thursday (12.30am GMT on Friday).
He was detained by local residents and taken into custody by police. The LA police department said in a statement that they could not confirm any connection between the suspect and any wildfire. However NewsNation reported that LAPD confirmed to them that the Kenneth fire was now being investigated as an arson case.
Homes burned in the Palisades fire
JOSH EDELSON/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
The Kenneth fire started in West Hills at 3.34pm local time on Thursday, according to California Department of Forestry and Fire. It covers 1,000 acres and is currently 35 per cent contained.
Fire crews battle the Kenneth fire on Thursday
ETHAN SWOPE/AP
Firefighters are still battling five significant wildfires, after a new blaze broke out on Thursday and quickly spread across 1,000 acres.
The Kenneth fire ignited near West Hills, on the border of Los Angeles and Ventura counties, during the afternoon and is threatening homes in Calabasas, where Kim Kardashian lives. It is now 35 per cent contained.
A neighbourhood devastated by the Eaton fire
JOHN LOCHER/AP
Palisades, between Santa Monica and Malibu, and Eaton, near Pasadena in the east, remain the most serious active wildfires. Between them they have destroyed nearly 10,000 homes, buildings and other structures. On Thursday night local time Palisades covered nearly 20,000 acres with six per cent containment while Eaton remained totally uncontained and spread across 13,690 acres.
Two other smaller wildfires, Hurst and Lidia, are slowly being brought under control and cover a total of nearly 1,200 acres.
The death toll from the Los Angeles wildfires has risen to ten, the county’s coroner said.
None of the victims have been formally identified but three have been named by relatives as Victor Shaw, 66, Rodney Nicherson, 82 and Erliene Kelly. Shaw’s sister, Shari Shaw, said he died trying to defend his home from the flames with a hose.
• What started the Los Angeles wildfires? The ‘devil winds’ fanning the flames
Anthony Marrone, the Los Angeles county fire chief, said on Thursday that the number of fatalities was “fluctuating” and that human remains detection teams would begin going house to house searching for bodies in the coming days.
“The Department of Medical Examiner received notification of ten fire-related deaths as of 9pm on January 9 [5am GMT on January 10],” the LA county coroner said in a statement: “All cases are currently pending identification and legal next of kin notification.”
The devastation wrought in the wealthy Pacific Palisades suburb
BLACK BELTS/BACKGRID UK
