California's devastating wildfires continued Saturday for the fifth day in a row, with the officially confirmed death toll reaching 11, the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office announced Friday.
But that number is expected to rise as cadaver dogs pass through areas that have been flattened to assess the devastation in an area larger than San Francisco.
Conditions remain unstable, with the massive Palisades Fire only 8% contained and the Eaton Fire only 3% contained, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. More than 12,300 homes and buildings were ablaze in Mandeville Canyon and Interstate 405 Friday night, prompting new evacuation orders as the Palisades Fire flared east, FOX Weather reported. Served.
Firefighters work near a burning building in Pacific Palisades, California, on January 8, 2025. (Jason Ryan/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Power grid outages spike just before Los Angeles wildfires start: experts
Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna compared the disaster to the detonation of an atomic bomb, but vowed to find a way for communities to recover.
AccuWeather, a private company that provides data on weather and its impacts, on Thursday increased its estimate of damage and economic losses to $135 billion to $150 billion.
So far, no official cause has been revealed.
A company that monitors power activity said outages along Los Angeles' power grid are spiking in the same area where three major wildfires are currently burning.
Whisker Institute CEO Bob Marshall told Fox News Digital that the company saw a spike in failures in the hours before the Eaton, Palisades and Hearst fires.
”Failures occur when tree branches touch power lines or when wires come into contact with each other due to wind blowing. That creates sparks on the faults and we detect them all,” Marshall explained, adding that it is impossible to say for sure whether any of those faults are the cause of the fire.
WATCH: Los Angeles power grid outages spiked before wildfires started, experts say
By Friday, the strong winds in Santa Ana had calmed down somewhat, giving us some respite.
The wind spread the flames with great speed. Winds have calmed down Saturday morning, but new fire weather warnings have been issued for Saturday evening into Sunday as Santa Ana winds pick up again, FOX Weather reported.
Firefighters are still continuing to put out the fire, using helicopters and planes to extinguish the fire and dropping flame retardant. The wind also poses a risk to flight crews who must fly at low altitudes over hilly terrain.
California Governor Gavin Newsom sent the National Guard to assist with law enforcement efforts in the area. This brings the total number of field employees working with local and federal agencies to 8,000.
The Pentagon announced Friday that more than 600 Guard members were assisting local authorities. Marines and other military personnel are on standby.
“More than 600 California National Guard members are currently active, including 14 riot police officers for fuel relief, 200 military police officers for public safety operations, and 10 helicopters for firefighting and search and rescue operations. This number is expected to increase over the next 24 hours,” Sabrina Singh, deputy Pentagon spokeswoman, told reporters.
In parts of Los Angeles, residents are returning to areas still smoldering even as the threat of new fires continues and security remains precarious in the nation's second-largest city. As this region of 13 million people grapples with the enormous task of overcoming the disaster and rebuilding, some are witnessing for the first time the startling reality of what has been lost.
Water is dropped from a helicopter on the Sunset Fire burning in the Hollywood Hills area of Los Angeles on Wednesday, January 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
Bridget Berg was at work when she saw her Altadena home go up in flames on TV, but returned with her family for the first time two days later “to make it real.”
Her children sifted through the debris on the sidewalk, finding a clay pot and some memorabilia while looking for Japanese woodblock prints they hoped to salvage.
“It's okay, it's okay,” Berg said to himself as he stared at the destruction, remembering the deck and pool where his family watched the fireworks. “We didn't just lose our homes. Everyone lost their homes.”
Looting has also been a problem, with Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman warning that looters will be punished.
At a press conference Thursday, Sheriff Luna said at least 20 people had been arrested on suspicion of looting and warned potential copycat attackers to stay away from evacuated homes.
Help those affected by the California wildfires here
At the same time, private security companies are struggling to keep up with increased demand as fires and looters threaten Los Angeles' upscale neighborhoods.
“We're being accused,” said Herman Weisberg, managing director of SAGE Intelligence, which works with Hollywood stars and other high-profile people. “We can’t get people there and it’s almost impossible to house them.”
A curfew is in effect for all mandatory evacuation areas affected by the Palisades and Eaton fires from 6pm local time on Friday until 6am local time on Saturday.
People watch smoke and flames from the Palisades Fire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles on January 7, 2025. (Tiffany Rose/Getty Images)
The disaster sent everyone from waiters to movie stars home. The flames are in schools, churches, synagogues, libraries, boutiques, bars, restaurants, banks, as well as Will Rogers' Western Ranch House and Altadena's Queen Anne, built in 1887 and commissioned for a wealthy cartographer. It hit local landmarks such as style mansions. Andrew McNally.
Leaders at both the city and state levels have faced harsh criticism.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has been accused of not listening to a fire department memo last month that raised concerns about how budget cuts would affect the department's response to wildfires.
Los Angeles Fire Chief Christine Crowley said Friday that the city had failed residents. She also criticized water shortages.
“When firefighters come to the hydrant, we expect there to be water,” she said.
California Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass tour the Pacific Palisades business district in downtown Los Angeles on January 8, 2025. (Eric Thayer/Getty Images)
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Newsom was pressed Thursday by residents who wanted to know why the hydrants were empty. He called on Friday for an independent investigation into pressure losses in some fire hydrants used to fight wildfires.
He also ordered state officials to figure out why a 117 million-gallon reservoir was rendered inoperable and some fire hydrants ran dry, calling it a “very disturbing situation.”
Meanwhile, Los Angeles Fire Chief Christine Crowley said city leadership failed to meet its responsibilities by not providing adequate funding for firefighting efforts.
FOX Corporation has donated $1 million to the American Red Cross' California Wildfire Relief Efforts to help residents affected by wildfires raging across Southern California.
Donations help the agency We provide safe shelter, hot meals, emotional support, and resources to help communities recover.
On January 7, 2025, the Eaton Fire breaks out in Pasadena, California, where strong winds cause a house to go up in flames. (David McNew/Getty Images)
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FOX Corporation continues to be a partner in our annual Disaster Donation Program, encouraging viewers to join us in donating to help families affected by the devastating wildfires and who continue to need urgent assistance. I'm doing it. any donation The Red Cross will be able to respond to this disaster and help residents recover.
The Burbank, Calif.-based Walt Disney Company has pledged $15 million to wildfire relief after the blazes left thousands homeless and at least 11 people dead.
Fox News' Chris Pandolfo, Rachel Wolf, Ashley Papa and Michael Ruiz, along with Fox Weather and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
