A fire fighting helicopter drops water as the Palisades fire grows near the Mandeville Canyon neighbourhood and Encino, California, on 11 January 2025. Photo: AFP / Patrick Fallon
Explainer - Destructive and dangerous wildfires have been burning through the Los Angeles area in the United States for six days now, killing at least 24 people and displacing thousands of residents.
Firefighters are now scrambling to ensure they can control three remaining fires before powerful winds pick up again and the existing blazes are at risk of spreading to new areas.
There are a lot of updates to stay across and questions remain on how exactly they started.
The Palisades Fire, the largest of the Los Angeles fires, spreads toward previously untouched neighbourhoods on 11 January 2024. Photo: AFP / Patrick Fallon
Here's what you need to know.
What started the fires?
No cause has been determined yet for the fires.
Days before the wildfires broke out, forecasters had been warning of extreme wind.
Wind gusts of up to 160km/h in the mountains were on their way.
Rain in the winter, followed by an extended period of dry air and drought, had left the hills around Los Angeles covered in an excess of parched vegetation.
The area, in short, was a tinderbox.
This satellite image taken and released by Maxar Technologies on 11 January 2025 shows an overview of the Palisades Fire as it continues to burn in the mountains north of Santa Monica, California. Photo: AFP / Maxar Technologies
A huge investigation has been announced by local authorities to determine what caused the blazes, involving the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said.
"We are not going to leave any rock unturned," he said.
"If this is a criminal act - I'm not saying it's going to be - if it is, we need to hold whoever did this, or groups responsible," Luna added.
In hilly, upscale Pacific Palisades, home to Hollywood stars like Jamie Lee Curtis and Billy Crystal who lost houses in the fire, officials have placed the origin of the wind-whipped blaze behind a home on Piedra Morada Drive, which sits above a densely wooded arroyo (watercourse).
While lightning is the most common source of fires in the US, according to the National Fire Protection Association, investigators were able to rule that out quickly.
Inmate firefighters dig a containment line as they battle the Palisades Fire. Photo: AFP / Justin Sullivan
There were no reports of lightning in the Palisades area or the terrain around the Eaton fire, which started in east Los Angeles County and has also destroyed hundreds of homes.
The next two most common causes are fires intentionally set, and those sparked by utility lines.
So far there has been no official indication of arson in either blaze, and utility lines have not yet been identified as a cause either.
Utilities are required to report to the California Public Utilities Commission when they know of "electric incidents potentially associated with a wildfire," Terrie Prosper, the commission's communications director, said via email.
CPUC staff then investigate to see if there were violations of state law.
Where are the affected areas in LA?
There are currently three active fires burning in the Los Angeles area, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire.
A cadaver dog, from the Los Angeles County Sheriff, sniffs through the rubble of beachfront properties destroyed by the Palisades Fire along the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu. Photo: AFP / Frederic J. Brown
The three active fires are the Palisades, Eaton and Hurst blazes.
Collectively, they have burnt through 160 sq km, which is an area larger than San Francisco.
The Kenneth fire, which burned 1,052 hectares in Los Angeles and Ventura is now fully contained.
The Palisades fire, which has now become the most destructive fire in the city's history is still only 11 percent contained and has burnt through 9,572 hectares of land.
Despite heroic efforts, including precision sorties from aerial crews, the Palisades fire continues to grow, pushing east towards the priceless collections of the Getty Center art museum and north to the densely populated San Fernando Valley.
A firefighting helicopter drops water on the Palisades Fire on 11 January, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. Photo: Getty via AFP
The Eaton fire is 27 percent contained and the Hurst fire is 89 percent contained.
Will the death toll rise?
Officials said they expected the death toll to rise as teams with cadaver dogs conduct systematic grid searches in levelled neighbourhoods.
Authorities have established a centre where people can report the missing.
Eight deaths were attributed to the Palisades fire along the coast and 11 deaths resulted from the Eaton fire further inland, the LA County medical examiner's office said.
People affected by the Los Angeles fires visit LILA (Lycée International de Los Angeles) relief centre looking for needed supplies. Photo: AFP / Valerie Macon
At least 16 people are missing.
Among the victims was Australian man Rory Sykes, who died in a fire that destroyed the Malibu property he lived in with his mother.
What celebrities lost their homes?
The Pacific Palisades fire, considered to be one of the most destructive, tore through almost 7 hectares in one of Los Angeles's most affluent areas, which is home to dozens of celebrities.
Mel Gibson, Milo Ventimiglia, Miles Teller, and Paris Hilton are among a large group of celebrities who have lost their homes in the Los Angeles wildfires.
A firefighter stands on top of a fire truck to battle the Palisades Fire while it burns homes on the Pacific Coast Highway amid a powerful windstorm on 8 January 2025 in Los Angeles, California. Photo: AFP / Getty Images / Apu Gomes
Flames burned parts of the Palisades Charter High School, which has been featured in many Hollywood productions, including the 1976 horror movie Carrie, the 2003 remake of Freaky Friday and the TV series Teen Wolf.
The Palisades fire also destroyed the historic ranch house that belonged to Hollywood legend Will Rogers.
It was among multiple structures destroyed at both Will Rogers State Historic Park and Topanga State Park.
The historic Topanga Ranch Motel, built by William Randolph Hearst in 1929, also burned down.
Firefighters battle flames from the Palisades Fire on 8 January 2025. Photo: AFP / Getty Images / Eric Thayer
Rogers's ranch was built on land he bought in the 1920s.
The large site included a 31-room ranch house, a stable, golf course and riding trails.
His wife donated it to California State Parks in 1944.
What's happening now?
Firefighters are preparing for more Santa Ana desert winds to intensify the LA wildfires.
As firefighters made slow progress in their battle to contain the inferno that has burned wide areas of Los Angeles's Pacific Palisades neighbourhood to the ground, city residents said on Sunday they were "terrified" that forecast strong winds would whip up the flames and threaten their homes.
Firefighters work to put out flames in the Mandeville Canyon neighbourhood of Los Angeles, California, on 11 January 2025. Photo: AFP / Agustin Paullier
Although the Santa Ana winds that have fanned the flames had calmed over the weekend, the National Weather Service warned that stronger gusts of up to 110km/h, could return.
Local officials said they expect the strongest winds to occur on Tuesday.
Conditions are set to dramatically worsen, with "extreme fire behaviour and life-threatening conditions" to peak with 112km/h winds in a rare "particularly dangerous situation (PDS)" declared from early Tuesday, said National Weather Service meteorologist Rose Schoenfeld.
Los Angeles County Fire Department chief Anthony Marrone said his department had received resources including dozens of new water trucks and firefighters from far afield, and was primed to face the renewed threat.
Questioned 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."
Firefighters monitor as the Palisades fire grows near the Mandeville Canyon neighbourhood and Encino. Photo: AFP / Patrick T. Fallon
Thousands of Los Angeles residents remain evacuated or without power.
Nearly 70,000 customers were without power across California as of Sunday morning, more than half of them in Los Angeles County, according to PowerOutage.us, which tracks outages nationwide.
Sewer, water and power infrastructure across the region has been significantly damaged, officials said.
- ABC
