bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

sponsorType

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

factSheets

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Reuters

Firefighters on Tuesday held the line against two massive wildfires that have ravaged parts of Los Angeles for the past week, even as desert winds and a parched landscape presented extremely hazardous conditions.
Some 8,500 firefighters from at least seven states and two foreign countries prevented the fires from growing for a second straight day as they gained slightly more control of the perimeter of the blazes, which nonetheless have consumed an area the size of Washington DC.
A fleet of aircraft dropped water and retardant into the rugged hills while ground crews with hand tools and hoses have worked around the clock since the fires broke out on January 7, with the aircraft occasionally grounded by high winds.
The Palisades Fire on the west edge of town held steady at 9,596 hectares (96 sq km) burned, and containment increased 3 percentage points to 17 per cent – a measurement of how much of the perimeter was under control.

The Eaton Fire in the foothills east of the city stood at 57 sq km with containment up 2 points to 35 per cent.
Southern California has lacked any appreciable rain since April, turning brush into tinder as Santa Ana winds originating from the deserts whipped over hilltops and rushed through canyons, sending embers flying up to 3km ahead of the fires.
Red flag conditions were expected to last through Wednesday after winds peaked overnight with gusts surpassing 80km/h (50mph), the National Weather Service said.
California Governor Gavin Newsom said 11 new fires broke out in Southern California overnight and were quickly extinguished because firefighters and equipment were positioned ahead of time. But three other fires were still burning, including one each in neighbouring Ventura and Riverside counties that started on Monday and Tuesday, Cal Fire said.
The death toll from the fires rose by one on Tuesday to 25, according to the Los Angeles medical examiner’s office. The estimate of structures damaged or destroyed held steady at over 12,000, still portending a Herculean rebuilding effort ahead.
Entire neighbourhoods have been levelled, leaving smouldering ash and rubble. In many homes, only a chimney is left standing.

“It’s one thing to see it on television. It’s another thing to see it from the air. The massive, massive destruction is unimaginable until you actually see it,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass told a press conference after taking an aerial tour.
A few thousand more people were allowed back home but 88,000 remained under evacuation orders with another 84,000 under evacuation warning – large-scale displacements unprecedented in the metropolitan area’s history.
John Adolph, 48, who lost his home in Altadena to the Eaton Fire, was grateful to be safe but uncertain of what lies ahead. Adolph said he went back to see what he could salvage as the fire raged.
“There were burning grocery stores, gas stations, exploding cars that went pop with glass flying … Walls of flames two stories tall, tornadoes of flame. I was stupid with a side of crazy to try,” Adolph said.
Urban search and rescue teams worked from an Altadena grocery store car park, tracking progress on whiteboards and handing out assignments from inside a trailer.
“We’re doing a systematic search. The winds really don’t have a whole lot of effect on our search and rescue operations,” said Jorge Villanueva, a regional task force leader with the California Office of Emergency Services.


His team of 50 firefighters and sheriff’s deputies conducted house-by-house searches, looking for any lingering fires and hazards such as lithium-ion batteries connected to solar panels.
The Palisades Fire also approached the priceless art collection at the J. Paul Getty Museum, which houses paintings by Van Gogh, Rembrandt, Monet and Degas.
But the collection remained safely inside the Getty Centre’s fortress of travertine stone, fire-protected steel and reinforced concrete. “It would be extremely foolish to try and remove artwork” from its safe harbour, Getty Trust President Katherine E. Fleming said.
In Washington, a battle over emergency aid broke out between Republicans and Democrats over what is already the costliest wildfire in terms of insured losses.
Private forecaster AccuWeather estimates total damage and economic loss between US$250 billion and US$275 billion, which would make it the costliest natural disaster in US history, surpassing Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Democrats in Congress opposed the suggestion by House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, that conditions be placed on aid. Johnson also said any wildfire disaster assistance funding should be “paid for”, meaning the cost should be covered to prevent adding to the budget deficit, possibly by cutting other programmes.
That is a departure from many previous natural disasters, and Democratic congressman Ted Lieu of California called Johnson’s position “outrageous”.
“We should not be leveraging the pain and suffering of our fellow Americans to try to force new policy changes,” Lieu said.


Trump’s tough trade tactics risk turning the world away from America

Is DeepSeek’s AI ‘distillation’ theft? OpenAI seeks answers over China’s breakthrough

Why DeepSeek disruption is the China risk Wall Street can’t ignore

Deadly US airline crashes since 2001

United States

Los Angeles firefighters hold the line against 2 massive wildfires in extreme conditions

Members of a search and rescue crew among ruins in the Pacific Palisades neighbourhood of Los Angeles. Photo: AP

A damaged home in Altadena, California. Photo: Reuters

Destroyed homes in Pacific Palisades, California. Photo: AFP

Los Angeles braces for new week of wildfires as Santa Ana winds return

Pacific Palisades residents look through the remains of their home, which was destroyed by fire. Photo: Reuters

Firefighters work to clear a firebreak. Photo: Reuters

Charred Buddha statues amid the rubble of a business in Malibu, California. Photo: AFP

Numerous historic landmarks lost in Los Angeles wildfires

The Andrew McNally House, a historical landmark, burns during the Eaton fire in Altadena, California, on January 8. Photo: AFP

Will Rogers’ historic ranch house in ruins. Photo: Jonathan Alcorn/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa

Altadena’s Bunny Museum burned down amid the Eaton fire. Photo: TNS

The Palisades’ Business Block was severely damaged by the fire that tore through the area. Photo: San Francisco Chronicle via AP

Netflix star accuses Los Angeles landlords of illegal price gouging amid devastating fires

A firefighter extinguishes the fire as the Palisades Fire, one of several simultaneous blazes that have ripped across Los Angeles County. Photo: Reuters

Selling Sunset star Jason Oppenheim says landlords are illegally raising rents amid the Los Angeles wildfires. Photo: Instagram/@jasonoppenheim

Mike Hassler, a firefighter with Cal Fire Nevada-Yuba-Placer Unit, hosepipes down a hotspot at a home destroyed by the Eaton Fire in Altadena, California on January 12, 2025. Photo: AP

Firefighters race to contain Los Angeles wildfires before menacing winds return

Firefighters battle the Palisades fire in California on Sturday. Photo: Reuters

People watch smoke rising from the Palisades fire in the Tarzana neighbourhood of Los Angeles, California, on Saturday. Photo: Reuters

Celebrities among those who lost homes in devastating Los Angeles fires

Flames from the Palisades Fire burn a building on Sunset Boulevard. Photo: AFP

A wildfire burns homes on a hilltop in the Pacific Palisades neighbourhood of Los Angeles. Photo: AP

News

World

United States & Canada

High winds and low humidity pose extreme danger across the parched landscape around Los Angeles


High winds and low humidity pose extreme danger across the parched landscape around Los Angeles.
