LA under new Santa Ana wind fire warning as death toll rises

The winds that have fueled the wildfires in the US city of Los Angeles are expected to start again early Wednesday – after 25 deaths from the massive outbreak in a week.

Forecasters have also identified areas with a “high risk of fire”, emphasizing the high risk of fire in the north-west of the city centre.

An increase in wind speed threatens to advance the remaining four blazes, which firefighters have made significant progress in tackling after several days of calm.

There is the prospect of another drop in wind speeds on Wednesday – but officials have highlighted the importance of rain to help firefighters in their battle.

The 25th death was confirmed by the LA County Medical Examiner’s Office. Thirteen other people are missing.

Most of the people involved in the accident have died in the Eaton fire, which has burned more than 14,000 acres north of the city, but now 35% of the firefighters.

Further west, the massive Palisades Fire has burned more than 23,000 acres, and is now 18% contained. Two small fires continue to burn.

Some of the residents affected by the Eaton fire are now allowed to return to their homes, although officials say they have no set date for reopening the Palisades neighborhood, the upscale neighborhood that was devastated by the fire that gave it its name.

So thousands of people have been ordered to evacuate — where curfews also apply at night — and thousands of homes have been destroyed in one of the costliest natural disasters in American history.

On Tuesday, the Mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass, described the situation as “unprecedented”, promising to use her powers to start the rebuilding process as soon as possible.

In establishing other measures to help the community, an official, the manager of the area of ​​LA County, said that the declaration of emergency will be issued to stop the raising of prices by the owners of houses in LA during the crisis.

“Difficult conditions are expected on Wednesday as Santa Ana’s strong winds and low-lying winds continue,” BBC weather forecaster Sarah Keith-Lucas said.

Winds are expected to increase again at 03:00 local time (11:00 GMT) for twelve hours, according to the local office of the National Weather Service (NWS). Speeds can reach 50mph (80km/h).

Compared to last week’s conditions, the winds are “weak but strong”, the NWS warns.

For this reason, the areas northwest of Los Angeles – including Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks – have been considered the most dangerous.

But the situation is expected to change on Thursday and Friday. Despite the change in winds, no rain is expected next week, BBC forecaster Sarah Keith-Lucas added. And the Santa Ana winds blamed for fueling the fires could resume as early as Sunday.

Pasadena’s fire chief also spoke about the importance of rain.

There had been “no real rain in southern California” for more than 250 days, Chad Augustin told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

On Wednesday, his firefighters will be “guards ready to make sure we keep our containers and we don’t burn any more buildings,” Augustin added.