LA fires live updates: authorities announce curfew amid reports of looting, as death toll rises to 10 | California wildfires

Around 20 people have been arrested in disaster zones since the first fires broke out on Tuesday, Los Angeles county sheriff Robert Luna said, amid reports of looting.

Luna has pledged to beef up patrols and said his officers – who are soon to be backed up by California National Guard soldiers – will be proactively stopping anyone they see in an evacuation area.

“When we have an evacuation order by law, if you remain in that area, you are guilty of a misdemeanor. If you commit certain crimes, it could jump up to a felony,” he said.

“If you are in one of these areas and you do not belong there, you are going to be subject to arrest.”

Amid reports of looting, Los Angeles county sheriff, Robert Luna, said a nighttime curfew was planned, and the state’s National Guard was on hand to patrol affected areas.

Governor Gavin Newsom said the service members were part of a thousands-strong deployment of state personnel.

“We’re throwing everything at our disposal – including our National Guard service members – to protect communities in the days to come,” he said.

“And to those who would seek to take advantage of evacuated communities, let me be clear: looting will not be tolerated.”

But with such a huge area scorched by the fires, some evacuees feared not enough was being done and some were taking matters into their own hands, according to a report from Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Nicholas Norman mounted an armed vigil at his home after seeing suspicious characters in the middle of the night.

“I did the classic American thing: I went and got my shotgun and I sat out there, and put a light on so they knew people were there,” he told AFP.

Sharlotte Thou

The Los Angeles Animal Services has said its six shelters are “extremely full” looking after 1,500 animals, while the county’s animal control manager Christopher Valles told USA Today that all seven of its care centres are near capacity. The organisations are urging the public to foster if they can.

Animal shelter Pasadena Humane says it has provided aid to over 300 animals in less than 24 hours. The shelter wrote on social media that many animals were presenting with burns and injuries – including one dog was coated in ash, with ulcers in her eyes from smoke exposure.

A list of emergency animal shelters can be found here.

Stephane Eyes, a senior wildlife biologist for the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s (FWS) Sacramento Fish and Wildlife Office, noted in October 2022 that wildlife will avoid smoke and actively burning areas until its safe to return.

“Wildlife is incredibly resilient,” Eyes said, noting that “California has a long history with wildfire, and many species adapted to endure it.”

The death toll from wildfires in Los Angeles has risen to 10 from seven, Los Angeles County’s Medical Examiner said. All cases are currently pending identification and legal next of kin notification.

Officials have issued an update on the Eaton fire, near Pasadena, which started on Tuesday evening and has burned through 13,690 acres and remained 0% contained.

Five civilian deaths have been confirmed in the incident.

The statement said 1,396 personnel were responding to the fire.

Damage assessments have now verified that 972 structures had been destroyed and a further 84 damaged. Although preliminary estimates suggest the number destroyed could be as high as 4000 – 5000 structures.

Critical fire weather conditions will continue across the area until at least Friday evening. Winds will likely vary significantly between higher terrain and the lower elevations of the fire, as the area is sheltered from the northeast. There is a chance of critical fire weather conditions developing this weekend and early next week.

Forward progress of the Kenneth fire has been stopped, according to a social media post by the Ventura County fire department, and reported by NBC News.

The fire was sparked around 3:34pm and quickly ballooned to 960 acres

Forward progress of the Kenneth fire has been stopped, and the fire is currently holding at 960 acres with 0% containment.

Approximately 400 firefighters will remain on scene through the night, continuing to provide structure protection and knock down hot spots.

There are no reported structures damaged or destroyed. All evacuation orders in Los Angeles County have been reduced to evacuation warnings. Evacuation warnings issued in Ventura County have been lifted.

In Los Angeles’ Pacific Palisades neighborhood, street after street is laden with carnage that tells part of the story of the ferocious firestorm that swept through the area over the last two days.

Buckled trees and telephone poles are strewn across roads, their piled branches and hanging wires a testimony to the winds that whipped the flames. Intersections are flooded with water, even after the loss of water pressure hampered efforts during the harrowing firefight. Mansions lining the yellow beaches hollowed out, homes in the neighborhoods’ canyons reduced to dust.

Before and after: satellite images of fires show devastation

Helen Livingstone

Seven people were killed, more than 10,000 structures destroyed and at least 180,000 residents ordered to evacuate in California as fast-moving wildfires burned around Los Angeles, encircling the city.

On Tuesday, hurricane-force winds blew embers through the air, igniting block after block and destroying an area of land about 45 square miles (117 sq km) over the following days. As of late Thursday, five fires were still raging around Los Angeles, three of them completely uncontrolled.

Satellite images showed the scale of the destruction from the Pacific Palisades fire, which left the coastline along the famous Malibu neighbourhood scorched black and buildings along the water burned to the ground.

Hello, and welcome to our live coverage of the wildfires in California, where some of the worst blazes in the region’s history have ravaged homes and reduced entire neighbourhoods to ash. I’m Petra Stock.

It’s approaching 8pm in Los Angeles and here is a recap of what you need to know.

There are five wildfires currently raging in Los Angeles county, they include:

• The Palisades fire, at 19,978 acres and 6% containment

• The Eaton fire, at 13,690 acres and 0% containment

• The Kenneth fire, at 960 acres and 0% containment

• The Hurst fire, at 671 acres and 10% containment

• The Lidia fire, at 348 acres and 60% containment

As we settle in for the third night since wildfires broke out in southern California, here are the top developments of the day:

• Seven people have died, and more than 10,000 structures have burned, in the Palisades and Eaton fires. Five deaths have been confirmed in the Eaton fire and two in the Palisades. The Palisades fire, which had remained 0% contained since it broke out Tuesday, was 6% contained by 6pm Thursday.

• A new fire, now called the Kenneth fire, sparked around 3:34pm and quickly ballooned to 960 acres.

• President Joe Biden has announced that the federal government would pay for 100% of the firefighting needs for the next 180 days.

• Law enforcement officials are working to issue a curfew for affected burn zones in Los Angeles, in order to combat looting, though it is unclear when it will go into effect.

• Vice-president Kamala Harris canceled a trip to Singapore, Bahrain and Germany shortly after President Biden canceled a trip to Italy in order to more closely monitor the fires.

• The California prison system has now deployed nearly 800 incarcerated firefighters to fight the devastating blazes.