The National Weather Service issued red flag warnings for severe fire conditions through Wednesday, with sustained winds of 80 kilometres per hour and gusts in the mountains reaching 113 kilometres per hour. The most dangerous day will be Tuesday, said weather service meteorologist Rich Thompson
"You're going to have really strong gusty Santa Ana winds, a very dry atmosphere and still very dry brush, so we still have some very critical fire weather conditions out there," Thompson said at a community meeting Saturday night
Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony C Marrone said 70 additional water trucks arrived to help crews fend off flames spread by renewed gusts
Fierce Santa Anas have been largely blamed for turning the wildfires sparked last week into infernos that levelled entire neighbourhoods around the city where there has been no significant rainfall in more than eight months
Twelve people were missing within the Eaton Fire zone and four were missing from the Palisades Fire, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said. Luna added that "dozens" more reports might have come in Sunday morning and investigators were reconciling whether some of the missing might be among the dead
Meanwhile, the death toll rose to 24 over the weekend. Eight of the deaths were attributed to the Palisades Fire and 16 resulted from the Eaton Fire, the Los Angeles County coroner's office said in a statement Sunday evening
Officials said they expected that figure to increase as teams with cadaver dogs conduct systematic grid searches in levelled neighbourhoods. Authorities have established a centre where people can report the missing
Officials also were building an online database to allow evacuated residents to see if their homes were damaged or destroyed. In the meantime, LA city Fire Chief Kristin Crowley urged people to stay away from scorched neighbourhoods
"There are still active fires that are burning within the Palisades area, making it extremely, extremely dangerous for the public," Crowley said at a Sunday briefing
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