Los Angeles: Firefighters continue to battle multiple major wildfires on Wednesday in Southern California as parts of the region are braced for extremely critical fire conditions caused by a new round of dangerous Santa Ana winds.
Critical fire weather conditions will continue across coastal Southern California on Wednesday but improvement expected toward end of week, said the U.S. National Weather Service, which issued a rare “particularly dangerous situation” warning through 3 p.m. Wednesday local time.
Fierce wildfires across the Los Angeles area have killed at least 25 people and destroyed more than 12,300 structures. Local authorities confirmed that at least 26 people were still missing related to the ongoing wildfires. Twenty of them are from the Eaton Fire area and six in the Palisades Fire area.
The two major wildfires, Eaton and Palisades, were only 45 percent and 19 percent contained, respectively, as of Wednesday morning, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire).
The deadly Eaton Fire, which broke out Tuesday evening last week, has scorched 14,117 acres (57.1 square km) near Altadena and Pasadena.
“Today’s efforts are focused on mop up and reinforcing containment lines to ensure perimeter control. Hazard trees along roadways are being mitigated to protect both firefighters and the public,” said Cal Fire in an update, adding that “The fire is expected to remain within its current footprint, with aircraft continuing to support firefighters with retardant drops in inaccessible terrain.”
The Palisades Fire, the largest active wildfires in the Los Angeles region, has scorched 23,713 acres (95.96 square km) in a week.
Cal Fire said that the Santa Ana winds are expected to diminish but humidity will remain at low levels in the area, and a Red Flag Warning will remain in effect till Wednesday evening.
Southern California Edison, the primary electric utility company for much of Southern California, said there were 81,500 customers without power as of 7:20 a.m. Wednesday local time.
