LA faces 'extreme fire danger' as high winds forecast

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Winds that fueled wildfires in the US city of Los Angeles are expected to flare up again early Wednesday – after the 25th confirmed death from the massive week-long outbreak.

Forecasters have again identified an area of ”extreme fire danger”, highlighting the level of risk in an area north-west of the city centre.

The expected increase in wind speeds threatens to further inflame the four remaining blazes, which firefighters have made further progress in tackling during a few days of calm conditions.

A further drop in wind speeds is expected after Wednesday – but officials have highlighted the need for rain to help firefighters in their fight.

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

Most of the victims have died in the Eaton fire, which has burned more than 14,000 acres north of the city but is now 35% contained by firefighters.

Further west, the larger Palisades Fire has burned more than 23,000 acres of land, and is now 18% contained. Two small fires also keep burning.

Some victims of the Eaton Fire have now been allowed to return to their homes, although officials say they have no firm date for repopulating the Palisades area, an upscale area devastated by the fire. To which it has given its name.

So thousands of people are still under evacuation orders — with nighttime curfews also in effect — and thousands of homes destroyed in one of the costliest natural disasters in American history.

On Tuesday, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass described the scenes as “unimaginable” and vowed to use her executive powers to speed up rapid reconstruction efforts.

Laying out other measures to help locals, another official, the L.A. County Supervisor, said an emergency proclamation would be issued to stop alleged price-gouging by L.A. landlords amid the crisis.

A map shows the locations of four fires burning in Southern California – the Otto, Hurst, Eaton and Palisades fires, which are north and northwest of downtown Los Angeles.

BBC weather forecaster Sarah Keith-Lucas said Wednesday’s severe conditions were due to the effects of moderate to locally strong Santa Ana winds with very low humidity.

Winds are expected to peak again at 03:00 local time (11:00 GMT) for a twelve-hour period, according to the local office of the National Weather Service (NWS). Gusts can reach 50 mph (80 km/h).

Compared to last week’s conditions, winds are “weaker but still strong,” the NWS warned.

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

But the conditions are expected to improve after Thursday and till Friday. BBC forecaster Sarah Keith-Lucas said that despite the change in winds, no rain was expected until at least next week. And the Santa Ana winds that have been blamed for fanning the fires could develop again by Sunday.

The fire chief of the city of Pasadena stressed the need for showers.

Chad Augustin told BBC Radio 4’s Today program that “there had been no real rain in Southern California” for more than 250 days.

Mr Augustin said, on Wednesday, his firefighters would be “on standby to make sure we maintain our control lines and we don’t burn any more structures”.