LA officials say wildfire death toll stands at 16 as firefighters race to contain blazes

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The Los Angeles County medical examiner’s office has verified that the number of fatalities from the wildfires currently affecting the area is now 16.

The coroner’s office reported that five of the fatalities were linked to the Palisades Fire and 11 were caused by the Eaton Fire, according to a statement.

The earlier confirmed death toll stood at 11, but authorities believe it will increase as special dogs continue to search through affected areas and responders assess the extent of the destruction.

Firefighters are racing to contain the spread of the fires before potentially strong winds forecast for next week reach the J. Paul Getty Museum and the University of California.

A fierce battle against the flames is now underway in Mandeville Canyon, a Los Angeles neighborhood close to the Pacific coast, where home to several celebrities, including Arnold Schwarzenegger, numerous helicopters have been swooping low, dumping water to combat the spreading blaze as it rapidly gains momentum downhill.

Firefighters on the ground attempted to subdue the inferno by using hoses, as a thick smoke shrouded the chaparral-covered hillside.

At a meeting, CalFire Operations Chief Christian Litz stated that a significant emphasis would be placed on managing the Palisades Fire located in the canyon region, which is not far from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) campus.

“We need to be forceful on the field,” Litz said.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath stated the LA area “had another night of unimaginable terror and heartbreak with even more Angelenos forced to evacuate due to the northeast expansion of the Palisades Fire.”

A gentle breeze was soothing the flames, but the National Weather Service cautioned that powerful Santa Ana winds could soon regain strength.

Those winds have been primarily cited as being responsible for transforming the wildfires into massive fires that ravaged entire neighbourhoods surrounding a city, which has experienced no substantial rainfall for over eight months.

The fire was also endangering densely populated areas in the Hollywood Hills and the San Fernando Valley by the possibility of spreading over Interstate 405.

The search for bodies

The persistent effort to navigate the destruction went on Saturday, with teams conducting thorough grid searches using cadaver dogs, as stated by Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna.

He stated that a family support center is being set up in Pasadena and asked residents to comply with curfew restrictions.

“There are people driving by and around to just take a look. Please refrain from coming,” he said.

The fires have scorched approximately 145 square kilometers, an area greater than that of San Francisco.

Tens of thousands of people remained under evacuation orders, and new evacuations were ordered late Friday after a flare-up on the eastern side of the Palisades Fire.

Since the fires started on Tuesday, just north of the downtown LA area, they have destroyed more than 12,000 structures, a term that comprises homes, apartment buildings, businesses, additional outbuildings, and vehicles.

No cause for the largest fires has been found yet and preliminary calculations suggest the wildfires could be the nation’s costliest ever.

A preliminary estimate by AccuWeather suggests that the damage and economic losses so far are somewhere between $135-150 billion (€131-146 billion).