The death toll from the wildfires ravaging the Los Angeles area rose to 16 this weekend as crews battled to cut off the spreading blazes before potentially strong winds return that could push the flames toward some of the city’s most famous landmarks.
Five of the deaths were attributed to the Palisades Fire and 11 resulted from the Eaton Fire, the Los Angeles County coroner’s office said in a statement Saturday evening.
The previous number of confirmed fatalities before Saturday was 11, but officials said they expected that figure to rise as teams with cadaver dogs conduct systematic grid searches in leveled neighborhoods. Authorities have established a center where people can report the missing.
Sheriff Robert Luna said law enforcement agencies are working with each other to search the fire areas and due to the ongoing nature of the work, he said any estimated numbers are in flux and will likely increase as time goes on.
“If you believe somebody is missing, please report it to your local law enforcement agency. Right now, with the sheriff's department, we have 16 missing person reports. We have 12 in Eaton and four in Palisades. If there's any good news, there's no juveniles that are missing within those numbers. But I know, just coming here this morning, it sounds like we just got dozens and dozens more. I have to reconcile those numbers.”
Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell said the grim task of searching for the dead has prevented his department from allowing some people back into the fire zones.
“It is a traumatic experience, certainly for everybody involved,” he said of the evacuations. “We tried to be as compassionate as we could be by putting together escorts that provided limited access for people to get into the area very deliberately and be able to retrieve medication or pet in some cases. What we found was that it was successful for those who we were able to accommodate, but the numbers became overwhelming. There was frustration. There were long waits to be able to do it, and we still tried to facilitate it, although we weren't able to do that for everyone. Today, we need to suspend that practice effective immediately. We have search operations now beginning. We will have cadaver dog deployment, and that will result in crime scene preservation efforts and then the recovery of remains.”
Joseph Everett, assistant chief of the Los Angeles Fire Department’s west bureau, said it has been difficult to see such destruction in an area where he, his father and grandfather all have worked as firefighters.
“It resonates with me heavily,” he said at a community meeting Saturday night. “Please be patient as we are up there … we’re still aggressively fighting fire out there.”
There were fears that winds could move the fires toward the J. Paul Getty Museum and the University of California, Los Angeles, while new evacuation warnings left more homeowners on edge.
By Saturday evening, Cal Fire reported the Palisades, Eaton, Kenneth and Hurst fires had consumed about 62 square miles (160 square kilometers), an area larger than San Francisco. The Palisades and Eaton fires accounted for 59 square miles (nearly 153 square kilometers).
In a briefing posted online Saturday evening, Michael Traum of the California Office of Emergency Services said 150,000 people in Los Angeles County were under evacuation orders, with more than 700 people taking refuge in nine shelters.
Crews from California and nine other states are part of the ongoing response that includes 1,354 fire engines, 84 aircraft and more than 14,000 personnel, including newly arrived firefighters from Mexico, he said.
With Cal Fire reporting containment of the Palisades Fire at 11% and the Eaton Fire at 15% on Saturday night, the fight is set to continue.
“Weather conditions are still critical and another round of strong winds is expected starting Monday,” Traum said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
