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Thank you for following our live coverage of the Los Angeles fires. This is where we will end today’s live coverage.
To conclude, here’s a look back at what we’ve covered:
- New areas of Los Angeles and surrounds were being evacuated as fire crews battled to contain the most destructive blaze in the city’s history, which was spreading quickly despite a lull in the winds.
- There were six fires raging in Los Angeles today: the Palisades Fire (8 per cent contained), the Eaton Fire (3 per cent contained), the Kenneth Fire (50 per cent contained), the Hurst Fire (70 per cent contained), the Lidia Fire (98 per cent contained) and the Archer Fire (stopped at 19 acres).
- At least 11 people have so far died in the fires, and authorities fear the death toll will rise in the coming days as areas become safe to search.
- California Governor Gavin Newsom ordered a state investigation of the Los Angeles agencies running the city’s water systems after fire hydrants ran dry, which hampered efforts to protect homes from the deadly wildfires.
- Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, comforted residents affected by the fires.
- In a series of extraordinary interviews, Los Angeles Fire Department chief Kristin Crowley unloaded on the failure of the city’s government to deliver the resources needed to fight fires effectively.
- President Joe Biden delivered a White House briefing on the fires, saying his administration was working on the “worst fires in California’s history” and keeping Donald Trump’s team in the loop.
- The fires’ lasting impact on wildlife is expected to be devastating as the blazes continue to threaten nature reserves and neighbourhoods, and animal shelters fill up.
Thank you again for joining us. We will have continued extensive coverage of the Los Angeles fires in the coming hours and days.
This is Cassandra Morgan, signing off.
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Since the flames erupted in and around Los Angeles, scores of residents have returned to their still smouldering neighbourhoods even as the threat of new fires persisted.
For some, it was a first look at the staggering reality of what was lost as the region of 13 million people grapples with the gargantuan challenge of overcoming the disaster and rebuilding.
Luke Dexter kneels as he sifts through the remains of his father’s fire-ravaged beachfront property in Malibu, California.Credit: AP
Calmer winds enabled firefighters to start gaining some control of the biggest blazes in metropolitan Los Angeles today before gusty weather returns over the weekend to an area that hasn’t seen rain in more than eight months.
But by Friday night US time, new evacuations were ordered in an area that includes part of Interstate 405 after a flare up on the eastern side of the Palisades Fire.
Bridget Berg, who was at work when she saw on TV her house in Altadena erupt in flames, came back for the first time with her family two days later “just to make it real.”
Their feet crunched across the broken bits of what had been their home for 16 years.
Signage for Benjamin Franklin Elementary School on a wall in the aftermath of the Eaton Fire in Altadena.Credit: Bloomberg
Her children sifted through debris on the sidewalk, finding a clay pot and a few keepsakes as they searched for Japanese wood prints they hoped to recover. Her husband pulled his hand out of rubble near the still-standing fireplace, holding up a piece of petrified wood handed down by his grandmother.
“It’s OK. It’s OK,” Berg said as much to herself as others as she took stock of the destruction, remembering the deck and pool from which her family watched fireworks. “It’s not like we just lost our house — everybody lost their house.”
Since the fires first began popping up around a densely populated, 40-kilometere expanse north of downtown Los Angeles, they have burned more than 12,000 structures, which includes homes, apartment buildings, businesses, outbuildings and vehicles.
No cause has been identified yet for the largest fires.
AP
Authorities are warning it is still unsafe to thoroughly search many areas hit by the Los Angeles fires, so it is likely the death toll — which currently stands at 11 people — will rise in the coming days.
“We don’t know the half of it,” LA County Sheriff Robert Luna said.
Among the victims identified so far are Anthony Mitchell, a 67-year-old amputee, and his son Justin, who had cerebral palsy. They were reportedly waiting for an ambulance to reach them.
“He was not going to leave his son behind. No matter what,” a family member said.
You can read a full end-of-day report from Michael Koziol and Caitlin Fitzsimmons here.
At least 11 people have died in the fires raging across Los Angeles, including two elderly people who thought the threat would pass.
Rodney Nickerson, an 82-year-old Altadena resident, died in his bed after staying behind because he felt that he would be OK waiting it out at home, his daughter Kimiko Nickerson said.
A police officer outside the charred remains of a restaurant following the Palisades Fire.Credit: Bloomberg
“He was gathering some things, packing up his car a bit, and he said that he was going to gather up his stuff, but he said he was going to stay here too … he said that he felt this was going to pass over and that he would be here,” she said.
Kimiko Nickerson said her father bought the home in 1968 with a $5 down payment and raised his family there.
When the Eaton fire began spreading, 83-year-old Erliene Kelley also did not want to evacuate because previous fires had never reached her Altadena home.
“She was adamant about staying,” her granddaughter Briana Navarro told the Los Angeles Times.
“My husband kept asking her if she was sure, if she didn’t want to come with us.”
AP
The Palisades Fire has moved towards the affluent neighbourhood of Brentwood, which is among the areas subject to mandatory evacuation orders.
The neighbourhood is home to the Getty Center, a campus of the Getty Museum that opened in 1997 at a cost of $US1.3 billion.
The museum houses significant works including by artists Rembrandt and Vincent van Gogh.
The center survived a fire in 2019, and CBS News reported management issued a statement saying: “Getty Center is complying with the current evacuation order and it’s closed with only emergency staff on site.”
Another of the museum’s locations, the Getty Villa, was under threat from fire earlier this week.
There are six fires burning around Los Angeles. The level of containment for the two biggest fires – the Palisades Fire and the Eaton Fire – has not changed since early this morning.
Here is where we currently stand, according to local authorities:
- Palisades: 8 per cent
- Eaton: 3 per cent
- Kenneth: 50 per cent
- Hurst: 70 per cent
- Lidia: 98 per cent
- Archer: Stopped at 19 acres
In total, about 36,000 acres have been burned, and at least 12,300 structures have been destroyed.
The Los Angeles fires’ lasting impact on wildlife is expected to be devastating as the blazes continue to threaten nature reserves and neighbourhoods.
Non-profit animal shelter Pasadena Humane has taken in more than 400 animals affected by the Eaton fire, including pets, stray animals and wild animals suffering from smoke inhalation, burns and dehydration.
Chief executive Dia DuVernet said Californian fire authorities have authorised animal welfare organisations to enter some burn areas.
“We anticipate a heartbreaking scene when we arrive,” she said on social media earlier today.
“This is a human and animal tragedy on an unimaginable scale.”
More than 12,000 homes and other structures have burned in the Los Angeles fires this week, and animal shelters have urged people to find family or friends to foster their pets if they can.
Arianna Buturovic kept a wary eye on distant smoke from the rescue shelter she runs outside Los Angeles for dogs at risk of being euthanized. Within hours, nearby mountains were ablaze and fire began encircling her.
“I stuffed 15 dogs in a black Prius and two cats,” Buturovic said.
But she still had nine more dogs and a pig to evacuate, so flagged down some 18-year-olds with a truck who agreed to take them to a shelter. She couldn’t bring two ponies with her, but she left the corral open so they could escape if needed.
“That’s how we evacuated almost 30 animals,” she said. “It was crazy.”
With AP
Actor Jennifer Garner revealed in an emotional interview today she lost a friend in the Los Angeles fires.
“I’ve lived in and around the Palisades for 25 years. I think, all of us, we want to get our hands into working somehow to be helpful,” Garner told MSNBC.
“I did lose a friend who did not get out in time.
“My heart bleeds for my friends … I could just write out a list of 100 friends who lost their homes. I feel almost guilty walking through my house – what can I do, how can I help, what can I offer?”
Victor Shaw stayed behind to try to fight the Eaton Fire and was found holding a garden hose in his hand after the blaze swept through his neighbourhood.
Victor Shaw, 66, was killed in the Eaton fire, which tore through Altadena.Credit: Nine News
Shari Shaw told news outlet KTLA she tried to get her 66-year-old brother to evacuate with her as the fire approached the home they shared. He told her he wanted to stay behind and fight the fire.
“When I went back in and yelled out his name, he didn’t reply back, and I had to get out because the embers were so big and flying like a firestorm – I had to save myself,” she said.
“And I looked behind me, and the house was starting to go up in flames, and I had to leave.”
A family friend, Al Tanner, said they found Victor’s body the next morning.
“It looks like he was trying to save the home that his parents had for almost 55 years,” Tanner told KTLA.
AP
Police are controlling traffic along key roads in fire-threatened areas of Los Angeles as residents flee following new mandatory evacuation orders and warnings.
CBS News had a live feed showing cars moving north in an orderly procession along Hayvenhurst Avenue in Encino, toward Ventura Boulevard and away from the mountains.
The evacuation orders were issued about 7pm on Friday, US time, as fire crews battled to contain the northern flank of the Palisades fire.
The northern flank is the opposite side of the hills to the Pacific Palisades area ravaged earlier in the week.
Evacuation orders are now in place around the eastern perimeter of the hills, from Encino in the north to Crestwood Hills and Brentwood in the south.
Evacuation warnings are in place further east, across the 405 Freeway, including in parts of Bel Air.
