Here’s the latest on the L.A. fires.

 

John Yoon

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/01/16/us/los-angeles-wildfires-california

 

Here’s the latest on the L.A. fires.

Dangerous winds were subsiding in the Los Angeles area on Thursday, but frustration was growing among displaced residents desperate to return to their neighborhoods after more than a week of devastating wildfires.

 

Nine days after the blazes ignited, no timeline has been announced for lifting evacuation orders that have affected tens of thousands of Southern California residents. Firefighters were still working to contain the biggest blazes in the region, the Palisades and Eaton fires. Experts said it could take weeks before people can return to the hardest-hit neighborhoods.

 

The easing winds forecast for Thursday will most likely help firefighters gain further control of the blazes, and cooler temperatures and more humid weather are expected into the weekend. But the relief is likely to be brief: Another wind event is forecast for late Monday and Tuesday, the National Weather Service said.

 

Here’s what we’re covering:

 

Containment updates: The Palisades fire, the largest in the area, had burned nearly 24,000 acres and was 21 percent contained as of Thursday morning, according to Cal Fire. The Eaton fire covered more than 14,000 acres and was 45 percent contained. Track the fires here.

 

An arrest: San Bernardino police officers investigating a brush fire that consumed 34 acres, the Little Mountain fire, said they had arrested a man on two felony charges, including reckless burning. The authorities said the fire’s progress had been stopped, and there were no reported injuries or structural damages.

 

Eased fire risk: A batch of red-flag warnings, which indicate increased fire risk, have expired in Southern California. But the warnings remain in effect for the Santa Susana Mountains, the western San Gabriel Mountains and the Interstate 5 corridor, where forecasters predicted gusts of up to 40 miles per hour into Thursday afternoon.

 

Mourning together: People in Los Angeles are grieving. Students reunited with teachers at schools now reduced to ashes. A gas station near an evacuation zone became a hub for displaced people looking for necessities and a sense of community.

 

Destroyed livelihoods: The blazes affected service workers who depend on the neighborhoods that were wiped out.