LA fires updates: Residents warned to ‘stay on guard’ amid fire-fueling wind gusts as police bust arson, looting suspects – UK Times

The National Weather Service forecast wind gusts up to 60 mph in the mountains overnight Tuesday into Wednesday.

“Key message: We are not out of the woods yet,” the Los Angeles NWS said in a statement. “Please stay on guard for a fast-moving fire. The winds underperformed today, but one more enhancement could happen tonight-tomorrow.”

The Palisades and Eaton fires are among the most destructive in Los Angeles history. At least 25 people are dead and officials are warning residents to stay alert as the fires persist.

Malibu Mayor Doug Stewart dispelled rumors that the city is offering permits to people who want an expedited return to evacuation zones.

“We … need to address and dispel a rumor circulating in the community: there is no permit for expedited re-entry into evacuation zones. Any claims or offers to provide such a permit are false,” Stewart said in a statement Tuesday.

“Many of you are understandably anxious to return to your homes. We hear you, and we are doing everything in our power to make that happen as quickly and safely as possible,” he added. “However, we remain in the midst of an active fire incident.”

“I think we’re going to have a serious conversation about that,” Johnson told reporters. “Obviously there has been water resource mismanagement, forest mismanagement, mistakes, all sorts of problems, and it does come down to leadership. It appears to us that state and local leaders were derelict in their duty in many respects. That’s something that has to be factored in.”

At the start of the new year, firefighters used a water-dropping helicopter to snuff out a blaze that began a few hours earlier near Skull Rock, a popular hiking destination on the Temescal Ridge trail above the Palisades.

Some residents wonder whether parts of that fire survived and set off the Palisades fire, which began on January 7.

The Los Angeles Police Department has arrested at least 14 people in connection with the Palisades Fire, including three arson suspects, Commander Steve Embrich said Tuesday.

Others were arrested on suspicion of violating curfew, impersonating a firefighter and looting, among other crimes.

“Looting is not just a crime against property; it also takes away any sense of security from evacuated residents and it will not be tolerated,” Embrich said.

The American filmmaker and actor shared a message calling out unnamed insurance companies who had either chosen not to renew their policies or to stop writing new ones, especially for high-value homes located in areas of high-risk fire-prone areas.

The Alabama senator, a staunch Donald Trump ally, said he didn’t object to sending the state “some money,” but not unless state leaders “change their ways.”

“How do you fight a fire with no water?” Ryan Babroff, a volunteer firefighter battling the Eaton Fire, told The Washington Post.

At some point this week, up to 20 percent of the city’s hydrants went dry, according to LA Mayor Karen Bass. And on Thursday night, firefighters had stopped tapping into hydrants at all.