Firefighters racing against the arrival of more desert winds made progress on Sunday against the two biggest fires raging in Los Angeles, which have killed at least 16 people and destroyed entire neighborhoods from the inland hills to the Pacific Coast.
At least 16 other people have been reported missing in the area of the two largest fires, Sheriff Robert Luna of Los Angeles County said at a news conference, adding that he expected that number would “absolutely” rise.
Crews managed to contain more of the Eaton fire as of Sunday morning, and they had largely stopped the Palisades fire’s momentum toward a road of homes in a section of the Brentwood neighborhood.
Forecasters expected a brief reprieve from the wind on Sunday afternoon, but the fire risk in the area remained high. The desert winds that have propelled the fires were expected to return on Monday through Wednesday and the shifting nature of the winds were making it hard to predict the fire’s path, said Robert Clark, a fire behavior analyst for Cal Fire…..
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LA Mayor Karen Bass….
Two LA-based actresses claimed embattled Mayor Karen Bass is only facing backlash because of her race — instead of forcing drastic cuts to the fire department and being out of the US when the historic deadly wildfires started.
“Act Your Age” co-stars Yvette Nicole Brown and Kym Whitley defended Bass as calls for her removal from office skyrocketed Saturday.
“She’s got a spine of steel, and she’s been a black woman in America for a really long time,” Brown told TMZ. “None of this is new.”
Brown, 53, has lived in the City of Angels for nearly three decades but couldn’t recall another mayor facing the same scrutiny as Bass, suggesting the criticism stemmed from racism.
“We have fires every year, and I don’t remember in the almost 30 years that I’ve lived in LA, I’ve never seen everybody react like this to the mayor and blame one person for a natural disaster,” Brown said.
“Now what’s different this time?” she questioned.
The enraged “Community” alum says she was standing up for Bass because she was “tired” of watching the 71-year-old mayor be the lone scapegoat for the deadly blazes despite the fires decimating several cities in the area.
“She is also not the mayor of every municipality in California, there are people mad because she didn’t fix the fires in Malibu,” Brown said. “She’s not the mayor of Malibu. What is she supposed to do in a city she’s not the mayor of?”….
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Trump political attacks….
President-elect Donald J. Trump offered fresh criticism early Sunday of the officials in charge of fighting the Los Angeles wildfires, calling them “incompetent” and asking why the blazes were not yet extinguished.
“The fires are still raging in L.A.,” Mr. Trump wrote on his Truth Social site. “The incompetent pols have no idea how to put them out.”
Mr. Trump’s comments indicated that the fires, and officials’ response to them, will likely occupy a prominent place on his domestic political agenda when he takes office on Jan. 20. He has renewed a longstanding feud with California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, who in turn has accused Mr. Trump of politicizing the fires.
California politicians have faced criticism over the fires since they broke out on Tuesday, including questions over how local and state authorities had prepared for them and how they have grown so quickly into huge blazes.
Mayor Karen Bass of Los Angeles had to contend with questionsabout whether there was adequate warning about the likelihood of devastating fires, and why there was a shortage of water and firefighters during the initial response. At a news conference on Thursday, she avoided a question about her absence from the citywhen the fires began — she was in Ghana on a previously scheduled official visit — and said that any evaluation of mistakes or failures by “any body, department, individual” would come later.
Mr. Newsom, a Democrat, has also fended off criticism from Mr. Trump, who blamed him for the failure to contain fires and claimed he had blocked an infusion of water to Southern California over concerns about how it would affect a threatened fish species….
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Californiaia Sen. Schiff calls for cooperation from Trump’s admin and a probe into the situation….
Gov. Newsom and the LA Fire Chief are pointing to the Department of Water and Power there….
California Sen. Adam Schiff on Sunday urged the creation of an independent commission to review all elements of the response to devastating wildfires that continue to pummel Los Angeles.
“For now, let’s focus on putting out these fires, saving lives, saving property,” Schiff told ABC’s Jonathan Karl on “This Week.” “And then, let’s do the full analysis of what went wrong.”
And he expressed hope incoming President Donald Trump would work with longtime foe Gov. Gavin Newsom and other California Democrats to fund relief efforts once he takes office….
The flames have torched over 40,000 acres and destroyed more than 12,300 structures since Tuesday, nurtured by dry and powerful — nearly hurricane-strength — Santa Ana winds. The winds complicated early efforts to fight the fires. So too did a lack of water. Firefighters battling the massive Palisades Fire found that some hydrants had run dry in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
Newsom has already ordered an investigation into the city’s Department of Water and Power. Schiff, a longtime House representative from Los Angeles who won his Senate seat in November, told Karl he wanted to go further.
“I’m deeply concerned about these erroneous alerts, these erroneous evacuation alerts that have gone out,” he said. “If people can’t trust when they’re told you need to get out, that they do need to get out, then it not only severely impacts the whole effort, but people ignore the alerts, endangering themselves and endangering the firefighters that have to step between the fires and these civilians.”
The Pentagon put 500 active-duty troops and 10 Navy helicopters on standby to help the city control the blaze. But there have been limits to what resources have been deployed….
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Fellow California Sen. Alex Padilla (D) on Sunday said the fires were a chance for Trump to cast aside the polarization that marred the 2024 presidential race.
“Just as Californians have been there for other regions of the country in their times of crisis, it’s time for the country to unite before California,” Padilla told host Kristen Welker on “Meet the Press.” “And that includes incoming President Trump.
“You know, at the end of the campaign he talked about uniting the country. Here’s his first opportunity.”….
image…A man walks in front of the burning Altadena Community Church on Jan. 8, 2025, in the downtown Altadena section of Pasadena. | Chris Pizzello/AP
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