LA fires latest: Strong winds threaten ‘explosive’ fire growth as death toll rises

The Australian head of the world’s largest volunteer firefighting force said on Tuesday a refusal by social media firms to give emergency services free access to its data was hindering responders globally, as wildfires continued to rip through Los Angeles.

Rob Rogers, Commissioner of the New South Wales Rural Fire Service (RFS), said companies including Elon Musk’s X and Meta , which owns Facebook and Instagram, could save lives by giving first responders back-end access to data.

The RFS runs a network of some 74,000 volunteer firefighters and full-time staff protecting one of the world’s most fire-prone regions.

Australia suffered a catastrophic series of wildfires in 2019-2020 known as “Black Summer”, which destroyed an area the size of Turkey and killed 33 people, the majority in New South Wales.

In response, the RFS commissioned Athena, a software program named after the Greek goddess of wisdom and protector of cities, that uses artificial intelligence to predict where fires might spread.

The program could be made more powerful by better integrating it with posts from social media users on wildfires as they started and spread, Rogers said. X and Meta, however, have both been unwilling to provide back-end data to emergency services at no cost, he said.

A group of hikers may have been some of the first people to witness and record the beginnings of the deadly Palisades fire, which has devastated the high-end Los Angeles neighborhood.

Kai Cranmore told Backpacker.com he set out with friends on January 7 for a four-mile hike in Temescal Canyon, and began to smell smoke while he was meditating at a scenic vista.

“We were expressing what we were feeling,” said Cranmore, who has lived in Los Angeles for seven years. “I would say ‘I feel the gravity pulling me towards the earth’ or ‘I feel my breath.’ And my buddy Mike was like, ‘I smell smoke.’”

Video captured by the group shows a plume of dusty smoke rising from a nearby hillside.

Los Angeles-area firefighters are making some progress containing the fires encircling the city, but this week they’ll once again have to deal with the sorts of high winds that caused the fires to break out in the first place.

Between Monday and Wednesday, winds in Los Angeles and Ventura counties will reach up to 70 mph in the mountains and up to 60mph in the coasts and valleys, according to the National Weather Service.

As some Republicans weigh whether to attach conditions on supplemental wildfire aid for California, Senator Thom Thillis of North Carolina has spoken out against the proposal.

Thillis, whose own state was devastated in a recent natural disaster, argued against imposing new hoops to jump through before California gets relief.

“I would ask those folks to put themselves in the same position as people western North Carolina…” he told HuffPost. “You got to be consistent on disaster supplement, period.”

With more than 180,000 residents forced to evacuate and at least 10,000 structures destroyed, many people have lost everything.

The fires have scorched more than 35,000 acres so far, with little containment. The Palisades fire, one of the most destructive the city has seen, is now at 14 percent containment after burning more than 23,000 acres, while the Altadena and Pasadena-based Eaton fire has burned 14,000 acres.

As thousands are feared to have lost their homes, this is how local organizations and charities are responding — and how you can help too.

Rhian Lubin has the details.

In November 2022, Edwin Castro was the lucky winner of a historic $2.04 billion Powerball lottery jackpot.

Three years later, and his fortunes have reversed.

A $3.8 million home he purchased with some of his winnings in Malibu was among the many structures scorched in the devastating Palisades fire, KTLA reports.

Here’s some of our past reporting on Castro.

Los Angeles-area firefighters have another blaze on their hands.

Crews began responding to the one-acre Jurupa Fire around 5pm this afternoon, according to Watch Duty.

The blaze is near the Santa Ana River, KTLA reports.

The station captured overhead video of fire crews battling a small fire on a hillside.

Under normal circumstances, this would be an easy issue. California is the largest economy in the United States. But California has long been a punching bag for Republicans and President-elect Donald Trump has long clashed with Governor Gavin Newsom. During the weekend, Trump reposted an image of the Hollywood Hills, replacing the Hollywood sign with letters saying “Trump was right” as the area was ablaze.

Donald Trump Jr. and Elon Musk have particularly swiped at the Los Angeles Fire Department for sending equipment to Ukraine. Ted Cruz, meanwhile, the senator from California’s mortal enemy Texas, faulted Los Angeles for cutting money for its fire department while allocating money for a transgender cafe and a social justice network on his podcast.

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson told CNN’s Manu Raju that state and local leaders “were derelict in their duty,” and that “I think there should be conditions on that aid.”