California Wildfires | Latest update on the Palisades, Eaton and Kenneth fires

we now know at least 10 people have died in the wildfires burning across Los Angeles County nearly 400,000 people still under evacuation orders or Warnings and almost 10,000 homes and buildings have burned to the ground right now you're taking a live look at Granada Hills there in that area and you can see that plume of smoke uh Rising into the air off of that Hills side so now let's take a live look at the latest numbers for the largest of these fires the Palisades and eaten fire still at the largest fires 20,000 and 13,000 Acres

respectively you're looking at the destruction left in the wake of the Palisades fire a total of about 35,000 Acres have burned already there the Kenneth fire also broke out overnight and has grown to A Thousand Acres the good news is that Crews have made progress in containing each of the five major fires that we are tracking and many residents in the Los Angeles area returning home to piles of rubble ABC's Alex stone is live in Altadena this morning with a closer look at the effort going into containing these fires and more on Survivor stories good

morning Alex good morning Jordan and here in Altadena it is home after home where just everything is gone there are a couple of chimneys standing but that's about it a lot of natural gas is still coming out of of pipes still some of those on fire fire but everything else is melted including the cars that are gone as firefighters are trying to put out the Flames there are almost no words to describe the devastation in Los Angeles County as the wind driven fires have spread to another area across the county over 10,000 buildings destroyed and

the number of Dead Rising everything that we know and love is gone not just this house my whole city gone man the whole thing like everything my whole neor Hood everything that I grew up to love and know is burnt up the Kenneth fire erupting in the San Fernando Valley forcing evacuations in the West Hills neighborhood we are expecting this fire to rapidly spread due to high winds all of the major wildfires are in a roughly 25 mile band north of downtown LA the Palisades and eaten fires largest over 9,000 homes businesses and other buildings

are damaged or destroyed early estimates predict $57 billion and damages the Palisades fire still raging overnight after scorching over 19,000 Acres an area the size of Manhattan dozens of blocks flattened to smoldering Rubble only the outlines of homes remain residents in Altadena who came back to inspect what was once their neighborhood shocked as you can see there's nothing left and I've been here for about an hour and a half and I don't want to leave it's home so I really can't put in words and Jordan the winds are finally coming here in fact the red

flag fire warnings are going to expire later on tonight at around 6 o'clock but there is another round of santaana winds could be strong Santa an winds coming in on Monday firefighters are trying to take advantage of this right now knowing what's about to come we're live in Altadena Alex Stone abc1 back to you all right thank you so much Alex Stone in Altadena all right let's take a look at this video out of Altadena that's where Alex Stone was at just right a couple minutes ago you just heard from him uh this is what

was left after the eaten fire tore through neighborhoods there and you can just see the destruction uh there the neighborhoods just absolutely just reduced to Rubble in that area uh terrible terrible just you know heavy heart you know for these people that are losing their homes as we just heard in that story Alex Stone was talking to some of the people living in that area and coming back to the place that their homes once stood just absolutely horrible but as he said you know there is some good news for the firefight right now in terms

of those winds dying down so let's go ahead and bring in a meteorologist Brendan MF Brendan good news in terms of those fires uh getting a little bit better in that area yeah getting a little bit better but it is quite the firefight that's going on here's a look at the map of the active LA county fires the big ones at the very least the eaten fire up near Altadena just north of Pasadena about 14,000 Acres only 3% contained the Hurst fire North of San Fernando uh coming up on 775 Acres there 37% contained of

course the Palisades fire uh over 20,000 Acres burned and only 8% contained still so even though the winds are coming down it's still Breezy still causing some issues and in addition there's a lot of catchup that still has to be played uh with the fires again Palisades only 8% contained right now still burning out along the pch in LA county so uh back here in Northern California things are quiet today plenty of sunshine 50s middle 50s right now 56 in Sacramento 56 in Stockton 55 Modesto 56 in bville 55 in Fairfield 57 in Auburn and

pville 34 in trucky 42 in South Lake Tahoe in the Big Mountain backyard 56 degrees clear skies but we are running a little bit cooler than this time yesterday yesterday was honestly uh pretty warm by January standards we're going to be in those low to mid-60s in the valley today plenty of clear skies as well so again low to mid-60s for highs tomorrow morning we're going to be in those mid-50s we're going to have some wind on the way in though and we'll talk about that coming up a little later in the show Jordan all

right thanks Brendan we'll talk to you soon continuing in our coverage of the firefight one key player in the firefight is calir mclen Airbase it's been sending critical air resources to Southern California so the fleet of c130s five firehawks and a few S2s have been sent to battle the Flames there the fire captain says the need for aerial support grew and Crews had to leave really quickly since they got there fire Crews have been faced with challenges like strong Santa Ana winds making precise aerial drops a constant struggle despite this mlen Airbase continues to play

a vital role in this ongoing effort to contain the fires and protect Southern California communities the reality is the winds are so Dynamic and at that Tipping Point when our resources air resources were grounded that changes our strategies and tactics I've been doing this for 28 years it seems like we've been getting busier and busier and the Fire season has become longer and longer and calfire says they have not sent all of their air resources to Southern California they still do have aircraft available if a wildfire were to ignite in the northern part of the

state and on the ground Sacramento Metro Fire says their Crews have been fighting non-stop for over 3 days with no end in sight officials say they had to assist with a burning High School leaving kids without classrooms the battalion chief says the damage they're reporting is nothing short of apocalyptic and for continued coverage of the wildfires head over to ABC 10 plus the TV streaming app there we have live updates news conferences as they happen you can download the abc10 Plus app wherever you stream right now at least 10 people people have died as a

result of the fire disaster in Los Angeles nearly 400,000 people still under evacuation orders or warnings in Los Angeles County the Palisades and eaten fire the first and second most destructive fires in Southern California history it's apocalyptic it's like someone's Dropped a Bomb there cars burnt out there's Ash everywhere it's it's it's we were we were thinking it was going to be bad but I think we both had no idea how bad it was and the Flames were fueled by dry conditions and a rare wind event as well and giving you a live look now

at the eaten fire we've been bringing you the latest on the wildfires happening in Los Angeles County all week long and right now Rob and Brendan are breaking down what conditions contributed to those fires growth good morning yeah good morning Jordan so yeah definitely a combination of wind and very dry conditions is what really led to the very high fire danger it didn't necessarily spark the fires but definitely is what led to them being able to start and grow I think it's really important you know as meteorologists uh we need to put some perspective on

this because this wasn't any run-of-the-mill dry weather conditions for for the vegetation or oh just another Windstorm these were high-end top level if not record-breaking in both of these categories happening at the same time and the fires would not nearly have been as as bad if the weather at the time did not contribute to how quickly the fire grew and what It ultimately did so let's go ahead and take you through it yeah so we'll start with a map of LA county and you can see where the fires are the two biggest ones of course

the Palisades fire out near Pacific Palisades and along Highway one and the other fire the eaten fire which we just looked at uh Palisades is over 20,000 Acres as of last check in the eaten fire uh over 13,000 both under 10% containment there I think what's important too is remember you don't judge a fire by the the numbers of Acres burn we've had 200,000 AC fires that have only burned a handful of structures these happened in urban environment so everything downwind were homes and businesses and unfortunately it was the worst place at the worst time

yeah and let's not forget the sunset fire not on this map that was burning right near the heart of Hollywood just a few days ago and I think one of the most concerning things is that we've had a dry start to a season before but just learned today that in San Diego right next door is the literal record driest start to their rainy season uh that they've ever seen from the beginning of October to where we are now no meaningful rain uh since the be uh the end of March and that's significant that means that

it's just as as dry as it is in September and October when we typically fear these types of situations it's even drier now yeah which is why we are not worrying about fire danger up here in Northern California is because we've had the rain the other thing is we are in the peak of Santa Ana winds uh season at least climatologically speaking December January February the three windiest months when it comes uh to the Santa anas and also the months that have the most extreme Santa Ana WIS as well and I think this is really

important because uh when you take a look at the bottom there the red those are the ones that you worry about but by November December January certainly we've had a storm or two in Southern California so you don't really hear about these because the effect is not for fire weather it's for offshore winds and usually very clear sunny and warmer weather but the the book was changed we had a a situation in December of 2017 there had been no large fire past October until this happened it was at the time the largest fire in State

history and it happened weeks before Christmas which had never happened before it changed the calendar and now we need to add one more month for potential destruction related to fire yeah and you can see Palisades in eaten already climbing the uh the ladder for most destructive fires unfortunately and we don't even know uh the true Count just yet of structures burned of what the acreage is going to be uh how much it's going to cost I mean but but the the effect on the ground of the people that live there and have been impacted is

very real regardless if it was one structure burned or two or 200 exactly and uh we're going to learn more about this but you know weather we can look a long range long range forecasting has come a very long way we are comfortable saying for the next 10 days in Southern California and likely here uh it's looking dry but even past that uh unfortunately we really don't see much in fact you can talk more about the long range forecast here yeah and we'll get into it so let's take a look at the maps and we'll

talk about the long range we'll talk about what we can see here at home as well immediately right that 6 to 10 day climate Outlook January 15th through January 19th uh looking at very likely uh drier than average conditions across basically the entire State of California leaning a little bit wetter through parts of the deserts right along the Colorado River maybe we see uh some showers there better chances for rain as you work your way uh into Arizona and New Mexico and parts of Texas as well but certainly much of the West Coast including Northern

California looking at very likely drier than average conditions through the next week to week and a half and even beyond that honestly I am not tracking any immediate rain chances right now 56 in Sacramento 56 in Vacaville 55 in Fairfield 57 in El Grove 56 Stockton 55 Modesto 58 in Jackson 57 pville 34 in trucky 42 in South Lake Tahoe sunny skies in the Big Mountain backyard 56 degrees that's 4 degrees cooler than where we were at this time yesterday I only expect us uh to get into those uh and I have to say only

because of how warm we were yesterday but I only expect us uh to get into those low to mid-60s in the valley that's still quite a bit above average the average high is 50 6 but look at where we were on Thursday 69° Downtown 69° Sacramento executive that tied the record at sack exec the record for downtown was 70° so we were basically there Stockton and Modesto we in the low 70s so we all ought to be in the low to mid uh excuse me 60s yesterday we all ought to be in the low to

mid-60s today 63 Sacramento 65 in El grov 64 Stockton 65 Mantika and Tracy 64 Modesto 61 in Auburn 62 in Jackson 50 in trucky and 51 in South Lake Tahoe this afternoon temperatures are actually coming down as we go through the next seven days the average high 56 like we talked about we'll actually be back there by the time we get to about Wednesday and Thursday of the following week but we're still not looking at any rain chances we still are going to be dry through the next week or two we are however going to

see some winds returning to Northern California as soon as tonight so well while most of us are asleep uh mainly west of Interstate 5 we're going to see gusts over 35 miles hour or so there is a wind advisory in effect for some of the coastal ranges uh in the Bay area as well but nothing yet in uh the Sacramento Valley or the San waen Valley we'll keep an eye on that wouldn't surprise me if we end up getting a wind advisory within the next hour or two but we're we're kind of teetering on the

edge regardless it is going to be windy it's going to be Gusty wind gusts about 30 plus across the valley for much of the day on Saturday and those winds are going to continue uh into the daytime on Sunday as well it'll be mainly on Sunday west of I5 but certainly still could see uh some gusts uh in Sacramento in El grve uh upwards of 25 mph so there's that wind advisory for the bay area but nothing in the Central Valley just yet we'll keep an eye on that again we're kind of right borderline uh

as to whether we're meeting the wind advisory criteria or not temperatures coming down over the next seven days from above average to very seasonal for the end of next week but Jordan we stay dry no rain in the forecast all right Brendan thank you well we continue in our coverage of the Los Angeles County wildfires thousands of buildings and homes have been destroyed and ABC's Matt Gutman has the latest on the destruction there this morning those new harrowing images revealing the scale of the damage in Los Angeles I don't know how we're going to come

back from this I I don't even know where to start across the county more than 10,000 structures destroyed and overnight the number of fatalities jumping to 10 Mars would be more habitable than this place right now so it's crazy there's absolutely nothing once densely packed neighborhoods now Smoky wastelands Pacific Palisades right now could just be taken off the map it's there is no Pacific Palisades but trickling back into this hellscape were families hoping to salvage an airloop or a momento that is the living room uh-huh that's the front entrance beyond that there was a bedroom

in the rubble of a Condo building in Pacific Palisades we meet Gail and Mario is this your save wanted to get to it before the L got to it Gail fled with just her nurse scrubs of phone and little else the documents passport things like that nothing are somewhere here yeah yeah everything everything everything everything the Widow hoping her wedding ring had survived this Inferno wow Mario pushed the safe off the building then cracked it open and for a moment Gail held her breath these your rings there it was still glittering very cool quickly police

on the hunt for looters came to investigate how major of a concern is looting here oh it's huge it's huge and then you have million doll homes all intact rows and rows of them and there's really no way to police this area effectively right now at least 20 people have been arrested for looting and checkpoints everywhere so right now that young man on the motorcycle the motorbike is being pushed away by the officer he sort of blew through this check Point here and immediately they pounced and chased him Susan campi Tracy and Metaline Dam among

the dozens who walked here in the hopes of being escorted back to their homes I've been in this since Tuesday I've got the same socks it's like everything is the same it's almost like at this stage of my life when I thought I was at the end of the marathon I'm at the beginning of a new marathon and we have to create everything from scratch they got the call jumped in the car off they went just a few minutes later it's apocalyptic it's like someone's Dropped a Bomb this cars burn out there's Ash everywhere it's

it's it's we were we w't thinking it was going to be bad but I think we both had no idea how bad it was like so many grappling with the loss of almost everything if I could only have found one thing this was it it's the bill that we have at the front of the house and it came from my husband's childhood home in Somerset England and it's damaged but it's alive these satellite images showing the immense size and scope of the devastation where there were once sprawling communities now A Wasteland surrounded by areas splattered

in red fire retardant this picturesque Coastline obliterated Haze obscuring the scene below of course the greatest loss human lives the New York Times reporting 82-year-old Rodney Nickerson and retired pharmacy technician erene Kelly were among the dead and 66-year-old Victor Shaw and I opened the front door and I just yelled in Victor we got to get out this is it we have to get out the fire's here and I didn't hear him say anything I heard him say nothing so I ran to the car and I just I just got out I just got out and

I went down the street and there was a police car and I flagged him and I said my brother's in the house I need help and he told me to get out he said go his family later fighting his body with a garden hose in his hand and I couldn't be here I couldn't be here to save him I couldn't be here that's What Hurts the Most and for continued coverage of the wildfires you can head over to the ABC 10 plus TV streaming app we'll have live updates and news conferences as they happen there

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