Officials in the Los Angeles area provide updates on the wildfires
LOS ANGELES (NBC, KYMA/KECY) - Los Angeles county and city officials held another update Tuesday morning on the wildfires and their impacts.
This comes as residents in Southern California are bracing for extremely critical fire conditions caused by a new period of Santa Ana winds across Los Angeles and Ventura Counties Tuesday through Wednesday.
The wildfires have killed at least 24 people and swept across 40,000 acres in the greater los angeles area.
However, there is some good news as L.A. County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said that they saw "no increase in acreage at the Eaton Fire" as it remains at least 14,120 acres and is 35% contained.
"We know that over 7,000 structures are damaged or destroyed, and we have 3,235 firefighting personnel assigned to the incident," Marrone shared.
L.A. City Fire Chief Kristin Crowley also shared that the Palisades Fire grew to at least 23,715 acres, is 17% contained and have "5,200 personnel that are assigned in the incident."
"Firefighters will continue to work tirelessly throughout the day to increase containment lines, prevent further spread, and address any flare-ups," Crowley expressed while adding that the Hurst Fire has burned at least 800 acres and is 97% contained.
L.A. County Sheriff Robert Luna said, during the press conference, that they have "approximately 88,000 residents that are still under evacuation orders" and "approximately 84,800 residents that continue to be under warnings."
"There is a decrease in these numbers, but as our fire partners have stated, it is still very dangerous for the next 24 hours, so we're keeping a very close eye," Sheriff Luna spoke.
As far as arrests made, Luna said that the sheriff's department arrested at least 39 people.
"That's 33 in the Eaton fire area and six in the Palisades area," Luna explained while adding that they had nine curfew arrests, two arrests for drone incidences, and 11 for burglary in the Eaton Fire area.
For the Palisades Fire area, Luna said they had six arrests, "three for curfew and three for burglary," but there was an additional arrests for curfew violation and carrying a loaded weapon.
Luna also shared the death toll for the county rose to 21, 16 in the Eaton Fire area and five for the Palisades Fire area.
"We are actively working 24 missing person cases, 18 in the Eaton area, six in the Malibu area, all adults," Luna added.
L.A. City Police Chief Jim McDonnell provided a number of people missing in the City of Los Angeles.
"We have 34 people reported missing. 21 of them have been found safe. Of the 13 remaining, two have most likely been found deceased but have yet to be positively identified. 11 remain unaccounted for," Chief McDonnell said.
McDonnell said the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) made 14 arrests and listed the following charges:
- Three people were arrested for failure to obey curfew
- One person was arrested for impersonating a police officer
- One person wascarrested for impersonating a firefighter
- Two people was arrested for unauthorized entry to a closed emergency area
- One person was arrested for DUI
- One person was arrested for vandalism
- One person was arrested for possession of ammunition and burglary tools
- Two people were arrested for burglary
- Two people arrested for conspiracy to committ burglary
A supervisor with the L.A. County 3rd district said a Los Angeles County emergency proclamation was to be ratified at a board meeting later in the day, helping the county provide more resources and receive state and federal assistance to fight the fires.
