Los Angeles city and county officials provide updates on the wildfires

LOS ANGELES (NBC, KYMA/KECY) - Los Angeles County and City official provide an update on the situation Wednesday morning as the fires have killed at least 25 people and swept through 40,000 acres in the Greater Los Angeles area.

Officials said Southern California is bracing for "extremely critical fire conditions" caused by a new period of Santa Ana winds Wednesday through Thursday across parts of Los Angeles and Ventura Counties as the battle to contain the raging blazes goes on.

L.A. County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said the Eaton Fire remains at least 14,120 acres, is 45% contained, over 7,000 structures damaged or destroyed, and have at least 3,400 firefighters battling the fire.

"45% of our damage inspections for the Eaton fire have been completed. Impacted residents may visit recovery.lacounty.gov, to view maps showing damage assessments. Please note that these maps are being updated daily. Critical fire weather conditions will continue through this evening. The anticipated 70 mile an hour winds have yet to materialize. However, this could change, and we are still at risk."

Chief Anthony Marrone, Los Angeles County Fire Department

Regarding the Palisades Fire, L.A. City Fire Chief Kristin Crowley said the fire remains at least 23,715 acres, is 19% contained, has at least 5,105 firefighters battling that fire, with them observing, "30 to 40 mile per hour winds with low humidity."

"When you look at the aerial view of the Palisades fire, you may not be able to tell, but however, infrared flights last night indicated there are still numerous hot spots burning within the fire footprint, very close attention was paid to address any flare ups swiftly as to prevent any fire spread outside of the perimeter. We understand also just a message to the community and those that were impacted by these fires, we understand your desire to return to your community, however, significant, significant safety and infrastructure issues remain, including downed power lines, broken gas lines, hazardous materials and unsafe water."

Chief Kristin Crowley, Los Angeles City Fire Department

L.A. County Sheriff Robert Luna, during the press conference thanked the California Highway Patrol for contributing "even more officers in the last 24 hours" to help deal with the fires adding that the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is also helping authorities as well.

"We are now close to our well over 900 National Guards, California National Guard that are assisting us both for the LA County Sheriff's Department, the Los Angeles Police Department and other law enforcement agencies here in California, evacuation orders, they've gone down some we are at 82,400 in our LA County jurisdiction. Any warnings are up just a little bit because of the wind event, to 90,400."

Sheriff Robert Luna, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department

L.A. Mayor Karen Bass spoke during the press conference saying the Los Angeles area is "still not quite out of the woods," and encourages residents to "please take the warning seriously and the evacuation notices seriously."

"If you are in an area where there is a warning, get prepared now get packed, take everything you need, with you, your medications, and your pets if that is possible," Bass expressed.