Firefighters race against the clock to contain wildfires in California
UPDATE (9:01 AM): Officials in the Los Angeles area are holding a press conference to provide updates on the wildfires.
To watch the livestream of the press conference, see attached video.
LOS ANGELES COUNTY, Calif. (CNN, KYMA/KECY) - Firefighters are in a critical stage of their nearly weeklong battle against deadly Los Angeles wildfires.
Crews have reported some progress, but officals say the fire threat remains very high as powerful winds return early this week.
Nearly a week into the firefighting effort, the area burned in the LA Fire is bigger than the City of Paris.
In Pacific Palisades, street after street, neighborhoods are starting to be unrecognizable. The only way to tell where a home once was is really by the chimneys left standing and with the fire still burning, crews scrambling to prevent more sites from being damaged.
Firefighters in California are racing against the clock to contain blazes ahead of the return of dangerous high winds.
"It's going to cause more problems, which is why containment is going so slow," said David Acuna, Battalion Chief for CalFire.
For nearly a week, conditions have made it difficult for crews to get a handle on the largest fires: The Eaton and Palisades.
The deadly blazes around Los Angeles have caused devastating damage.
More than 37,000 acres have burned, with fire officials saying at least 10,000 structures have been destroyed.
"Lots of tears, anger. We're going through the stages of grief. There's no doubt about it," said one LA resident who survived the wildfires.
Neighborhoods, from Pacific Palisades to Altadena, are unrecognizable.
"The middle school that I actually attended was burned. The…all the homes on that particular street, my mom's street, you can actually see through the two, the street behind and the street in front," said Kaye Young, who lost her home due to the wildfires.
Al Hugo, an Altadena-based firefighter, shared some before and after photos of his family's home.
"It's kind of surreal, I mean it's something that really hits home. You know, you do this for a living, but, you know, you invest your life to try to, you know, protect life and property. But when it's your own, it's just a different feeling," Hugo expressed.
Governor Gavin Newsom says that when it comes to all of these destroyed buildings, the hope is within two weeks they'll be able to be inspected, but to remove all of this toxic debris that could take six to nine months.
All this happening as search and rescue crews now going through neighborhoods and firefighters are racing against the clock with strong winds expected to return later this week.
