At least 24 people are believed to be dead and more than a dozen others remain unaccounted for as multiple wildfires, fueled by severe drought conditions and strong Santa Ana winds, continue to rage across Southern California, leaving fire crews scrambling to contain the historic destruction.
Thousands of firefighters are battling several sprawling wildfires across 45 square miles of densely populated Los Angeles County. About 105,000 people remain under mandatory evacuation orders and another 87,000 are under evacuation warnings.
Latest Developments
Jan 13, 8:10 AM Edison International can’t rule out equipment role in wildfires, CEO says
Pedro Pizarro, the president and CEO of Edison International, told “Good Morning America” on Monday that the company cannot yet rule the possibility that its energy infrastructure played a role in sparking wildfires now raging around Los Angeles.
Fire agencies are investigating whether Southern California Edison — a subsidiary of Edison International — infrastructure sites caused fires in areas devastated by the Eaton and Hurst wildfires.
“You can’t rule out anything ever until you can get your eyes on the equipment,” Pizarro said. “Typically, when there’s a spark created by equipment, we will see the electrical anomaly — we haven’t seen that,” Pizarro said of a possible incident involving Edison infrastructure and the Hurst Fire burning outside of San Fernando. “That said, we have not been able to get close to the equipment,” he continued. “As soon as we can get close to it, we’ll inspect and be transparent with the public.” “We may find something different,” Pizarro added. Pizarro said Edison also recorded damage to equipment at the site of the Eaton Fire in the mountains north of Pasadena. “We don’t know whether the damage happened before or after the start of the fire,” he said. Pizarro said that Edison International will be shutting off power to some California residents as a precaution amid red flag warnings. “We have about 450,000 customers who we’ve warned they may need to have their power shut off,” Pizarro said. Jan 13, 6:45 AM High winds threaten explosive fire growth
Weather officials have issued a “Particularly Dangerous Situation” red flag warning for western Los Angeles County and most of Ventura County beginning on Tuesday at 4 a.m. into Wednesday at noon.
Winds are forecast to be strong enough to potentially cause explosive fire growth.
A new Santa Ana wind event is forecast Monday through Wednesday with the strongest winds Tuesday into Wednesday…