Weary LA firefighters brace for ‘last’ dangerous winds

LOS ANGELES, UNITED STATES, JAN 20 (AFP/APP/DNA):Exhausted Los Angeles firefighters on Sunday braced for the return of yet more dangerously strong gusts, as California’s governor slammed “hurricane-force winds of misinformation” surrounding blazes that have killed 27 people.

The two largest fires, which have obliterated almost 40,000 acres (16,000 hectares) and razed entire neighborhoods of the second biggest US city, were both now more than half contained, officials announced.

But the National Weather Service warned that powerful winds and very low humidity would again bring “dangerous high-end red flag fire weather conditions” from Monday, with potential gusts up to 80 miles (130 kilometers) per hour.

“This is the last… we hope, of the extreme” wind events, said Governor Gavin Newsom.

It will be “the fourth major wind event just in the last three months — we only had two in the prior four years,” he told MSNBC’s “Inside with Jen Psaki.”

Officials were accused of being unprepared at the outbreak of fires this month. Now, 135 fire engines and their crews are prepositioned to tackle new flames, along with helicopters and bulldozers, said Newsom.

Firefighters said the largest conflagration, the Palisades Fire, was 52 percent contained. It has killed at least 10 people.

Evacuation orders were lifted this weekend for dozens of neighborhoods in upscale western Los Angeles.

“Our focus is on repopulation this week, and we’re moving quickly to finish urban search-and rescue-work so that utilities can safely be restored where possible,” said Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath.

With reports of looting rife, a man and woman were arrested Saturday while driving “a vehicle that looked like a fire engine, going through a checkpoint,” said Los Angeles County sheriff department commander Minh Dinh.

The pair “purchased the vehicle through an auction” and “have been in the area for about a couple of days.”

Further east, the Eaton Fire, which killed at least 17 in the Altadena suburbs, was 81 percent contained.

Several evacuees reunited with missing pets they had feared were dead.

Serena Null told AFP of her joy at finding her cat Domino, after having to leave him behind as flames devoured her family home in Altadena.

The pair were reunited at NGO Pasadena Humane, where Domino — suffering singed paws, a burnt nose and a high level of stress — was taken after being rescued.

“I just was so relieved and just so happy that he was here,” a tearful Null told AFP.