Firefighters gaining slight control over LA fires

Firefighters are holding the line against two massive wildfires that have ravaged parts of Los Angeles for the past week, even as desert winds and a parched landscape presented extremely hazardous conditions.

Some 8500 firefighters from at least seven states and two foreign countries prevented the fires from growing for a second day on Tuesday as they gained slightly more control of the perimeter of the blazes.

A fleet of aircraft dropped water and retardant into the rugged hills while ground crews with hand tools and hoses have worked around the clock since the fires broke out on January 7, with the aircraft occasionally grounded by high winds.

The Palisades Fire on the west edge of town held steady at 95sq km burned, and containment increased to 17 per cent - a measurement of how much of the perimeter was under control.

The Eaton Fire in the foothills east of the city stood at 60sq km with containment up to 35 per cent.

Southern California has lacked any appreciable rain since April, turning brush into tinder as Santa Ana winds originating from the deserts whipped over hilltops and rushed through canyons, sending embers ahead of the fires.

California Governor Gavin Newsom said 11 new fires broke out in Southern California overnight and were quickly extinguished because firefighters and equipment were positioned ahead of time. But three other fires were still burning, including one each in neighbouring Ventura and Riverside counties that started on Monday and Tuesday, Cal Fire said.

The death toll from the fires rose by one on Tuesday to 25, according to the Las Angeles medical examiner’s office. The estimate of structures damaged or destroyed held steady at over 12,000, still portending a Herculean rebuilding effort ahead.

Entire neighbourhoods have been levelled, leaving smouldering ash and rubble. In many homes, only a chimney is left standing.

A few thousand more people were allowed back home but 88,000 remained under evacuation orders with another 84,000 under evacuation warnings - large-scale displacements unprecedented in the metropolitan area’s history.

Urban search and rescue teams worked from an Altadena grocery store parking lot, tracking progress on whiteboards and handing out assignments from inside a trailer.

“We’re doing a systematic search. The winds really don’t have a whole lot of effect on our search and rescue operations,” said Jorge Villanueva, a regional task force leader with the California Office of Emergency Services.

His team of 50 firefighters and sheriff’s deputies conducted house-by-house searches, looking for any lingering fires and hazards such as lithium-ion batteries connected to solar panels.

The Palisades Fire also approached the priceless art collection at the J. Paul Getty Museum, which houses paintings by Van Gogh, Rembrandt, Monet and Degas.

In Washington, a battle over emergency aid broke out between Republicans and Democrats over what is already the costliest wildfire in terms of insured losses.

Private forecaster AccuWeather estimates total damage and economic loss up to $US275 billion ($A445 billion), which would make it the costliest natural disaster in US history, surpassing Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Democrats in Congress opposed the suggestion by House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, that conditions be placed on aid. Mr Johnson also said any wildfire disaster assistance funding should be “paid for,” meaning the cost should be covered to prevent adding to the budget deficit, possibly by cutting other programs.

That is a departure from many previous natural disasters, and Democratic Representative Ted Lieu of California called Johnson’s position “outrageous.”

“We should not be leveraging the pain and suffering of our fellow Americans to try to force new policy changes,” Mr Lieu said.