LOS ANGELES (CN) — LA appears to finally be catching a break. Thus far, the fabled Santa Ana winds have not been as strong as dire warnings had suggested. No new major wildfires have broken out so far, and firefighters have made incremental progress fighting the two large blazes that still blacken the sprawling city.
Mayor Karen Bass toured a FEMA drop-in center set up on the first floor of what once was the Westside Pavilion shopping mall, and what will someday be a UCLA research facility. Speaking to reporters afterward, she was quick to downplay any sense that the worst is over.
“We’re still not out of this emergency,” Bass said. “We know in the next 24, 48 hours, it is possible that there are fires that [will] expand, that we have additional problems within the city. And so my message to Angelenos is that everybody needs to stay safe.”
The National Weather Service’s warning of a “particularly dangerous situation” — the agency’s most dire warning for extreme weather events — issued Monday has been downgraded to a more typical “red flag warning.” The more serious warning may go back into effect early Wednesday morning, should winds kick back up.
The new drop-in center, a one-stop-shop for victims of the fire to sign up for services like rental assistance, FEMA grants and government loans, is less than five miles from the perimeter of the Palisades Fire. Still raging in the Santa Monica Mountains on the western edge of LA, the fire has burned more than 23,700 acres and has damaged or destroyed at least 1,500 structures, including most of the Pacific Palisades neighborhood — though the figure may top 5,000 structures. The fire is 17% contained but still threatens a number of wealthy residential areas, including Brentwood.
Across the city, the Eaton Fire in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains has so far charred 14,000 acres, and is 35% contained. It has destroyed or damaged just over 3,000 structures.
Taken together, the two fires have killed at least 24 people, and is estimated to have caused at least $250 billion in economic damage — making it the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history. It has obliterated two neighborhoods and left thousands of Angelenos homeless, without belongings.
When asked about the city’s capacity to rebuild, given its recent history of being unable to build enough housing to keep up with demand, Bass was adamant that the city is up to the challenge.
“The city can handle it, the city will handle it,” Bass said. “We have come together before.” She compared the crisis to the riots in 1992 and the Northridge earthquake of 1994. “We did it then, we will do it now. And we have the extra burden, excitement, opportunity of the World Cup coming,” she added, referring to the quadrennial summer soccer event coming to the U.S. in 2026. The U.S. will play its first game at SoFi stadium in Inglewood; seven other games will be played at the venue. LA will also host the next summer Olympic games in 2028.
President-elect Donald Trump. set to be inaugurated Monday, has used the fires as an opportunity to criticize California for its fire management policy and lambast Governor Gavin Newsom, who has been eager to snipe back. Bass, on the other hand, sought to strike a conciliatory tone.
“I want to have a completely open mind to that,” Bass said, clarifying moments later that she has an “open mind to him coming to Los Angeles and working with his administration.”
Newsom and other elected officials have invited Trump to Los Angeles to tour the devastation, and his staff have suggested that he is open to a visit, though no date has been set.