Live: LA fires spread in Palisades as dogs search for victims

 With 153,000 people under evacuation orders, volunteers are working hard to help those impacted by the fires.

Here’s some more photos of the YMCA distribution center at Pasadena City College, where many residents who have fled from the Eaton fire are receiving aid items.

On Friday, Prince Harry and Meghan visited the Pasadena Convention Center to help hand out food to evacuees.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex live about 145 km north of the Los Angeles area and outside of evacuation zones.

The royal couple have opened their 9-bedroom Montecito home open to friends forced to evacuate, news outlet People reported.

“If a friend, loved one, or pet has to evacuate and you are able to offer them a safe haven in your home, please do,” they wrote on their website sussex.com.

They also listed organisations supporting fire victims on their website.

CBC News posted a video of the couple visiting the Pasadena Convention Center:

Earlier, our North America bureau chief Jade Macmillan spoke to the ABC’s Weekend Breakfast.

Macmillan tells us more about the Australian Rory Sykes who died in the fires, according to a social media post from his mother.

Loading…

A California Edison official says that there is no evident that electrical equipment caused the Hurst fire in Los Angeles.

They said the investigation was ongoing.

Los Angeles County Board Chair Supervisor Kathryn Barger has written a letter to President-elect Donald Trump urging him to visit Los Angeles and engage in wildfire recovery efforts.

“…the people of Los Angeles County extend our formal invitation for you to come…and jointly tour the areas of devastation caused by this week’s distress,” she wrote.

“We would be greatly encouraged, and our successes enhanced, if you came to Los Angeles to stand with us, as you have in the past, as our President.”

Multiple donation pickup locations across the Pasadena were open over the weekend, including  Pasadena City College (PCC) who partnered with the YMCA of Metropolitan Los Angeles to assist evacuees.

Available supplies included water, pre-packaged snacks and canned goods, hygiene kits, baby supplies, clothing, blankets, and pet food, according to the PCC website.

“During painful moments like this, a strong community is a source of hope,” a letter from the Superintendent-President José A. Gómez said.

 This is what it looks like on the ground as firefighters continue to battle the Palisades fire.

Hotel heiress and socialite Paris Hilton has set up an emergency fund for families affected by the LA wildfires, personally donating US$100,000 ($163,000) and pledging to match donations up to the same amount from others.

The funds will go to LA families with children via direct cash assistance, paying for short-term housing, delivering essential supplies to evacuation centres and supporting local animal shelters.

Hilton said she would be out volunteering this weekend at one of LA’s many evacuation centres, after one of her homes was destroyed in Malibu.

“Let’s come together for LA,” she wrote on X.

An Australian man living in Los Angeles has died in the fires, his mother has revealed.

Shelley Sykes said in a post on X that her 32-year-old son, Australian citizen Rory Sykes, had lived with her on a 6.8 hectare property in Malibu and died on Thursday after she lost the water supply to hoses she was using to extinguish embers on the home’s roof.

Ms Sykes said her son was born blind, lived with cerebral palsy and stayed in a self-contained cottage on the property.

Read the full story here:

Firefighters for the first time made progress Friday afternoon on the Eaton Fire north of Pasadena, which has burned more than 7,000 structures.

Officials said most evacuation orders for the area had been lifted.

As the Palisades Fire roars east, the famed Getty Center art museum is now within a new evacuation warning zone—but remains safe due to its fireproof structure.

The museum’s unique collection comprises 125,000 artworks — including paintings by Rembrandt, Turner, Van Gogh and Monet — and 1.4 million documents, a foundation and a research hub.

But museum officials have previously said the collection is protected within the center’s fireproof structure, made up of 300,000 travertine blocks and 12,500 tons of steel bars.

The centre has drawn museum experts from around the world to observe its safety system.

Its roofs are covered with crushed stone to prevent embers igniting, and inside, the galleries can be closed off with a vault-like double door that, museum officials say, is practically impenetrable.

“Getty staff, the art collections and buildings remain safe from the Palisades Fire,” the museum said Friday, hours before the evacuation warning.

Reporting with AFP

The LA fire department says its chief has not been dismissed, contrary to rumours.

Fire Chief Kristin Crowley held a press conference earlier this week, slamming the city’s administration which she said had cut $17 million in funding for the fire department.

Erik Scott, the agency’s public information officer, said Ms Crowley had met with the city’s mayor Karen Bass on Friday.

“Their foremost priorities continue to be fighting the current wildfires and safeguarding Angelenos.

“It is important to note that the Fire Chief was not dismissed and is in full command of the LAFD,” he said.

The National Weather Service said that conditions in the Los Angeles area would improve through the weekend, with sustained winds slowing to about 32 kph, gusting between 56 kph and 80 kph.

“It’s not as gusty, so that should help firefighters,” NWS meteorologist Allison Santorelli said, adding that conditions were still critical with low humidity and dry vegetation.

CalFire Operations Chief Christian Litz said a main focus today would be the Palisades fire burning in the Mandeville Canyon, not far from the UCLA campus.

“We need to be aggressive out there,” Litz said.

The area is home to home to Arnold Schwarzenegger and other celebrities not far from the Pacific coast.

Six simultaneous blazes that have ripped across Los Angeles County neighborhoods since Tuesday have killed at least 11 people.

At least 13 people are estimated to be missing so far.

The toll is expected to mount when firefighters are able to conduct house-to-house searches.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said that his agency has dispatched 40 search and rescue team workers to work jointly with other agencies, including the use of cadaver dogs, to search for remains of victims and to help reunite families that have been separated.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath said LA had “another night of unimaginable terror and heartbreak” as more residents were forced to evacuate.

Due to the northeast expansion of the Palisades fire overnight, evacuation orders throughout the Los Angeles area now cover 153,000 residents, putting 57,000 structures at risk.

Another 166,000 residents have been warned that they may have to evacuate, said Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna.

The fire is also threatening to jump over Interstate 405, a main traffic artery through the area, which could become a gateway to densely populated areas in the Hollywood Hills and San Fernando Valley.

The Pacific Palisades fire  — the most destructive fire in Los Angeles history — has expanded overnight after into an additional 400 hectares after a change in wind direction.

The fire on the city’s western edge was headed into a new direction as winds came off the Pacific Ocean, threatening the heavily populated San Fernando Valley foothills.

Overnight, it spread into the Mandeville Canyon neighbourhood and has threatened to jump into Brentwood.

Residents have been warned of potential worsening conditions over the next 72 hours that could further worsen the fire.

Good morning.

My name is Maddy Morwood and I’ll be bringing you the latest on the Los Angeles fires.

Here’s what we know so far:

• The Palisades fire on the city’s western edge is heading in a new direction as winds came off the Pacific Ocean.

• It has spread into the Mandeville Canyon neighborhood and has threatened to  jump into the upscale Brentwood.

• Evacuation orders throughout LA now cover 153,000 residents, putting 57,000 structures at risk. Another 166,000 residents have been warned they may need to evacuate.

• Just 11 per cent of the Palisades Fire has been contained, and it has burned over 8, 900 hectares.

• At least 13 people are estimated to be missing so far.