Biden calls on Congress to ‘step up’ funding
Hours after House speaker Mike Johnson said he believed there should be conditions on disaster aid to California, the president has said Congress “needs to step up” and provide funding.
Holding a briefing with federal officials at the White House on Monday, Biden said the federal government is covering most costs associated with the fires for the next 180 days, but that Congress will need to cover additional costs to rebuild Los Angeles.
Key events
President-elect Donald Trump said he’s eyeing the damage in Los Angeles with the perspective he developed as a real estate developer.
During a telephone interview with the conservative news outlet Newsmax he said, “We’re going to do things with Los Angeles.” He did not elaborate.
Trump also didn’t answer a question about whether he would accept an invitation to tour the area.
Three arrested in relation to ‘drone usages’
The LA county sheriff’s department has arrested three people in relation to “two drone usages”, Sheriff Robert Luna said on Monday.
The assistant director of the FBI’s Los Angeles field office, Akil Davis, told CNN that it is seeing about 20 drones flying into restricted airspace – and noted that the fire department is counting even more.
“We continue to stress to the public: stop flying your drones over these fires,” Davis said.
Firefighters strived on Monday to contain the blazes raging across Los Angeles before red flag warning level winds returned to the region.
The Los Angeles county medical examiner released updated details of the deaths associated with the Palisades and Eaton fires Monday afternoon. The death toll remains at 24.
In the latest show of aid from the entertainment industry – which has been hard hit by the Los Angeles wildfires – Netflix and Comcast NBCUniversal pledged $10m each to organizations offering aid to victims of the fires.
Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said its donation will be split among five recipients including World Central Kitchen and the Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation.
Comcast chair and CEO Brian L Roberts allocated $2.5m its $10m cash commitment to Habitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angeles’ ReBUILD LA initiative. The remainder of the money would go to other charitable foundations helping victims.
Today so far
Thank you for joining our coverage of the Los Angeles wildfires so far today. Here are the top headlines we’ve tracked this afternoon – nearly a week after deadly wildfires first broke out across southern California.
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There are three wildfires currently raging in Los Angeles county. They include:
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The Palisades fire, at 23,713 acres and 14% containment.
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The Eaton fire, at 14,117 acres and 33% containment.
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The Hurst fire, at 799 acres and 95% containment.
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At least 24 people have died, and relatives have begun identifying their loved ones as they return to their homes or are notified by local officials. The fires have destroyed more than 12,000 structures and may be the costliest disaster in US history, according to initial estimates of damage and economic losses exceeding $250bn from AccuWeather.
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With fire weather expected to continue in the Los Angeles area through Wednesday, state and city officials have pre-deployed firefighters across LA and surrounding counties.
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Altadena residents have filed three lawsuits against Southern California Edison, alleging that the utility is responsible for the Eaton fire. The lawsuits cite evidence that the fire began under a transmission tower and reference the utility’s role in other wildfires. However, no official cause for the fire has yet been determined.
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House speaker Mike Johnson said he believes there should be conditions on disaster aid to California, citing “state and local leaders [who] were derelict in their duties”. Hours after Johnson’s comments, Joe Biden said in a media briefing that Congress “needs to step up” and provide funding.
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California governor Gavin Newsom has called on the state’s legislature to approve $2.5bn in additional funding to aid “response and initial recovery efforts for Los Angeles”. To do so, the governor expanded the special legislative session he’d called for the state in November, designed to prepare for Donald Trump’s inauguration.
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The firefighting plane that was grounded after sustaining damage from a drone has been repaired and will return to firefighting duty Tuesday, pending FAA approval, said LA county fire chief Anthony Marrone.
Donald Trump is in talks to visit Los Angeles to survey the damage wrought by wildfires over the past week, CNN reports. The visit could occur as early as next week, but no details have been finalized.
The news follows a letter California governor Gavin Newsom sent on Friday inviting Trump to the state. Trump has vocally criticized California’s elected officials for their handling of the wildfires.
Biden calls on Congress to ‘step up’ funding
Hours after House speaker Mike Johnson said he believed there should be conditions on disaster aid to California, the president has said Congress “needs to step up” and provide funding.
Holding a briefing with federal officials at the White House on Monday, Biden said the federal government is covering most costs associated with the fires for the next 180 days, but that Congress will need to cover additional costs to rebuild Los Angeles.
Newsom proposes $2.5bn in aid from state legislature
California governor Gavin Newsom has called on the state’s legislature to approve $2.5bn in additional funding to aid “response and initial recovery efforts for Los Angeles”. To do so, the governor expanded the special legislative session he’d called for the state in November, designed to prepare for president-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration.
The assistance “will support recovery and cleanup, additional wildfire preparedness, and reopening schools shuttered by the fires”, according to a press release.
Canada will send 60 firefighters to help battle the blazes in southern California, the office of Canada’s emergency preparedness minister told CNN Monday.
The contingent will consist of 40 experienced wildland firefighters from Alberta and a team of wildfire specialists already en route from British Columbia.
The province of Quebec – which had already loaned California two “Super Scoopers” months earlier that began aiding in firefighting efforts last week – announced it would send an additional two planes.
The non-profit Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids has awarded $500,000 in emergency grants to help residents and first responders recover from the Los Angeles wildfires.
“These wildfires have left deep scars, but they’ve also ignited a powerful wave of support from Broadway to the west coast,” said Robert E Wankel, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids board of trustees president and chairman and CEO of The Shubert Organization.
As wildfires have raged across Hollywood, the film industry has postponed awards shows and premieres, as entertainment companies and unions raise funds for impacted employees and members. Today, the Academy Awards further postponed nominations while the Sundance film festival announced it would go ahead with its Utah event.
Here’s the Guardian’s Benjamin Lee with more:
The ongoing wildfires in California have added a further delay to this year’s Oscar nominations as the industry continues to feel the impact.
With 92,000 residents under evacuation orders and the death toll up to 24, Hollywood has seen a number of events postponed and rescheduled.
This year’s Oscar nominations were scheduled to be announced on 17 January before the wildfires delayed them by two days. This morning, the Academy announced they would now be revealed on 23 January and cancelled February’s nominees luncheon.
Los Angeles prosecutors charge 10 in wildfire crimes
Ten people have been charged in relation to crimes committed during the Los Angeles wildfires, the district attorney’s office has announced.
Nathan Hochman, the district attorney, said nine of the charges are for looting, while a 10th is for arson “not connected with the origination of the major fires”.
Abené Clayton
As fire crews try to get the upper hand on the fires that are burning across parts of Los Angeles, more stories of people who lost their lives in the infernos are emerging. On Sunday, the county coroner told the family of the actor Dalyce Curry, affectionately known as “Mama” that the 95-year-old grandmother’s remains were found in her Altadena home, ABC 7 News reports.
Curry was an actor who appeared in films including The Blues Brothers and The Ten Commandments and, according to her granddaughter Loree Beamer-Wilkinson, was “very active: you would not think she was 95”.
Another granddaughter and Curry’s part-time caretaker Dallyce Kelley said she dropped her grandmother off at home late last Tuesday night. The next morning she awoke to the news that the power in Curry’s home went out. On Friday she was escorted to the charred remains of her grandmother’s home.
“It was total devastation,” Kelley told ABC 7. “Everything was gone except her blue Cadillac.”
The Duchess of Sussex has pushed back the release of her new Netflix series due to the wildfires that have ravaged the LA area.
With Love, Meghan was set to debut on Wednesday, but the streaming service said Sunday that it supports her request to push the premiere to focus on helping those affected by the fires.
The Duchess was born and raised in Los Angeles and now lives in Montecito, California, with Harry, the Duke of Sussex and their two children.
On Saturday, the royal couple visited Pasadena to hand out food and water to fire victims and thank first responders.
With Love, Meghan is a lifestyle programme featuring the Duchess chatting with celebrity pals and demonstrating tasks like floral arrangements and baking. “I’ve always loved taking something pretty ordinary and elevating it,” Meghan says in the trailer. The show will now drop on 4 March.
Wildfires could be costliest disaster in US history
Although government agencies have not yet provided preliminary estimates of the damage caused by the Los Angeles wildfires, AccuWeather – a company that provides data on weather and its impact – approximates the damage and economic losses fall somewhere between $250bn and $275bn.
That far exceeds the cost of the damage caused by the Camp fire, California’s most destructive in 2018 ($30bn) or the Maui fires ($5.7bn) in 2023. It’s also greater than the damage caused by Hurricane Helene, which devastated six southern states last fall ($225bn to $250bn).
The fires have killed at least 24 people and wrecked more than 12,000 structures according to initial estimates.
Karen Bass, the Los Angeles mayor, has directed city officials to distribute hundreds of thousands of N95 face masks to local libraries, recreation centers and senior centers.
“We’re working protect everyone from the impact of poor air quality caused by the fires,” she shared on social media Monday afternoon. “Pick up a mask now and protect yourselves and your loved ones.”
