Los Angeles is bracing itself for more catastrophic wildfires this week as weather forecasters predict the return of gusting Santa Ana winds of up to 100 miles per hour.
More than 27 people have died and 22,000 buildings have burned in at least six wildfires since the first fire erupted on January 7.
Calm skies have allowed fire officers to get several of the infernos, including the most destructive blaze in Pacific Palisades, under control in recent days.
Evacuees have been allowed to return home to collect medicines and any possessions which may have survived.
But last night the California Met office issued a ‘fire weather watch’ for most of Los Angeles and surrounding counties for Monday through Wednesday.
A spokesman said: ‘We anticipate another major event as the Santa Ana winds pick up this weekend bringing with them critical fire hazard danger.
‘Some areas could see winds gusts of 80mph and higher, possibly up to 100mph. We are in extreme fire danger. The winds are expected to start tonight (Sunday) and peak on Wednesday.’
There is no chance of desperately needed rainfall in the area which has seen hundreds of people lose their homes, including celebrities like Paris Hilton, Mel Gibson and Billy Crystal.
The Palisades Fire ravages a neighborhood amid high winds in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles
Los Angeles is bracing itself for more catastrophic wildfires this week as weather forecasters predict the return of gusting Santa Ana winds
An aerial view of homes destroyed in the Palisades Fire as wildfires caused damage and loss through the LA region
This comes after faults along the Los Angeles power grid alarmingly soared in the same areas where major wildfires raged this week, sparking a new theory that they may have caused the devastating crisis.
Bob Marshall, the chief executive of Whisker Labs, a company that monitors electrical activity, told Fox News that the firm saw spikes in faults in the hours before the Eaton, Palisades and Hurst Fires.
Marshall said data shows the power was not immediately shut off after the faults surged, and may have been caused by ‘tree limbs touching wires or wires blowing in the wind and touching.’
‘That creates a spark in a fault, and we detect all of those things,’ Marshall said. Faulty electrical equipment, a sudden surge in electrical demand or earthquake tremors are also possible causes of the surges.
In the worst-hit Pacific Palisades area, there were 63 faults in the two-to-three hours before it ignited, with 18 coming in the hour before it started Tuesday.
The Eaton Fire, near Altadena, saw 317 grid faults in the hours before ignition, Marshall said, and the Hurst Fire saw around 230 faults. On a typical day, he said the company registers very few.
Although investigators have yet to determine the cause of the fires, the grid faults raise the possibility that sparks from the faults ignited dried out vegetation, with high winds then carrying embers across the region.
It comes as evacuation orders for the Palisades Fire reached the glitzy enclave of Brentwood, where a number of A-listers have mansions that are now at risk of being lost.
Multiple wildfires fueled by intense Santa Ana Winds burned across Los Angeles County
An overhead pole camera image shows a neighborhood destroyed by the Eaton Fire in Altadena, California, on January 14
A VW van sits among burned out homes in California on January 9
Firefighters with the California Task Force 3 Urban Search and Rescue comb through the ruins of a beachfront house where victims of the Los Angeles fires are reportedly buried, in Malibu
Early predictions found that rebuilding the devastated Los Angeles area could cost upwards of $150 billion, according to AccuWeather.
And Aris Papadopoulos, the founder of the Resilience Action Fund, told Fortune that, based on similar disasters, the huge recovery job could take up to a decade.
As the fires continue to rage, the spread of flames has forced thousands more to evacuate from their homes in the upscale Brentwood and Encino suburbs where several celebrities, such as Lebron James, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Kamala Harris, own homes.
Basketball champion Lebron James purchased his lavish Brentwood pad in 2017 for $23 million, according to TMZ.
‘I pray this nightmare ends soon! So many prayers’, James tweeted overnight.
