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.
Biden with Alejandro Mayorkas and Kamala Harris at the White House on Monday. Photograph: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images Key events
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Closing summary Thanks for joining our live coverage of the Los Angeles wildfires so far today. It’s 7pm here in California and this blog is closing. These are are the top headlines we followed this afternoon and evening:
There are three wildfires currently raging in Los Angeles county. They include:
The Palisades fire, at 23,713 acres and 14% containment.
The Eaton fire, at 14,117 acres and 33% containment.
The Hurst fire, at 799 acres and 97% containment.
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.
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.
The LA county sheriff’s department has arrested three people in relation to “two drone usages”, Sheriff Robert Luna said on Monday. The Los Angeles county district attorney has also charged ten people in relation to crimes committed during the wildfires, nine for looting.
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.
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. Meanwhile, president-elect Donald Trump told conservative outlet NewsMax that he’s eyeing the damage with the perspective he developed as a real estate developer.
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.
In efforts to keep the Palisades and Eaton fires from spreading further – or other fires from catching – as high winds return this week, firefighters spent the day getting into position across southern California.
In the Eaton fire burn zone, planes dropped loads of retardant across Altadena to prevent new spread, and firefighters moved into position near the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, according to a Monday afternoon press conference.
On social media, California governor Gavin Newsom shared that the state had deployed more than 300 additional firefighters to join the more than 15,000 already on the ground.
The sun has set in Los Angeles on the seventh day since devastating wildfires broke out in southern California. Here’s a selection of photographs from today capturing the efforts to survey the damage before winds are expected to pick up once again.
A street sign is pictured in the fire-ravaged Pacific Palisades neigborhood. Photograph: Agustin Paullier/AFP/Getty Images A firefighter amid the remains of a house in Altadena damaged by the Eaton fire. Photograph: Étienne Laurent/AFP/Getty Images A sign that reads ‘Looters will be shot’ in Pacific Palisades. Photograph: Armando Arorizo/Prensa Internacional/Zuma/Rex/Shutterstock A damaged school bus in Los Angeles. Photograph: Armando Arorizo/Prensa Internacional/Zuma/Rex/Shutterstock The Grammy awards will proceed as scheduled in Los Angeles on 2 February. In the meantime, the Recording Academy and MusiCares have pledged $1m to “support music professionals impacted by the devastating wildfires in Los Angeles”, according to a press release.
“The entire Grammy family is shocked and deeply saddened by the situation unfolding in Los Angeles,” said Harvey Mason Jr, CEO of the Recording Academy and MusiCares. “The music community is being so severely impacted, but we will come together as an industry to support one another. Our organizations exist to serve music people because music is a powerful force for good in the world, and we hope the broader industry will now rally to this cause.”
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.
The Pacific Palisades neighborhood on Monday. Photograph: Armando Arorizo/Prensa Internacional/Zuma/Rex/Shutterstock Trump also declined to 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.
Smoke rises from a hotspot as firefighters from Mexico cut a containment line in the Tarzana area. Photograph: David Ryder/Reuters A firefighter looks for hotspots in the Tarzana area during the Palisades fire in Los Angeles, California Photograph: David Ryder/Reuters First responders in front of a school damaged by fire in Altadena. Photograph: Shannon Stapleton/Reuters A firefighter in a burned-out home in Altadena. Photograph: Caroline Brehman/EPA Retardant covers mailboxes in Mandeville Canyon. Photograph: Richard Vogel/AP 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.
There are three wildfires currently raging in Los Angeles county. They include:
The Palisades fire, at 23,713 acres and 14% containment.
The Eaton fire, at 14,117 acres and 33% containment.
The Hurst fire, at 799 acres and 95% containment.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.