Dangerously high winds returned to Los Angeles on Monday (January 13), jeopardizing efforts to contain two massive wildfires that have leveled whole neighborhoods, claimed the lives of at least two dozen people and burned an area the size of Washington, D.C.
Dry Santa Ana winds of up to 50 to 70 miles per hour are forecast to resume later today and persist through Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service, which issued a "particularly dangerous situation" red flag warning, the agency's most serious fire warning.
Fire crews were able to keep the fires from spreading overnight and are preparing for increased winds in the days ahead, officials said at a press conference on Monday morning.
Officials said the state was pre-positioning firefighting crews in vulnerable areas, including around the Palisades and Eaton fires, the two largest blazes burning on either side of Los Angeles. More than 8,500 firefighting personnel are assigned to those two fires.
(Production: Matt M. McKnight)