LA fires update today: Californians steel for new fierce winds after 60 square miles burn and 25 die

As some Republicans weigh whether to attach conditions on supplemental wildfire aid for California, Senator Thom Thillis of North Carolina has spoken out against the proposal.

Thillis, whose own state was devastated in a recent natural disaster, argued against imposing new hoops to jump through before California gets relief.

“I would ask those folks to put themselves in the same position as people western North Carolina…” he told HuffPost. “You got to be consistent on disaster supplement, period.”

With more than 180,000 residents forced to evacuate and at least 10,000 structures destroyed, many people have lost everything.

The fires have scorched more than 35,000 acres so far, with little containment. The Palisades fire, one of the most destructive the city has seen, is now at 14 percent containment after burning more than 23,000 acres, while the Altadena and Pasadena-based Eaton fire has burned 14,000 acres.

As thousands are feared to have lost their homes, this is how local organizations and charities are responding — and how you can help too.

Rhian Lubin has the details.

In November 2022, Edwin Castro was the lucky winner of a historic $2.04 billion Powerball lottery jackpot.

Three years later, and his fortunes have reversed.

A $3.8 million home he purchased with some of his winnings in Malibu was among the many structures scorched in the devastating Palisades fire, KTLA reports.

Here’s some of our past reporting on Castro.

Los Angeles-area firefighters have another blaze on their hands.

Crews began responding to the one-acre Jurupa Fire around 5pm this afternoon, according to Watch Duty.

The blaze is near the Santa Ana River, KTLA reports.

The station captured overhead video of fire crews battling a small fire on a hillside.

Under normal circumstances, this would be an easy issue. California is the largest economy in the United States. But California has long been a punching bag for Republicans and President-elect Donald Trump has long clashed with Governor Gavin Newsom. During the weekend, Trump reposted an image of the Hollywood Hills, replacing the Hollywood sign with letters saying “Trump was right” as the area was ablaze.

Donald Trump Jr. and Elon Musk have particularly swiped at the Los Angeles Fire Department for sending equipment to Ukraine. Ted Cruz, meanwhile, the senator from California’s mortal enemy Texas, faulted Los Angeles for cutting money for its fire department while allocating money for a transgender cafe and a social justice network on his podcast.

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson told CNN’s Manu Raju that state and local leaders “were derelict in their duty,” and that “I think there should be conditions on that aid.”

California Governor Gavin Newsom is expanding the state’s legislative special session due to the Los Angeles fires.

Here’s what the Democrat had to say of the decision:

Firefighters are making slow progress containing the Palisades and Eaton fires.

The former is 14 percent contained and has burned 23,713 acres, while the latter is 33 percent contained with 14,117 acres burned, according to Cal Fire.

“I think we’re going to have a serious conversation about that,” Johnson told reporters. “Obviously there has been water resource mismanagement, forest mismanagement, mistakes, all sorts of problems, and it does come down to leadership. It appears to us that state and local leaders were derelict in their duty in many respects. That’s something that has to be factored in.”

“I think there should probably be conditions on that aid,” he added.

Johnson also said the aid could be tied into negotiations around raising the debt ceiling.