Millions of Southern California residents are facing a new dangerous situation on Wednesday.
Authorities issued a rare warning of "extremely extreme and life-threatening weather conditions" affecting the area near two large wildfires that continue to burn in Los Angeles.
The death toll has reached 25 and thousands of homes have been destroyed.
Tuesday was a quiet day for firefighters as winds suddenly dropped, allowing them to make progress in bringing two major fires in the Los Angeles area under control and quickly extinguish several new ones.
A large fire burning north of Los Angeles in Altadena and another that has destroyed much of the Pacific Palisades neighborhood in Los Angeles remain the two most powerful fires. The situation there today appears similar to when the fires broke out on January 7.
Last week's strong winds caused the flames to spread at incredible speed over several kilometers.
The National Weather Service warned of extreme weather conditions, with high temperatures, low humidity and strong winds, from 3 a.m. to 3 p.m. starting from the Central Coast, 443 kilometers south, to the border with Mexico.
A state of emergency was in effect for an area that includes parts of Los Angeles counties and the city of Ventura.
"We are not out of the woods yet," the National Weather Service said in a post late Tuesday evening.
"The strength of the winds decreased today (Tuesday), but tomorrow and the day after tomorrow they may strengthen," it further said.
More than 77,000 households are currently without electricity. Authorities have been forced to cut it off in order to prevent the power grid from fueling new fires.
Authorities notified tired and anxious residents to be ready to evacuate if necessary.
Police announced that they had made approximately 50 arrests, for robbery, flying drones in fire zones, violating stay-at-home orders, or other criminal offenses.
Of those, three people were arrested on suspicion of arson after they were caught starting small fires that were quickly extinguished, Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell said. They were arrested far from the disaster areas.
Authorities have not yet determined the cause of the large fires.
Among the nine people charged with robbery was a group that stole an Emmy award from a home whose residents had fled due to evacuation orders, Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said.
Currently, strong winds pose the greatest threat.
Local firefighting teams have been deployed to the danger areas and are being supported by firefighters who have arrived from other countries, such as Canada and Mexico.
Currently, the firefighting forces are much larger in number than a week ago, when the first wave of fires began, destroying thousands of homes.
Authorities say this could be the costliest fire disaster in the country's history.
Planes dropped pink fire-fighting chemicals from above onto houses and mountain slopes.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and other officials, who have been criticized for their initial response to the situation, expressed confidence that the region is ready to face the new threat.
Ms Bass said she had flown over the affected areas, the situation in which she described as similar to the aftermath of a "hurricane".
The winds are not expected to reach the same high speeds seen last week, but they could be at levels that could bring down firefighting planes, said Los Angeles Fire Chief Anthony Marrone.
He called on residents who had been left homeless to avoid lighting fires for heating and to seek shelter.
Los Angeles has not had a single millimeter of rain in more than eight months, a situation that has resulted in the creation of 12 wildfires this year, mainly affecting Ventura County and Orange County, in Los Angeles.
Firefighters managed to quickly extinguish several fires in Los Angeles County, including a blaze that swept through the National Park on Tuesday evening.
The four largest wildfires around the country's second largest city (Los Angeles) have burned more than 163 square kilometers, an area roughly three times larger than the Manhattan borough of New York.
Currently, there are two largest fires, one in northern Los Angeles in Altadena and the fire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood.
Authorities have managed to bring under control 1/3 or 33 percent of the fire that continues to burn near Pasadena, while the largest fire, which affected the area near the Pacific Ocean, was much less under control.
The death toll from the fires is likely to rise, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna. On Tuesday, he said 30 people were still missing. Several people previously reported missing have now been found.
Authorities have ordered 90,000 people to leave their homes in dangerous areas. That's about half the number affected by evacuation orders last week.
The situation created by the fires has caused the interruption of the awards season in Hollywood.
The announcement of nominees for the prestigious Oscars has been postponed twice, and several organizations have postponed the awards shows and announcements without setting another date. /VOA (A2 Televizion)
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