Los Angeles Updates

The Palisades fires expanded east very quickly, threatening an area near the Getty Center. Gov. Gavin Newsom said he wanted answers about whether there had been enough water to fight the initial fires.

A swath of the west side of Los Angeles came under mandatory evacuation orders Friday evening as the Palisades fire quickly expanded.

The upscale area threatened by the expansion of the wildfire, the largest in the Los Angeles area, included the Getty Center as well as parts of the Brentwood and Encino neighborhoods.

Wildfires have ripped across more than 35,000 acres of the Los Angeles area this week, killed at least 11 people and forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee from their homes.

President Biden noted that the death toll might rise and that there were a lot of people who are unaccounted for.

The Palisades fire between Santa Monica and Malibu, was 8 percent contained on Friday. To the east, firefighters had contained 3 percent of the Eaton fire, near Altadena and Pasadena. 

It is not clear what ignited the fires, and investigators will likely take months to come to any firm conclusions. But power lines near the Eaton and Palisades.

Energy experts said that was concerning, because electrical equipment has often ignited infernos during periods of high wind in California and elsewhere. And the dry, windy conditions that help the fires spread, still persist.