New wildfires erupt in California as flames continue to rage across Los Angeles

A Wednesday night update from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL Fire) showed a slight increase in containment for the deadly Palisades and Eaton fires burning in Los Angeles County.

CAL Fire showed that the Palisades Fire, the largest of the two at 23,713 acres burned, is at 21% containment after its ignition in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood more than a week ago.

The Eaton Fire in the Altadena/Pasadena area, which is the deadliest of the two, is at 45% containment, as of Wednesday at 8 p.m. local time.

Both fires broke out on Jan. 7.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom thanked President Biden via X for assisting him quickly to secure additional funding amid the wildfires.

The funding, according to Newsom, is to help LA communities rebuild faster and stronger.

The money will be aimed at repairing infrastructure such as roads, bridges and public facilities and parks.

Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday he is deploying a "surge" of California Highway Patrol officers to Los Angeles County to further assist law enforcement already patrolling the area.

The officers will head to evacuated zones to join efforts to prevent looting and unauthorized entry in wildfire-damaged areas. They will also be available to provide additional support during calls for assistance.

Newsom said law enforcement is patrolling the evacuated zones in two-person units on various shifts at all hours of the day.

The newly deployed CHP officers join more than 800 already working in the area.

In a move to protect public health and safety the Los Angeles County Health Officer issued an order prohibiting clean up and removal of fire debris.

The order is for critical fire areas in areas of the Palisades, Eaton, Kenneth, Creek, Hurst and Lidia where fire damaged and burned properties are the worst.

The order is pending a hazardous materials inspection by government officials and is specifically for cleanup. It does not restrict removal of personal property for residential sites.

A nearly 90-year-old grandmother of four in Altadena, California garnered millions of social media views after her granddaughter shared her words of wisdom after she lost everything following the devastating California wildfires.

For Ruth Judkins, who turns 90-years-old next month, the devastation from the Southern California wildfires has been a time to recalibrate and simplify her life. 

"Know what's important in your life, and hopefully you have the strength, the energy, the faith to go on and rebuild your life," Judkins told Fox News Digital. "You may want to change it. You may want to simplify at whatever age you're at." 

"But the important thing is to know what's important and live by what you believe," she said.

Her simple words of wisdom have struck a chord on social media, where her granddaughter's Instagram video has racked up over 3 million views and thousands of comments.

Judkins' longtime home in Altadena was one of the many thousands devastated in the horrific wildfires. 

"My street has 12 single-family houses. Six of them remain. Six burned," she said.

This is an excerpt from a story by Fox News Digital’s Sarah Rumpf-Whitten.

Weather conditions in and around Los Angeles are expected to get better in the form of a “much-needed break” from the increased fire danger, the National Weather Service in Los Angeles.

However, “Next week is a concern,” the NWS said.

"While confident that we will NOT see a repeat of last week, dangerous fire weather conditions are expected," the NWS posted on X. 

Firefighters were bracing for strong winds on Wednesday, which has hampered their ability to combat the wildfires across Los Angeles County.

The highest chance of a red flag warning being issued because of Santa Ana winds will come on Monday and Tuesday, the weather service said.

Ben Affleck was seen having an animated conversation with police officers from inside his car on Tuesday, just two days after the FBI came by his Brentwood residence.

The officers were talking to Affleck about his neighbor who had hired private security who were allegedly not allowing people to get back in their homes, including Affleck, a source told Fox News Digital, adding that he was telling the police that private security can’t do that. 

The source added that police are in his area because he is just outside the mandatory evacuation zones for the Palisades Fire. Affleck, who spoke to officers in a police cruiser from his car, was seen leaning out of his driver’s side window and gesturing at several points during the conversation before eventually driving away. 

FBI agents were also seen outside his property on Sunday, but Affleck isn’t in any trouble, the agency said. 

The FBI was "assisting with grid search for an unauthorized drone" in the area, which is near the Palisades Fire evacuation zone, the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department told Fox News Digital on Wednesday.

"Members of the FBI's Ground Intercept task force are conducting activity in the area of the Palisades fire. Agents and our local partners may be visible throughout the area, including at residences, for this reason," FBI spokesperson Laura Eimiller previously explained.

A source told Fox News Digital that Affleck was not home when the agents arrived. They reportedly left after some time on the premises. 

This is an excerpt from a story by Fox News Digital’s Brie Stimson and Larry Fink.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday signed an executive order to allow federal hazmat crews to start cleaning up properties impacted by the wildfires in Los Angeles County.

The order allows the crews to remove explosive and highly toxic materials after receiving safety clearance from emergency officials.

“Cleanup crews are moving into neighborhoods devastated by this firestorm," Newsom said in a statement. "California is working swiftly to ensure survivors from these devastating firestorms can begin their road to recovery. We appreciate the fast-acting work of teams on the ground to begin this first phase of recovery – all while first responders are continuing to battle ongoing flames in the area.”

Specifically, debris removal teams will be tasked with cleaning up household hazardous waste, including pesticides, propane tanks, and batteries in both conventional and electric vehicles.

That will clear the way for the removal of remaining structural debris.

Super Scooper planes have been a much-needed tool to fight the wildfires in Southern California but are in short supply.

The Los Angeles Fire Department typically leases two of the planes annually, but authorities have requested more to combat the wildfires that continue to burn throughout the county, NBC 4 reported. Globally, there are only around 160 in operation.

Surprisingly, each one is made by a single Canadian manufacturer, according to the report.

“It is a rugged, reliable and very tough aircraft,” said Neil Sweeney, vice president of corporate affairs at Calgary-based De Havilland Aircraft, told the news outlet.

Super Scoopers get their name from their ability to scoop up to 6,000 liters from bodies of water and drop them in just seconds on wildfires burning nearby, Sweeney said. They can also fly uninterrupted for hours.

Demand for the aircraft has increased in recent years as wildfires have become more common and difficult to contain.

Ricki Lake has a warning for fans as she and others are working to rebuild their lives after the devastating LA fires.

In a video shared on her Instagram, the "Hairspray" star said things were "surreal" at the moment, especially after she learned "that there was a post, [posing] as me, asking for money."

"I am not asking for any money for myself," Lake clarified. "I don’t even know what happened, but it seemed that maybe the post was gone."

She added she plans to make donations to "a number of organizations" and hopes to set up a fund-match system for anyone looking to contribute, but was clear she was not seeking any money from the public for herself.

This is an excerpt from a story by Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Stanton.

A new fire broke out Wednesday as firefighters continue to battle wildfires in Los Angeles County, authorities said.

The Little Mountain Fire sparked at around 2:44 p.m. on Little Mountain Drive and West Edgehill Road in nearby San Bernardino County, Fox Los Angeles reported.

By 3:15, the blaze had grown to 34 acres, according to Cal Fire. The vegetation fire was also spreading at a rapid rate of speed, San Bernardino County Fire said.

Minutes later, authorities said forward progress had been stopped. No injuries were reported and no structures were damaged,

Actor Dennis Quaid is among a growing list calling for Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass to resign over her handling of the wildfires that have engulfed parts of the region.

In a recent interview with Piers Morgan, Quaid said he knows at least 100 people who lost their homes in the Palisades Fire. The actor evacuated his own home in Brentwood, which was spared, Fox Los Angeles reported.

He put the blame on Bass, who was out of the country when the fires broke out last week, for not having the city better prepared despite warnings of strong winds in the days before the fires.

“Mayor Bass had five days warning about what could be record Santa Ana winds, and she chose to go to Ghana anyway,” he said. “And when she came back, there's that video that went viral of this guy getting off the plane and that reporter.”

“Yes, maybe she was ambushed or whatever, but to just say nothing in that interview? You've got to hit the ground running there,” he added.

State Farm, California's largest insurer, is canceling a planned Super Bowl ad to focus on the wildfires in Los Angeles County.

“State Farm, its agents, and employees are all focused on helping customers impacted by the Southern California wildfires in the midst of this tragedy,” a company spokesperson told Fox News Digital. “Our claims force is the largest in the industry and we are bringing the full scale and force of our catastrophe response teams to help customers recover – whether they are on the ground in LA or across the country."

"Our focus is firmly on providing support to the people of Los Angeles. We will not be advertising during the game as originally planned," the company said.

It wasn't clear what the planned ad entailed. State Farm routinely advertises during the Super Bowl.

The insurance giant was criticized after it announced last year that it would not renew some policies because of the wildfire risk. State Farm is California's largest insurer, with 8.7% market share, according to data from the California Department of Insurance.

Actor Denis Leary told the co-hosts of "The View" on Wednesday that the Los Angeles Fire Department experiences budget cuts every year and said they've been understaffed for over a decade amid the ongoing wildfires in the area.

"I can tell you this about the LA department. I know this to be true with fire departments across the country," he said, noting his organization, the Leary Firefighters Foundation, which has been around since 2000. "Every year the request for money from departments around the country, big and small, big city, small town, from my foundation, we get, I can’t even tell you hundreds of requests, and we get more every year."

The Leary Firefighters foundation provides equipment, training and more to departments across the country. Leary argued that the reason for all the requests was because the fire department budgets were always the first to be cut, noting that firefighters "don’t go on strike," like other departments might.

"So, one thing I know to be true about, and you’ll hear about this more in the next — as the fires die down, it’s very true in L.A. They — the wildfires get worse every year, they get their budget cut further every year. They have been understaffed for over a decade, right? They have — they had to lay off department mechanics who fixed the broken-down fire trucks," Leary added.

Read more about what Dennis Leary said on “The View.”

This is an excerpt from a story by Fox News Digital’s Hanna Panreck.

Actor Danny Trejo called out Kim Kardashian over comments she made recently about the devastating wildfires in Los Angeles.

Fox 11 in Los Angeles reported that Trejo spoke with TIMZ and said it was not appropriate for the Kardashian to say anything about the struggles of incarcerated firefighters.

“Right now, as far as inmates getting paid — pros, cons, whatever — it’s like, right now, Kim, worry about the people that lost everything," Trejo said. "You’ve still got everything!"

In a message last week, Kardashian posted on Instagram about pushing for more pay for incarcerated firefighters who were deployed to fight the wildfires in California.

"The incarcerated firefighters have been paid $1/hour to risk their lives, and this pay has been the same since 1984," she said in the post. "It has never been raised with inflation. It’s never been raised when fires got worse and many died.

"This year there was an agreement to raise the incarcerated firefighter pay to $5/hour, but it got shot down last minute," Kardashian continued, before urging Gov. Gavin Newsom to raise the pay rate for incarcerated firefighters.

Last year, voters in the state rejected Proposition 6, which would have banned involuntary labor in prisons, including bringing on inmates to fight wildfires when there are not enough firefighters.

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation says incarcerated firefighters can earn up to $10.24 per day, and during active emergencies, can get an additional $1 per hour.

Nearly 100 fire-related arrests have been made - including two additional arson arrests - since the start of the wildfires in Los Angeles County last week.

Many of the charges involved include burglary, looting, vandalism, and curfew violations in the Palisades and Eaton fire zones. At least two incidents are related to illegal drone activity.

On Wednesday, authorities announced felony arson charges against two men for allegedly starting fires in Los Angeles County in unrelated cases.

Federal and local law enforcement agencies have banned together to target crimes related to the wildfires in Southern California, officials said Wednesday.

In an effort to combat looting, scams and other crimes, authorities have formed the Joint Regional Fire Crimes Task Force, which comprises the FBI; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF); Homeland Security Investigations (HSI); the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office; the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office; the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

Members of the Task Force will meet to discuss case leads, develop and share crime intelligence, and facilitate the efficient prosecution of crimes related to the Los Angeles County wildfires, authorities said.

“We will not permit victims to be re-victimized,” U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said in a statement. “Our community has suffered tremendously, and we are here to support them."

Local authorities have made dozens of arrests related to looting, burglaries, illegal drone activity and curfew violations in evacuation zones since the fires began last week.

Two men have been charged with felony arson in Los Angeles in unrelated cases as authorities combat firebugs, looters and multiple raging blazes in Southern California.

The incidents happened in different parts of Los Angeles County over the weekend, according to the district attorney's office.

Jaime Mota, 37, was held on $350,000 bail for allegedly lighting a stack of wooden pallets on fire behind a shipping yard in the City of Industry Saturday afternoon. The flames spread to a tractor-trailer and some surrounding bushes, according to authorities. He could get seven years in prison if convicted.

In Irwindale, 27-year-old Ruben Michael Montes is being held on $400,000 bail for allegedly lighting a fire under the Interstate 605 overpass at Rivergrade Road. He was already on probation at the time of the incident and faces up to 14 years in prison if convicted.

"We owe it to the victims of these fires, as well as the brave first responders risking their lives, to ensure justice is served," District Attorney Nathan Hochman said in a statement. "Let this be a message to anyone contemplating similar acts — you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."

This is an excerpt from an article by Michael Ruiz.

A FireAid Relief concert will be held in Southern California later this month to benefit those impacted by the wildfires.

LiveNation announced that the concert will be held on Jan. 30 at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California.

A list of performers and ticket information have not been announced.