Washington | Firefighters in Los Angeles were on Sunday (Monday AEDT) braced for a fresh round of fierce Santa Ana winds, amid intensifying political fallout from the devastating fires that have killed at least 24 and reduced large parts of the city to cinders.

After a brief respite from the winds at the weekend, crews from California and nine other states, along with Canadian and Mexican reinforcements, faced bone-dry gusts of up to more than 110 kilometres per hour through foothill communities in the greater Los Angeles and Ventura counties. There are also concerns for counties south of the city.