LA fires: Looter’s shock tactic as city warned worst is yet to come

Dozens of burglars have been caught targeting LA homes, with one taking drastic action, as the city spirals and wildfire conditions worsen. Follow updates.

Wildfire conditions across Los Angeles are set to worsen, with near hurricane-force Santa Ana winds picking up again just as firefighters started to make progress against the biggest blazes.

At least 16 people have been confirmed dead after multiple fires ripped through the city, reducing whole neighbourhoods to ashes and leaving thousands without homes.

“The winds are potentially getting dangerous and strong again,” Deanne Criswell, head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), told CNN.

“The biggest thing that people need to know is that this is still dangerous.”

Smoke from the Palisades fire rises over a ridge as seen from the Encino section of Los Angeles. Picture: AP

The sun rises behind a home destroyed in the Pacific Palisades. Picture: AP

Amid the chaos, at least 29 people have been arrested, including a burglar who pretended to be a firefighter, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said.

“When I was out in the Malibu area, I saw a gentleman that looked like a firefighter and asked him if he was okay because he was sitting down. I didn’t realise we had him in handcuffs,” Sheriff Luna said.

“We were turning him over to LAPD because he was dressed like a fireman, and he was not. He just got caught burglarising a home.”

Two people were arrested near Vice President Kamala Harris’s Brentwood house for violating the curfew order after police received reports of burglary, local media reported citing police.

A handwritten sign with “looters will be shot” was hung on a tree, next to the US flag outside a house in Pacific Palisades.

In this photo provide by Maxar Technologies, the Palisades fire burns south of the Encino Reservoir. Picture: Maxar Technologies via AP

A man sifts through his mother’s fire-ravaged property in the Palisades fire. Picture: AP

Long queues to get back into the fire-ravaged areas left some people fuming about poor management, the latest gripe from a population already angry over hydrants that ran dry in the initial firefight.

An at-times tense joint press conference came after Chief Kristin Crowley complained her fire department was short of cash.

Teams with cadaver dogs were combing through the rubble, with several people known to be missing and fears that the death toll will grow.

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Originally published as LA fires: Looter’s shock tactic as city warned worst is yet to come