L.A. Fires Death Toll Grows to 24 as Investigators Say They’re Looking at Whether Electricity Started Some Blazes

The death toll in the Los Angeles wildfires has risen to 24.

The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner confirmed that there has now been 24 fatalities as a result of the wildfires, which started on Jan. 7, in an update shared at 5 p.m. local time on Sunday, Jan. 12.  

Per the Medical Examiner, 16 of the people killed were in the Eaton fire zone, while eight were found around the Palisades area. The Medical Examiner previously confirmed 16 people had died in the fires as of Jan. 11.

At least 16 people have also been reported missing, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said in a news conference on Sunday, per The New York Times.

The update comes as a hazardous weather warning and air quality alert was raised on Sunday by the National Weather Service over “harmful particle pollution levels due to windblown dust” in the region. High winds are expected up until midday on Tuesday, Jan. 14, and a wood-burning ban has been set as a result of the fires until Monday, Jan. 13. 

Investigators from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection are currently focusing on an electrical transmission tower in Eaton Canyon as a possible cause of the start of the fires in Altadena after studying the hillside area, The Los Angeles Times reported on Sunday.

“Nobody is allowed up there besides investigators,” said Wayne Howerton, an investigator for the CDFFP, told the outlet. “It’s currently an investigation into the start of the Eaton fire.”

A photo published by the outlet shows the hillside area burning with flames from the Eaton fire at the base of a Southern California Edison electrical transmission tower at night, before spreading further down the canyon and reaching residents’ homes.

In more footage provided by residents, per the outlet, the first flames of the Eaton Fire are seen “burn[ing] behind Pasadena homes, at the base of a nearby electrical tower.”

Southern California Edison officials denied their electrical towers being the cause of the fire in a news release published on Jan. 8, stating that “SCE’s distribution lines immediately to the west of Eaton Canyon were de-energized well before the reported start time of the fire, as part of SCE’s Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) program.”

Jeff Monford, a spokesman for SCE, said in a statement to The Los Angeles Times, “Southern California Edison conducted preliminary analysis of the electrical circuit information for the four energized transmission lines in the Eaton Canyon area. That analysis shows no interruptions or operational slash electrical anomalies in the 12 hours prior to the fire’s reported start time, until more than one hour after the reported start time of the fire.”

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Resident Matthew Logelin, who lives by the bottom of Eaton Canyon, told the outlet he “heard a loud bang” at around 6:11 p.m. on Jan. 8 and called 911 after spotting a fire in the area.

“[It] was the tiniest fire — it looked like a camp fire at that point,” he said. “It’s clear that’s where the fire started. It was right under the power lines.”

PEOPLE has reached out to SCE and the CDFFP for comment.

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