With their Los Angeles-area homes still smoldering, families return to search the ruins for memories

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Many watched their homes burn on television in a state of shock.

Since the flames erupted in and around Los Angeles, scores of residents have returned to their still smoldering neighborhoods even as the threat of new fires persisted and the nation’s second-largest city remained unsettled. For some, it was a first look at the staggering reality of what was lost as the region of 13 million people grapples with the gargantuan challenge of overcoming the disaster and rebuilding.

Calmer winds enabled firefighters to start gaining some control of the biggest blazes in metropolitan LA on Friday before gusty weather returns over the weekend to an area that hasn't seen rain in more than eight months. But by Friday evening, new evacuations were issued in an area that includes The Getty museum as the eastern side of the Palisades Fire flared up, nearing Interstate 405.

Bridget Berg, who was at work when she saw on TV her house in Altadena erupt in flames, came back for the first time with her family two days later "just to make it real."

Their feet crunched across the broken bits of what had been their home for 16 years.

Her kids sifted through debris on the sidewalk, finding a clay pot and a few keepsakes as they searched for Japanese wood prints they hoped to recover. Her husband pulled his hand out of rubble near the still-standing fireplace, holding up a piece of petrified wood handed down by his grandmother.

"It's OK. It's OK," Berg said as much to herself as others as she took stock of the destruction, remembering the deck and pool from which her family watched fireworks. "It's not like we just lost our house - everybody lost their house."

Since the fires first began popping up around a densely populated, 25-mile (40-kilometer) expanse north of downtown LA, they have burned more than 12,000 structures, a term that includes homes, apartment buildings, businesses, outbuildings and vehicles. No cause has been identified yet for the largest fires.

Allegations of leadership failures and political blame have begun and so have investigations. Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday ordered state officials to determine why a 117 million-gallon (440 million-liter) reservoir was out of service and some hydrants ran dry, calling it "deeply troubling." Meanwhile, Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley said city leadership failed her department by not providing enough money for firefighting. She also criticized the lack of water.

"When a firefighter comes up to a hydrant, we expect there's going to be water," she said.

At least 11 people have been killed, with five from the Palisades Fire and six from the Eaton Fire, according to the LA County medical examiner’s office. Officials said they expected that number to rise as cadaver dogs go through leveled neighborhoods to assess the devastation to an area larger than San Francisco.

Officials on Friday set up a center where people could report those missing. Tens of thousands of people remained under evacuation orders, and the fires have consumed about 56 square miles (145 square kilometers).

The disaster took homes from everyone - from waiters to movie stars. The government has not yet released figures on the cost of the damage, but private firms have estimated it will climb into the tens of billions. The Walt Disney Co. announced Friday it will donate $15 million to respond to the fires and help rebuild.

The flames hit schools, churches, a synagogue, libraries, boutiques, bars, restaurants, banks and local landmarks like the Will Rogers' Western Ranch House and a Queen Anne-style mansion in Altadena that dated back to 1887 and was commissioned for wealthy mapmaker Andrew McNally.

Neighbors wandered around ruins Friday as they described now-vanished bedrooms, recently remodeled kitchens and outdoor living spaces. Some talked about the gorgeous views that drew them to their properties, their words contrasting sharply with the scene of soot and ash.

In the coastal community of Pacific Palisades, Greg Benton surveyed where he lived for 31 years, hoping to find his great-grandmother's wedding ring in the wreckage.

"We just had just had Christmas morning right over here, right in front of that chimney. And this is what's left," he said, pointing to the blackened rubble that was once his living room. "It's those small family heirlooms that are the ones that really hurt the most."

Elsewhere in the city, people at collection sites picked through cardboard boxes of donated items to restart their lives.

Firefighters on Friday afternoon had made progress for the first time on the Eaton Fire north of Pasadena, which has burned more than 7,000 structures. Officials said Friday most evacuation orders for the area were lifted.

LA Mayor Karen Bass, who faces a critical test of her leadership as her city endures its greatest crisis in decades, said several smaller fires also were stopped.

Crews earlier Friday had been gaining ground on the Palisades Fire, which burned 5,300 structures and is the most destructive in LA’s history.

California National Guard troops arrived on the streets of Altadena before dawn to help protect property in the fire evacuation zone, and evening curfews were in effect to prevent looting after several earlier arrests.

The level of devastation is jarring even in a state that regularly confronts massive wildfires.

Anna Yeager said she and her husband agonized over going back to their beloved Altadena neighborhood near Pasadena after fleeing with their 6-year-old daughter and 3-year-old son, their two dogs and some clothes. A neighbor told them their house was gone.

Now she regrets not grabbing her children's artwork, her husband's treasured cookbooks, family photos, and jewelry from her mom, who died in 2012, and her husband's grandmother, who survived Auschwitz.

When the couple returned, they saw blocks of only "chimney after chimney.”

“Power lines everywhere. Fires still going everywhere" she said, adding that when they walked up to their home "it was just dust."

Charred grapefruits littered their yard around a blackened tree, a few still hanging from its branches.

Yeager's neighborhood of Tudor homes was planning to celebrate its 100th anniversary in May.

"You build a world for yourself and your family, and you feel safe in that world and things like this happen that you cannot control," she said. "It's devastating.”

There were remnants of the front porch where Yeager had photographed her children nearly daily since 2020 and had planned to keep doing that until they reached high school. That gave her hope.

"The porch is still there and it's to me, it's a sign to rebuild and not leave," she said. "You know, it's like saying, 'Hey, I'm still here. You can still do this.'"

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Seewer reported from Toledo, Ohio, Watson from San Diego, and Hollingsworth from Mission, Kansas. Associated Press journalists Eugene Garcia in Los Angeles, and Olga Rodriguez in San Francisco, contributed.