In Los Angeles, California, fires are spreading rapidly. According to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, as of January 13, investigators are still looking for the source of these fires. Currently, 24 deaths have been reported, and thousands of houses, schools, and businesses have been destroyed.

Even though lightning is the number one cause of fires in the US, investigators were quickly able to rule that cause out, according to the National Fire Protection Association. 

The largest fire is currently in the Palisades, near Malibu. Currently, this part of the fire has burnt through around 23,000 acres of land. This weekend – Januray 12th and 11th- firefighters were able to contain around 14% of that fire. This fire is now moving east towards the well-known neighborhood: Brentwood.

The other fire is located in Eaton and is more deadly then the fire located in Palisades. This fire is responsible for 16 out of the current 24 unfornate deaths.

More than 12,000 buildings have been destroyed in this fire, and damage repairs are estimated around $150bn.

According to CNN Weather, these were the wind gusts Monday, Jan 13th:

Magic Moutain: 72 mph

Mill Creek: 62 mph

Sandstone Peak: 60 mph

Chilao: 60 mph

Palo Sola: 55 mph

To put this into perspective, average wind speeds are between 2 and 18 mph. Wind speeds this high alone can cause large trees to be uprooted, roofs to be peeled off, broken television antennas to be overturned, and some small mobile homes to be overturned. On top of this, the winds are spreading the fires.

Numerous groups have started shelters for these victims. If you are interested in helping there are many teams accepting all kinds of donations from food, money, hygiene products, baby products and household items.