California officials are warning that the fire risk is far from over.
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00:00Our coverage continues right now with Bill Laudell.
00:03And he joins us live. He's back in Pacific Palisades, California, where the cleanup is now just beginning in some neighborhoods.
00:09But the fire risk is far from over, Bill.
00:14Yeah, that's right, Jeff and Bri. Families are being told to stay on guard, to have those go bags ready just in case they are needed.
00:22It is relatively quiet and the winds are calm here in this part of Pacific Palisades at this hour.
00:27But stronger winds are expected to return later this evening and into the overnight hours.
00:32And fire crews are saying it won't take much to potentially kick up fire activity that could quickly cause problems after dark tonight.
00:39Now, you can see here behind me all of the devastation.
00:42This was a mobile home park, but all that is left, row after row of mobile homes and everything inside destroyed.
00:50The parked cars here as well have been left charred.
00:54Now, the wind, the incredibly dry vegetation and the lack of rain, it was a combination that led to a perfect storm last week.
01:02With these fast-moving, wind-driven infernos tearing through these neighborhoods.
01:06CAL FIRE Battalion Chief Brent Pasqua says these tinderbox conditions that we're seeing right now in Southern California are drastically different from the past two wet seasons here.
01:17Where we saw a surplus of rain, mountain snow, and a lot of people even saw impacts from Tropical Storm Hillary passing offshore two years ago.
01:27We had that hurricane come through and give us rain we didn't even have numbers to compare to.
01:31That really put moisture in a lot of our brush, so our fires count was way down.
01:37This year it wasn't such the case. We didn't see all that rain, all that moisture for our brush, the fuels.
01:42And here we are, we have a major fire because the brush is just ready to burn.
01:50Over on the east side of Malibu, utility crews are busy removing charred and snapped power poles.
01:56But there are no homes to restore power to on that stretch of the Pacific Coast Highway.
02:02These mansions burned and collapsed into the beach.
02:06Now again, the winds here right now in Pacific Palisades, pretty calm. We do have clear blue skies and the smoke has all cleared out.
02:12But again, fire crews urging people, stay on guard, be prepared with the potential of those winds really picking up overnight and into the early morning hours.
02:21And just a short time ago, a few people showed up here. It appears that they're looking through the rubble and what's left of their homes.
02:27So just an incredibly difficult situation for so many families here.
02:31But before they can even figure out what they're going to do next, a lot of folks just want to get through this next threat of the wind and high fire risk.
02:39Yeah, we're not done with it. We're not through with it yet, Bill.
02:42So we have to be very careful over the next 18 hours.
02:45And then things will begin to improve with reduced risk, but still some risk on Thursday as well.
02:50AccuWeather's Bill Waddell there in Pacific Palisades.
02:52You know, Jeff, we'll take any good news. So the news that at least some relief is on the horizon is welcomed.