Palisades Fire Turns Fatal With 2 Dead As Blaze Grows To 20,000 Acres

6:45 a.m. UPDATE: Firefighters gained a small amount of containment over the fire, 6%, overnight. The fire has burned nearly 20,000 acres. Evacuation orders and warnings for these zones were still in place. Some 3,000 personnel were working to put the fire out.

ORIGINAL STORY:

PACIFIC PALISADES, CA — The Palisades Fire has now claimed two lives, officials said Thursday, as the blaze grew to nearly 20,000 acres and continues to burn uncontrollably amid unrelenting winds.

The announcement on the two deaths came shortly after Cal Fire announced the results of their latest aerial survey — over 5,000 buildings have been destroyed in the blaze.

SEE ALSO: Death Toll Rises, 30K+ Acres Burned, More Evacs: SoCal Fires Rage On

"We do have a confirmed two fatalities ... due to this incident," Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Kristin Crowley said at a Thursday evening news conference.

Among them was a person found dead Thursday around 10 a.m. on the 15300 block of Friends Street, located in a Palisades neighborhood in the bluffs above Pacific Coast Highway, Los Angeles Police Department Chief Jim McDonnell said.

LAFD investigators and the county medical examiner determined the death was fire related, he said.

Earlier Thursday NBC Los Angeles reported that authorities found human remains Wednesday night in a home near Pacific Coast Highway and Las Flores Canyon Road in Malibu. They responded to the property, which had been destroyed by the fire, as part of a welfare check conducted in response to a missing persons report.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna earlier Thursday put the death count for all the county's fires combined at five, though he said the exact number is hard to pin down at this point. Earlier reports had the death toll of the Eaton Fire alone at five people.

The Palisades Fire swelled to 17,234 acres overnight into Thursday morning and had grown to 19,978 acres — or 31 square miles — as of 6:45 p.m. It was 6% contained, according to Cal Fire.

Officials on Wednesday morning said some 1,000 buildings had been destroyed in the fire. By Thursday afternoon, the most recent aerial survey revealed that number had increased fivefold, to 5,316. That included all buildings, including residential and commercial properties, as well as minor buildings like sheds, according to Cal Fire.

"It is safe to say that the Palisades fire is one of the most destructive natural disasters in the history of Los Angeles," Crowley said at a Thursday morning news conference.

Red Flag warnings of critical fire danger are expected to be in place until Friday evening, according to the National Weather Service, though Crowley said winds have subsided somewhat Thursday.

"Weather conditions are beginning to turn favorably, which will allow us to increase our containment lines," she said.

"However, I want to be very clear here as well, we are still under Red Flag warnings with extreme fire behavior possibilities," she added.

The Palisades Fire was first reported at around 10:30 a.m. Wednesday on Piedra Morada Drive, just north of the Palisades Hills Recreation Center in the mountainous extreme western limits of the city of Los Angeles, between Malibu and Santa Monica.

After devastating Pacific Palisades — including wiping out blocks of homes and countless businesses along Sunset Boulevard — the fire has since spread westward into the Topanga Canyon and Malibu areas, prompting widespread evacuation orders.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath said "we are fighting to protect" Topanga.

"This morning there's a fire active behind the lumber yard and the chief has personally deployed resources to ensure that we are actively fighting the fires in Topanga," she said.

The area of devastation covers neighborhoods with some of the highest property values in Los Angeles. As such, looting has been a widespread problem: Sheriff Robert Luna on Thursday said 20 people have been arrested on suspicion of looting evacuated homes.

Preemptively, many people in the Palisades have hired private security guards who defy evacuation orders and remain in the fire zone in order to protect multimillion-dollar homes and their contents.

Here's some important information to know:

Evacuations

Evacuation orders are in place in wide swaths of the Palisades, Santa Monica, Topanga, Santa Monica Mountains and Malibu.

Generally, the order covers Kenter Avenue on the east, Mulholland Drive on the north, Topanga Canyon Boulevard on the west and the Pacific Ocean on the south.

Evacuation shelters are located in:

• Westwood — Westwood Recreation Center, 1350 S. Sepulveda Blvd.
• Woodland Hills — El Camino Real Charter High School, 5440 Valley Circle Blvd.
• Pasadena — Pasadena Convention Center, 300 E. Green St.

The most updated information on evacuation orders and warnings and shelters (including sites for animals) is available on Cal Fire's website.

Road Closures

Road closures are numerous across Santa Monica, Pacific Palisades, Topanga and Malibu.

Some of the biggest closures include:

• Westbound 10 Freeway at Lincoln Boulevard
• Pacific Coast Highway at Malibu Canyon (southbound)
• All northbound Pacific Coast Highway access is restricted beginning in Santa Monica
• Sunset Boulevard through the Palisades
• Topanga Canyon Boulevard at Mulholland Drive

A full list of road closures is available on Cal Fire's website.

This is a developing story, check back for updates.

City News Service contributed to this report.