Firefighters in Southern California made good progress this weekend with the fires that have been tearing through L.A. County.
The fact that the wind cooperated was a big help. But there's supposed to be more wind today, and into the week.
As of last night, neither of the two biggest fires were anywhere close to fully contained: the Palisades Fire near Malibu, and the Eaton Fire near Pasadena. Thousands of homes were still at risk, but the flames had at least moved farther away from the most-populated spots.
The smoke finally cleared in both areas this weekend, and we saw the full extent of the damage. As we already knew, whole neighborhoods got wiped out.
Here are some of the stories surrounding it that were trending this weekend . . .
Last night, officials upped the death toll to at least 24. They said 16 of those people died in the Eaton Fire, and eight in the Palisades Fire. Thousands of structures have also been destroyed. Experts think it could end up being the costliest wildfire in U.S. history. The current estimate is $150 BILLION.
Read More HERE
It's still not clear if any of the fires in L.A. were arson. The LAPD arrested a homeless man last Thursday for starting the Kenneth Fire near Calabasas.
There's footage of Good Samaritans holding him until cops got there.
But over the weekend, officials suggested he maybe didn't do it, calling the allegations "unfounded." One witness said he claimed he only had a blowtorch on him to smoke WEED, because he "couldn't afford a lighter." They did arrest him on a felony probation charge though, and the investigation is ongoing.
Read More HERE
Meanwhile, cops have also been dealing with looters trying to steal stuff while people are still evacuated.
One guy busted in Malibu was dressed as a firefighter when he got arrested. Cops said yesterday that they'd detained around 30 people between the two main fires combined.
Read More HERE
Some idiot flew a drone over the Palisades Fire on Thursday, and it collided with one of the planes dropping water.
The plane ended up with a hole in its wing and had to be grounded, so it was out of commission all weekend. They were hoping to get it back up in the air today.
Read More HERE
L.A.'s fire chief criticized the city for more than $17 million in recent budget cuts to the fire department.
Mayor Karen Bass claimed those budget cuts haven't really affected the city's ability to fight the fires.
Read More HERE
Governor Gavin Newsom announced an investigation into why a 117-million-gallon reservoir above Pacific Palisades was drained and offline for repairs when the fire hit.
Several experts agreed the winds were so strong, it wouldn't have saved the Palisades. But it could have kept the hydrants going a while longer.
Read More HERE
Whether officials screwed up or not, most Americans think climate change was at play too. A poll found two-thirds think it was at least "somewhat" responsible for the fires.
Read More HERE
State Farm canceled hundreds of fire insurance policies in the Palisades last summer to avoid, quote, "financial failure" if there was a big fire there.
Ironically, tonight's playoff game between the L.A. Rams and Minnesota Vikings got moved to . . . yep . . . State Farm Stadium in Arizona.
Read More HERE
And finally: The term "evacuation haul" has been trending on TikTok.
It's people showing what they chose to pack up in order to evacuate. Some just grabbed the bare essentials . . . some grabbed way more than that. Even a lot of people who didn't end up evacuating got in on the trend.
As always, the conspiracy crowd has been out in full force.
One theory being pushed is that some sort of "direct energy weapon" was used to burn everyone's homes, so a secret cabal can now go in and rebuild.
People pushing it pointed to the fact that a bunch of palm trees in the Palisades didn't burn, even though cars and houses did. But palm trees are pretty good at surviving fires, and a lot of trees DID burn.