They were all turned away, according to police officers at the scene.

“It’s just an overwhelming sadness,” said Yelena Entin, the woman who was looking for her turtle. “The uncertainty for the future — we don’t know when we will be able to get in.”

The Pacific Palisades neighborhood and parts of Santa Monica and Malibu remained under a mandatory evacuation order on Monday, nearly a week after the Palisades fire leveled hundreds of homes in the area and killed at least eight people.

Some residents re-entered the evacuation zone last week, when access was easier, but the only people being allowed inside on Monday were emergency responders, utility workers and journalists who are allowed to visit under California law.

It was not immediately clear if any homeowners were finding unofficial ways to pass through blockades around the zone. The barricades are staffed by local police officers and members of the National Guard.

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People at the barricades on Monday expressed mounting frustration with what they said were shifting policies on access. Some residents said they had been allowed into the evacuated zone earlier in the week, but now were barred. Others said they had been promised police escorts to their homes that never materialized.

The Los Angeles Police Department said over the weekend that it would be halting police escorts into the zone because such trips were straining police resources. But some people in the area on Monday said they were trying to get inside anyway.

“I’ve been able to make my way in a few times — I’m just trying to figure out how to do that today,” said Matt Marquis, who was turned away at a checkpoint. He said he wanted to check on his goldfish and on his power and gas lines.

Brittaney Krebs said she was seeking a way into her father’s house in Malibu. She was hoping to salvage keepsakes — especially platinum vinyl records from the 1970s and 1980s — before winds in the area picked up again.

“Things that I would like to have, when he passes,” she said. “We all got out, everybody’s OK — it’s just sentimental things.”

Others simply stewed.

“They don’t give us answers,” said Ronen Malek, who wanted to see if anything could be salvaged from the office building she owns in the Palisades that was destroyed in the fire. “We are dealing with so much stress and anxiety.”

As a line of cars waited at his checkpoint on Monday afternoon, Steve Romero, an officer with the Santa Monica Police Department, was trying to be a calming presence. He directed people to pharmacies to find replacement medication and explained to evacuees which areas of the neighborhood had burned.

“We’ve had people crying and yelling,” he said. But “as long as you understand their state of mind and show them compassion, you’re able to get through it.”

Belmont’s catalog offered a wide range of Schoenberg’s music, from the lush, hyper-Romantic pieces of his youth to the challenging works he wrote after breaking from conventional tonal harmony and developing his 12-tone technique.

No original Schoenberg manuscripts were destroyed in the fire. But the loss of Belmont’s collection could create problems for orchestras, chamber music groups and soloists planning performances of Schoenberg’s works in the months ahead. Other Schoenberg memorabilia was also destroyed in the fire, including photographs, letters, posters, books and arrangements by other composers of Schoenberg pieces.

Leon Botstein, the president of Bard College and the music director of the American Symphony Orchestra, said that Belmont played an essential role in making Schoenberg’s music available to the public. The American Symphony Orchestra got its scores for a performance of Schoenberg’s oratorio “Gurrelieder,” which it performed last year at Carnegie Hall, from Belmont.

“It’s a catastrophe,” Mr. Botstein said. “It was an indispensable resource.”

He added that some ensembles could be forced to make changes to their upcoming programs because the scores they need will not be available from Belmont.

“They were the lenders, they were the ones who helped you out,” he said. “They made it as easy as possible.”

While Belmont, established in 1965, is not the only publisher of Schoenberg’s works, the firm was revered for the authority of its scores and its connection to the composer, who was born in Vienna, fled the Nazis and moved to America. He eventually settled in Los Angeles, where he lived until his death in 1951.

Belmont said it would work on creating digital versions of its scores, based on manuscripts by the composer, which are kept at the Schoenberg Center in Vienna. Belmont kept digital backups of scores at its offices, but they also burned in the fire.

“There’s a finality here which is astonishing,” said Larry Schoenberg. “There’s no hope left that you’re going to find or retrieve anything. And that’s a different kind of grief.”

Musicians said they were devastated by the loss of Belmont.

The cellist Fred Sherry, a noted Schoenberg interpreter, was a regular visitor to the outbuilding that became known as Belmont’s “garage.” He recalled perusing hundreds of scores, including some with old-school cover art and type. He took home as much music as he could carry.

“The loss of those beautiful scores is a tragedy,” Sherry said, “but meanwhile the music will last for as long as we have concerts.”

Larry Schoenberg, whose home was also destroyed in the fire, said he was still coming to terms with the scale of the loss. He recalled the example of his father.

“Whenever there was a difficulty, he would express his frustration, then get to work on a solution,” he said.

“Despite all that has happened, we are trying to be very positive,” he added. “There are no tears here.”

The hunt for longer-term housing already has sparked bidding wars in some neighborhoods on the edges of the fires. In the ritzy Brentwood neighborhood adjacent to the Palisades fire, one real-estate agent suddenly got 1,000 applicants for a new rental listing. In Pasadena, a family whose home burned in the Eaton fire in Altadena said they were about to lose their emergency short-term rental where they have been staying since the fires to a family willing to pay $8,000 a month.

Some evacuees, like Lila King, have ended up staying in their vehicles.

Ms. King, 75, has been bouncing between motels and sleeping in her truck with her 40-year-old son since they were displaced by the Eaton fire.

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Ms. King recently had surgery after she broke several ribs in a fall, and the nights sleeping in her truck have left her aching. She said she has been living off tacos from a nearby gas station, and wondering when, if ever, she will be able to return to her mobile home in Altadena, the unincorporated community at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains that was devastated by the Eaton Fire.

“We’re trying to get some help to get a place,” she said. “I’m worried.”

The American Red Cross and other agencies have opened eight shelters in Los Angeles County capable of holding almost 800 evacuees combined; the largest, at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium Exhibition Hall, had almost 500 people. Evacuees flooded the convention center immediately after the fire, sleeping on cots or even the floor. By Monday, the shelter was quieter, and many appeared to have cleared out.

Some displaced by the fires are crashing on couches and spare bedrooms with families and friends. Others are posted up for now in hotels and vacation rentals, anxiously counting the days before they have to find other housing.

“We’re scattered all over,” said Nic Arnzen, the vice chairman of the town council of Altadena.

Mr. Arnzen’s home was one of the more than 6,500 buildings in Altadena that burned down. Since the fire, he and his husband, their 18-year-old daughter and a family friend have squeezed into an Airbnb rental with their two dogs, cat and rabbit.

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He said that nearly all of Altadena’s approximately 45,000 residents were displaced, and that the water contamination and toxic debris left by the fire would complicate efforts to return even for those whose homes survived. Some of his neighbors have moved in with family, friends and strangers nearby. Others have moved out of state, at least for now.

For many, the emotions and adrenaline of the initial aftermath have given way to the reality that longer-term accommodations must be found.

“We were already in a housing crisis,” Mr. Arnzen said. “Everybody’s scrambling for homes.”

Price gouging on rental housing and other goods and services is prohibited in California under an emergency declaration issued by Gov. Gavin Newsom. That means rents cannot be increased more than 10 percent compared with what they were at the start of the state of emergency.

But a review of active rental listings found some had risen anywhere from 15 percent to 64 percent since the fires.

Several families whose homes burned said they had been so immersed in the work of dealing with their insurance companies and trying to return home to assess the damage that they had not even started to look beyond the horizon of the next day.

“It’s like being lost in a fog,” said Godwin Amafa, 69, whose home of 25 years in Altadena burned down. He and his wife have been staying at a hotel in Pasadena and said the $140 nightly rate seemed reasonable, even with the surge of evacuees.

“I can be here as long as I can afford it,” he said.

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Julio Partida, 58, and his family have spent a few days at an Airbnb in City Terrace, just east of downtown Los Angeles. Family and friends have offered space in their homes after that, but Mr. Partida said he did not know where his family would end up. It is still difficult, he said, to think about life beyond the short term.

“These aren’t things you prepare for,” he said.

Closer to the Rose Bowl Stadium, Paul and Jane Coleman were among the few evacuees left in the parking lot. About a dozen families had sought shelter there after the fire erupted, but many have left with the expansion of an adjacent operations center that offers firefighters and other law enforcement officials a chance to refuel and sleep.

On Monday, one family near the Colemans had also been sleeping in a van since Wednesday. And the Colemans stuck to their trailer.

The Colemans’ home in Altadena was spared, and for now, the couple said they were waiting for the fire risk to abate and an all-clear to re-enter their neighborhood. To pass the time, they’ve been checking their phones for news on the fires, and taking their three dogs — Trixie, Molly and Waldo — on walks.

“We’re just going to wait it out,” Ms. Coleman, 80, said.

Finn-Olaf Jones contributed reporting from Pacific Palisades, Mimi Dwyer from Pasadena, Ken Bensinger from Altadena and Christopher Flavelle contributed from Washington.

As of Monday morning, the official number of missing persons included 17 in the area of the Eaton fire near Pasadena and six in the Malibu area, near the Palisades fire.

“That number is expected to fluctuate as we get more information,” Nicole Nishida, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles sheriff’s office, said in an email. The sheriff’s office did not cite specific numbers of people who are reporting their loved ones missing. But, Ms. Nishida added, “unfortunately, the number increases every day.”

People are also searching for loved ones online.

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Among them were the friends of Kim Winiecki, a 77-year-old Altadena resident who had not been seen or heard from since the Eaton fire erupted. After days of sharing posts, and increasingly losing hope, Ms. Winiecki’s friends learned on Monday that she had died in her home, according to Jeannette McMahon, a friend who lived six minutes away.

Ms. Winiecki had moved to the area about 35 years ago, Ms. McMahon said. “Her home was her security. Her everything,” she said.

Officials have warned that the number of missing people and the death toll could rise further. In addition to those reported missing to the Sheriff’s Department, the American Red Cross said over the weekend that it had received almost 400 family reunification requests through online form submissions and phone calls.

The organization added that roughly 900 people impacted by the fires have sought refuge in one of the Red Cross shelters in Los Angeles.

Officials are still searching thousands of structures that have been damaged or destroyed in the fires, including with cadaver dogs, and are continuing to find remains, Robert Luna, the Los Angeles County sheriff, said during a news conference on Monday.

That is also partly why many people are not yet able to return to survey their homes inside the mandatory evacuation zones, Mr. Luna said, saying: “We have people literally looking for the remains of your neighbors.”

A recent visit by New York Times reporters to the site — near the “crime scene,” as officers for the Los Angeles Police Department who were posted nearby described it — suggested a range of possibilities, some of them contradictory, for the origin of the fire.

Charred wooden utility poles litter the ground. One plot of scorched chaparral is from a previous fire that firefighters thought they had extinguished on New Year’s Day, nearly a week before the Palisades fire broke out. And there is evidence of recent visitors to the area around Skull Rock, the eerily shaped boulder that draws hikers and teenage partyers whose discarded beer bottles remain in a heap of shattered glass.

For now, the answer to what caused one of Los Angeles’ most destructive firestorms may be elusive even to the investigators. The yellow crime scene tape fluttering in the wind near Skull Rock is hundreds of yards across a steep slope from the zone where a New York Times analysis of satellite images and witness photographs suggests the ignition point may have been.

The area is desolate today. The slopes of sand and rock are colorless and moon-like, as if the fire had incinerated every trace of chlorophyll. It’s a far cry from before the fire, when hiking trails in the area were framed by reedy green plants and drought-tolerant bushes.

The fire tore through the steep hillsides on either side of the Temescal Ridge Trail, which runs north-south, roughly the same direction as the fierce winds that propelled the Palisades fire soon after it ignited on Tuesday, Jan. 7, just before 10:30 a.m.

An hour earlier, Ron Giller, a lawyer who lives in The Enclave, an area of Pacific Palisades near where the fire started, hiked with a friend through a patch of ground that had caught fire New Year’s Day. Residents think errant fireworks may have set that one off.

The New Year’s fire was reported just after midnight and burned eight acres before fire crews got it fully contained. Some crew members stayed to monitor for flare-ups.

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The burn site from the New Year’s fire, still scarred and blackened, lays less than 100 feet from homes to the west — some of them now destroyed.

On the morning the Jan. 7 fire ignited, Mr. Giller said he saw what resembled smoke or dust wafting in the area. “It had the appearance of smoke around there, but there were no flames,” he said in an interview. “It just raised a question in my mind. What is it? I was thinking, could this thing still be active? But it seemed unlikely, you know — could there still be smoke from a fire that happened six days ago? That didn’t make sense to me.”

Some of the deadliest wildfires of the past century were blazes that firefighters believed they had extinguished, only to have the remnants flare up into an inferno. They include the 1991 firestorm in Oakland that killed 25 people and the 2023 wildfire on the Hawaiian Island of Maui that killed 102 people.

Investigators concluded that the Maui blaze emerged from the smoldering remnants of a fire near a residential area several hours earlier, perhaps from burning material that was buried under dirt until the wind uncovered it again.

Researchers have found that fires can smolder in plant roots or other organic material for days before conditions let them re-emerge.

Mr. Giller and his friend, Alan Feld, were not the only ones exploring the hills of the Palisades before the fire last week. The panoramic views from the ridge often draw hikers from the neighborhood and beyond.

During their walk that day, Mr. Feld said, they saw a few people sitting on Skull Rock.

“And one of us even said, ‘I hope they’re not smoking or anything, with these winds,’” Mr. Feld said.

Video posted on social media from that morning show one group of young men near Skull Rock, dressed largely in sneakers and athletic shorts, one carrying a portable speaker. Clips posted by one member of the group begin with the men running along a trail next to a rock, with a faint cloud of smoke coming from the hillside above them. The men, still running, express alarm about smelling smoke and then seeing a fire moving quickly toward them.

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Another clip shows the same men a few minutes later, looking back as the fire continued to grow and smoke billowed into the sky.

“Dude, that’s right where we were standing,” one says. “We were literally right there,” says another.

The man who posted the video initially agreed to speak with The Times, but then stopped responding to messages. His account on X appears to have been removed. There is no indication at this point that any of the men were responsible for starting the fire; the videos do not show them smoking.

When the latest fire began to spread on Jan. 7, nearby residents watched in horror as it took hold in the parched grassland and then jumped down the hillside, stoked by rising winds. They called 911 and packed evacuation supplies in case they needed to flee. By then — around 10:30 a.m. — flames were towering over the landscape, according to photos from one resident. Just half an hour later, the fire had already sped down much of the hillside toward houses below.

Fire crews rushed to the scene by ground and air, and one firefighter reported to dispatchers that the blaze had started “just below the old burn scar” — from the New Year’s blaze — and might reach nearby houses within minutes.

“It is pushing directly toward Palisades,” he said on the radio. “This thing is going to make a good run.”

At least one lawyer investigating the fire was looking at whether a downed utility line could have sparked it, since power lines run north and south along much of the Temescal Ridge Trail. California has a long history of catastrophic blazes caused by downed power lines, and early images from the other deadly fire that began last week in the Los Angeles area — the Eaton fire — show flames roaring below electrical transmission lines.

Along the trail near where the Palisades fire began, The Times found bits of power-line debris, including what appeared to be part of a lightning arrester device. But the nearest overhead power line was about a third of a mile to the north. That line, which curves down from the trail and into the neighborhood,was extensively damaged from fire, but witness photographs show it was still intact soon after the fire began.

The poles along that route have a tumultuous recent history. Many of them date from the 1930s, and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power initiated a project in 2019 to replace some of them with stronger metal structures.

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The project stalled after environmental regulators said the department had damaged 183 small bushes known as Braunton’s milkvetch, an endangered species.

The department agreed in 2020 to pay a fine, and won approval to resume work, saying the project was “essential in regards to our wildfire mitigation plan.” But the project does not appear to have proceeded.

The Times’s review of the ridgetop showed many damaged and fallen utility poles along the trail heading north — an area that was consumed by fire, but not until a day after the blaze began.

Investigators have made it clear that it could take time to reach firm conclusions about the cause of the fire.

The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which is taking the lead, took more than a year to report conclusions about the Maui fire.

“We are looking at every angle,” Dominic Choi, the assistant Los Angeles police chief, said on Monday about the fires burning across the region. He said that arson had not been ruled out for any of them. In the case of the Palisades fire, he added, “there has been no definitive determination that it is arson.”

For now, the entire area around the investigation site is eerily empty. The neighborhoods near the trail are evacuated and dozens of houses were leveled; — the only signs of life there are a few fire trucks and an occasional police patrol.

Further down the hillsides, toward the ocean, there is utter devastation. Entire neighborhoods have been flattened, their subdivisions now just a grid of ash.

Christiaan Triebert, Ivan Penn, Danny Hakim and Claire Moses contributed reporting.

Key things to know about the forecast

• Winds were expected remain strong from late Monday through Wednesday, a forecast that has prompted some of the strongest warnings the Weather Service has in its arsenal.

• A weather system moving in on Thursday is likely to bring conditions that will help firefighters in their efforts to gain control of the blazes.

• The region remains critically dry and is not expected to see significant rainfall until at least next month.

What the Fire Warnings Mean

Jan. 13, 2025

The Weather Service began using the “particularly dangerous situation” red flag warning in recent years to alert firefighters to types of conditions where fires are more likely to spread, said Todd Hall, a meteorologist at the Weather Service in Los Angeles. The intention had been to use them once every three to five years, he said; two have been issued in the last week.

The latest warnings will be in place from early Tuesday morning until noon on Wednesday, when gusts from 45 to 70 miles an hour are expected to batter the region. While not as severe as those last week, which fueled the destructive Palisades and Eaton fires, these winds still pose a significant threat that large fires may spread quickly.

In addition, across the wider region, longer-term warnings for fire weather from the Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center have been upgraded to “extreme,” the highest classification. In areas such as Ventura Valley and the San Bernardino Mountains, wind gusts exceeding 50 m.p.h. will combine with extremely dry air to create hazardous conditions from Monday to Wednesday. The most intense threat was expected from late Monday into Tuesday.

Forecasters said the weather computer models weren’t fully in agreement, and that was giving them slightly less confidence on how the next couple of days will unfold. There is an outlier chance these winds aren’t as strong as they could be — but there is also an outlier chance they could be stronger.

According to the latest forecast, conditions will worsen across Southern California on Monday night into Tuesday morning, with wind gusts nearing 70 m.p.h. as cooler air combines with offshore winds. A brief lull is anticipated Tuesday afternoon, but strong gusts are expected pick up again later in the day and continue through Wednesday morning.

By Tuesday and Wednesday, winds are expected to shift, with the strongest gusts over the mountains northeast of Santa Clarita, through the Santa Susana Mountains, the western Santa Monica Mountains and along the western Malibu coast. Because of this change in direction, wind warnings have been issued for the Santa Clarita Valley, the western Santa Monica Mountains and the Malibu coast. In the eastern San Gabriel Mountains, gusts could reach up to 70 m.p.h., setting off a high-wind warning.

The winds should ease late this week, but the region will remain critically dry.

The winds that moved in late Monday are the fourth — and last — round in a series of Santa Ana events that began last week and have hampered firefighters’ efforts to control the blazes that destroyed several Los Angeles neighborhoods.

Looking ahead, winds are expected to weaken on Thursday, though strong gusts may still occur, and the very dry conditions that have helped these fires spread will persist.

There is some good news, however. Starting Thursday night, a weather system will move eastward, shifting winds to the northwest on Friday. This will bring cooler, ocean-based winds and clouds to the coast and valleys. According to Mr. Hall, this shift will help boost humidity levels and bring much needed cooler air, which will really help firefighters get ahead.

But Los Angeles, and the vegetation that covers it, are still starved for moisture. Most locations south of Ventura County have recorded only about a quarter-inch of rain or less in the last eight months. The Los Angeles area has received only sprinklings of rain since April. San Diego and Riverside have logged even less.

Mr. Hall said there may be a chance of some rain next week, but it’s unlikely to be a substantial amount. “Our long-range models point toward the first part of February for something more significant,” he said.

Amy Graff and Judson Jones contributed reporting.

A Dangerously Dry Southern California Was Ready to Burn

Parched vegetation combined with strong Santa Ana winds and low relative humidity levels led to the devastating wildfires in Los Angeles County.

Jan. 8, 2025

“We are all devastated by the impact of the fires and the profound losses experienced by so many in our community,” the academy chief executive, Bill Kramer, and president, Janet Yang, said in a statement.

“Due to the still-active fires in the Los Angeles area, we feel it is necessary to extend our voting period and move the date of our nominations announcement to allow additional time for our members.,” the statement continued.

The academy luncheon, where the annual class picture of the year’s nominees are taken, will be canceled for the second time since it was implemented in 1982. (The first time was in 2021, because of the pandemic.) The Scientific and Technical Awards, scheduled for Feb. 18, will be rescheduled to a yet undetermined later date.

Additionally, read the statement, “As we want to be sensitive to the infrastructure and lodging needs of the region in these next few weeks, it is imperative that we make some changes to our schedule of events, which we believe will have the support of our industry.”

The Oscar telecast will still be held on March 2.

The academy added, that it looks forward “to honoring our frontline workers who have aided with the fires, recognizing those impacted, and encouraging people to join the academy in supporting the relief efforts.”

Separately, the Recording Academy announced Monday that the Grammys would be held as planned, on Feb. 2, and that the telecast, on CBS, would also honor first responders.

One woman asked about her sister-in-law’s home, saying it would bring her some closure if she knew for sure it was gone. One man asked about his apartment building. Another worried the fire had crept out of the Palisades toward Santa Monica Canyon, endangering his house.

It’s not a typical assignment for a reporter. But I decided to help out. It felt, in some way, like I was doing what reporters should be doing in a crisis: keeping people informed.

So far, I’ve been able to check on about six places. At one point, I drove up a winding street into the hills to check on a property. A few blocks in, a power line blocked the road. It felt like a waste to turn back. So I got out of my car, and walked the rest of the way.

A few homes on the street were still standing, so I thought there was a chance of good news for the person who had reached out to me on social media. But as I rounded a corner, I saw the remains of a home actively on fire, burning quietly. I couldn’t see a street address, so I wasn’t positive it was the right one. I sent a video to the woman who had asked me to check on it — her grandmother had lived there for 60 years.

“Unfortunately, I think it’s gone,” I wrote. “It might be this one burning.”

She confirmed that it was. She was surprised I actually showed up in person — she thought I’d send a drone. She was grateful, and she asked me to be careful.

Today’s Top Story

After Attacking L.A. Wildfire Response, Elon Musk Sends His Products to Help

The world’s richest person has stoked outrage about the devastating wildfires and efforts to tackle them. On Sunday, he said he would help provide internet access to areas in need in Los Angeles.

Jan. 13, 2025

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Stronger Santa Ana Winds to Return, and Risk May Rise to ‘Extreme’

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Part of Eastern Malibu Is ‘Gone,’ Mayor Says, as Palisades Fire Rages

Jan. 12, 2025

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On a Screen, Devastation

Jan. 12, 2025

Mr. Musk, the chief executive of Tesla and SpaceX, said several of Tesla’s boxy, electric Cybertrucks had been fitted with terminals for SpaceX’s satellite internet service to help maintain internet connectivity in the area. He also received a private briefing on the Palisades fire at the incident’s command center, which he live streamed to his 211 million followers on X, his social media network.

“We are going to position Cybertrucks with Starlinks and free Wi-Fi in a grid pattern in the areas that most need it in the greater LA/Malibu area,” Mr. Musk wrote on X on Sunday.

Since the fires began last Tuesday, Mr. Musk has used his X account to stoke fear and outrage about the fires, spreading misinformation and casting blame on diversity policies, immigrants and Democrats, including Gov. Gavin Newsom of California.

On Sunday, Mr. Musk appeared to take a more diplomatic approach, handing out supplies from his companies and meeting with firefighters and other emergency workers.

In a post on X, Tesla said it had deployed eight of its Cybertruck vehicles equipped with the Starlink internet service, mobile electric-vehicle charging stations and portable batteries to power devices and appliances. Mr. Musk said he had taken some of those trucks away from customers who had been expecting their vehicles to be delivered “over the next few days,” and that new trucks would be sent to them by the end of the week.

Mr. Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

On Sunday, Mr. Newsom, a onetime friend of Mr. Musk’s turned political enemy, posted a clip from Mr. Musk’s livestream of his visit with firefighters, in which Mr. Musk asks an official whether there had been a shortage of water to fight the Palisades fire. Mr. Musk has blamed Democratic officials for a lack of water to fight fires. The official in the footage explains to Mr. Musk that the firefighters had just been using so much water that the system could not keep up with demand.

“@ElonMusk exposed by firefighters for his own lies,” Mr. Newsom posted on X, along with a clip of the emergency worker explaining to Mr. Musk how his teams sourced water.

“We knew to get ourselves prepared, because it had happened before, in 2008,” Mr. Ward said.

The winds ultimately blew in a favorable direction: up the mountain, not down into town like the Sayre fire had in November 2008, destroying nearly 500 homes in Oakridge Mobile Home Park, where they live.

But on Sunday afternoon, people in Oakridge were still uneasy, though they were no longer under evacuation orders.

Fortune and firefighting had spared them the kind of losses that were all too familiar to some residents. But with winds expected to pick up again this week, they were still on high alert and channeling anxious energy into action.

Vanessa Simon was at home making calls on Sunday afternoon, trying to figure out what to do with the U-haul box truck parked out front. Oakridge residents had filled it with clothes, child car seats, diapers, blankets, food and other items for fire victims. Ms. Simon, 47, and her husband were calling churches, shelters and other places that might accept the goods.

Residents had gathered in Oakridge’s community room to collect and sort through the mass of donations — and to process an arduous week.

“Everybody that was there just came together so beautifully,” Ms. Simon said. “We hugged; we cried.”

On Sunday, the sky was blue over Sylmar, a largely Hispanic and working-class suburb of about 80,000 people, many of whom keep horses.

Under the bright sun, there were fresh reminders that the community was on the front lines of Los Angeles’s catastrophe.

Patches of burned vegetation ended disconcertingly close to backyard fences. Large swathes of red fire retardant painted the mountainside behind Rancho Cascades, another Sylmar neighborhood.

Fire safety has been a top local concern for a long time, said Kurt Cabrera-Miller, the president of Sylmar’s neighborhood council. Sylmar has only one fire station and has been pushing for more. In 2023, the Los Angeles City Council approved a second station, which has yet to be built. Santa Monica and Burbank, communities with comparable populations, have five and six stations respectively, Mr. Cabrera-Miller said.

Perhaps no place in Sylmar is more attuned to the dangers than Oakridge. When Hope Watterson, 62, moved into the park, she received an emergency preparedness packet with an image of a burning mobile home.

Ms. Watterson, an elementary schoolteacher, could see the flames from her front porch on Tuesday night. She jumped into her car to join the frantic evacuation, by a route that had recently been added. When Oakridge was gutted in 2008, there had been only one way out.

Mr. Ward, who lives a few blocks from Ms. Watterson, was sitting in a rocking chair on his front porch on Sunday as his neighbor Sebastian Aguayo pulled into the driveway across the street.

Mr. Aguayo, 19, the man who had pounded on Mr. Ward’s door on Tuesday, walked over to say hello. It was a normal neighborly exchange, but both knew the circumstances could change.

Mr. Ward still had his valuables packed and ready to go, and so did Mr. Aguayo.

Monday, he said, “is not going to be a normal day.”

“Students, and our work force, in many instances, will come back having witnessed and experienced a level of destruction without parallel in the history of our community,” Mr. Carvalho said.

Mr. Carvalho said that the school day would open with an honest but “age-appropriate” discussion about the fires and then “transition to education” when teachers saw fit. He said he did not want students to feel pressured to return their attention to learning right away.

But not all schools in the district — the second-largest in the country — will reopen. Four were destroyed by the Palisades fire in western Los Angeles, and three are still in mandatory evacuation zones, Mr. Carvalho said.

The superintendent added that the district was surveying its work force to “ensure readiness” as many teachers and staff members have had to evacuate. About 340 members of the work force were affected by the fires. But Mr. Carvalho said that the schools that would stay closed on Monday had not been affected by staff shortages.

“We are ready, and we are poised to do our jobs,” Mr. Carvalho said.

Two of the dead, a man and his son, who had cerebral palsy, had called for help evacuating, but none came. One of the victims was found near a garden hose he had been using to spray his house as the fire bore down.

In the Palisades fire, near the coast, the dead included a hang-glider, a surfer and a former child star from Australia.

Here is what we know about some of the victims:

Deaths in the Eaton Fire

Dalyce Curry

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Dalyce Curry, 95, died inside her home in Altadena. Ms. Curry had been an actress and an extra in several films, including “The Ten Commandments,” “Lady Sings the Blues,” and “The Blues Brothers.” Into her 90s, she dressed up and kept fit, her granddaughter, Dalyce Kelley, said.

But Ms. Curry had spent the day in the hospital for a cardiac issue, and her granddaughter dropped her off that evening, thinking she was safe. Ms. Kelley said she now felt guilty about leaving her. “No one saw this coming,” Ms. Kelley said. “I’ve never seen this type of devastation in my lifetime living in this city, and she loved Altadena so much.”

“It was her safe place,” Ms. Kelley said, adding “it’s unfortunate that her safe place became a nightmare.”

Anthony and Justin Mitchell

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Anthony Mitchell, 68, died with his son Justin, who had cerebral palsy and was in his 30s. His other children heard from Mr. Mitchell, who used a wheelchair, as the fire was bearing down on Altadena. He said he expected someone to come help the two evacuate. By 8 that night, he and Justin had both been found dead.

“I felt the system let them down,” his son Anthony Mitchell Jr. said.

Justin Mitchell was known for his sunny personality and love of reading. Mr. Mitchell was known for his barbecuing skills and his care for his family and for his neighbors. “My dad was just one of those people,” Anthony Mitchell Jr. said. “You would meet him and he would make friends with you real quick.”

Victor Shaw

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Victor Shaw, 66, died trying to save his tile-roof house on Monterosa Drive, a cul-de-sac near the edge of the forest. “The house had a whole lot of significance for him,” a neighbor, Willie Jackson, 81, said. “His parents had always had it.”

Mr. Shaw drove a bloodmobile and made deliveries. “He was hard-working,” Mr. Jackson said.

After the fire passed, neighbors and family members came to search for him. They found him lying in his front yard clutching a garden hose. “He was out here trying to fight the fire by himself,” Mr. Jackson’s son, William, said.

Rodney Nickerson

Rodney Nickerson, 82, died in his home just a short walk from Mr. Shaw’s. Mr. Nickerson was a retired aerospace engineer for Lockheed Martin and an active deacon at his church, according to his son Eric Nickerson.

Mr. Nickerson loved to fish, play the horses and watch the San Francisco 49ers, his daughter-in-law, Elsa Nickerson, said in an interview. And he was deeply attached to his house, where he had raised his two children, and the neighborhood, where he had seen the cycle of generations. His family urged him to evacuate, but he told them he believed the fire would not reach him.

Erliene Kelley

Erliene Kelley was a retired Rite Aid pharmacy technician and a longtime resident of the same section of Altadena, according to Rita and Terry Pyburn, a couple who lived on her block.

“She was so, so, so sweet,” Terry Pyburn said.

“It was panic. Everyone took off and no one thought to check on anybody,” Mr. Pyburn said, adding, “I think the notice came too late.”

Kim Winiecki

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Kim Winiecki, 77, moved to her house in Altadena about 35 years ago. “Her home was her security, her everything,” Jeanette McMahon, a close friend, said in a phone interview.

Ms. Winiecki was a deeply private person and never let anyone on or near her property. “We respected that,” Ms. McMahon said, “even though I was her closest friend.”

When the Eaton fire broke out near Ms. Winiecki’s house on Tuesday, Ms. McMahon said she offered her a ride out, but Ms. Winiecki said she would stay put and wait out the fire.

Deaths in the Palisades Fire

Charles Mortimer

Charles Mortimer, 84, a longtime resident of Pacific Palisades, was a Chicago Cubs fan with a quick wit and an infectious smile, his family said in a statement shared by his niece, Meredith Mortimer.

“Charlie Mortimer truly lived life to its fullest,” the statement said. “He was a world traveler, a sun worshiper, and an avid sports fan.”

Mr. Mortimer died in the hospital on Jan. 8, having suffered a heart attack, smoke inhalation and burns, according to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner.

Arthur Simoneau

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Arthur Simoneau, a beloved figure in the hang gliding community, died in the Palisades fire while trying to save his home in Topanga, his family said.

Mr. Simoneau was a member of the Sylmar Hang Gliding Association, where he served as a mentor to many, according to Steve Murillo, the association’s president. A GoFundMe page set up by his son, Andre Simoneau, described Mr. Simoneau as a man who showed others how to live with a rare “childlike eagerness.”

“It was always in the back of our heads that he would die in spectacular Arthur fashion,” the post read. He died protecting his home, the post said, “something only he was brave enough (or crazy enough) to do.”

Randall Miod

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Randall Miod, 55, was a “legend in Malibu” who lived and died in the place he loved most, his mother, Carol A. Smith, wrote in a statement. Surfing had been his passion from youth. Since his 20s, he had lived in the same house on the Pacific Coast Highway, which became a gathering place for friends. Kristin Miod Ennabe, his cousin, likened him to Peter Pan and said he had a “gentle spirit” like his father, Lawrence Miod.

Ms. Smith said the last time she spoke with her son was the day the Palisades fire began. He called her, nearly in tears, and she urged him to take himself and his cat to a shelter. Instead, Mr. Miod stayed. His final words to her were: “Pray for the Palisades and pray for Malibu. I love you,” she wrote.

Rory Sykes

Rory Sykes, 32, a former child star from Australia who was born with cerebral palsy, died in the Palisades fire, according to his mother, Shelley Sykes. Mr. Sykes appeared in the 1990s British television show “Kiddy Kapers.” On his website, he described himself as a gamer, investor and philanthropist.

“He was just a beautiful soul,” Ms. Sykes said.

The two moved to the United State in 2010 and had lived on a 17-acre estate in the Malibu area for the last decade. Mr. Sykes had his own cottage, which burned after he told Ms. Sykes he wasn’t leaving and locked himself inside, she said.

The search for other victims

The Los Angeles County fire chief, Anthony Marrone, said “human remains detection teams” would be going house to house, searching for others who might have died.

As of Monday morning, 23 people were classified as missing — 17 in the Eaton fire near Pasadena and six in the Malibu area, near the Palisades fire.