l'm severe fire. weather conditions will continue through wednesday.

>> we are not in the clear as of yet. >> not clear. in fact, this is being called a pds or particularly dangerous situation. as the winds in southern california begin to pick up once again. good afternoon, i'm kristen z. fire officials say the windy conditions that are forecast are similar to what we saw last week, which drove those deadly and devastating fires across los angeles county. here is where we stand as of this moment. right now, 24 people are believed to be dead, and more than a dozen others are unaccounted for. the largest of the fires, the palisades fire, which has burned more than 23,000 acres. it stands at 14% containment, while the eaton fire in altadena has burned more than 14,000 acres and is 33% contained. abc news reporter melissa arden is in los angeles with the latest. >> reporter calmer winds over the weekend allowed crews to put out hotspots and fight the fires from the air. you can see the

containment line, a red line fire retardant, helping keep the flames at bay. the burn area inside still smoldering. but today, new red flag and high wind warnings are in place for much of los angeles and ventura counties. wind gusts up to 70mph now in the forecast tuesday and wednesday. the national weather service issuing a pds or particularly dangerous situation warning. >> the anticipated winds, combined with low humidities and low fuel moistures, will keep the fire threat in all of los angeles county. critical. >> officials have not yet determined the causes of any of these fires. >> none have been ruled out of arson. there are ongoing investigations. >> we have a very some altadena residents recording video as they escaped the fires last week beyond the tree line. >> that's an electrical transmission tower. another shows what appears to be a fire at the base of the same transmission tower. edison international saying it hasn't

seen evidence of involvement of its equipment in the eaton fire, but that they haven't yet been allowed by fire authorities to inspect the site. >> typically, when there's a spark created by equipment, you will see that kind of electrical anomaly. we haven't seen that. >> a dusk to dawn curfew in place to protect homes from looters. there have already been some three dozen arrests. >> the criminals have decided that this is an opportunity. and i'm here to tell you that this is not an opportunity. you will be arrested. >> l.a. officials, from the mayor to the fire chief, say they're better prepared for this round of santa ana winds this week, saying they have sufficient resources from local firefighters, other states and even countries, and have already pre-positioned strike teams. melissa dawn, abc news, altadena, california. >> all right. so more more now on the conditions around the fires right now and what's to come. let's get straight to abc seven news weather anchor spencer christian. spencer. so dangerous once again. >> oh, you're right about that. so the winds remain exceedingly

high, the relative humidity dangerously low. of course, that's a terrible combination. and it means high fire danger, complicating the wind flow now, or adding to the intensity, i should say, is the development of this area of low pressure, which is only helping the winds to intensify. at the moment, we're looking at wind gusts up to and above 45mph, generally across the region where the fires are burning. so as we look at the wind gusts animation going into the evening hours, we won't see much change. winds may lose a little bit of their intensity going into the evening hours down below 30mph for many locations, but by 10:00 tonight over 30mph. and that pattern continues tomorrow. gusts up to about 40mph. this is only at the surface. of course, the gusts will be even stronger in the higher elevations. now, let me give you a closer look at this red flag warning now in effect until 6 p.m. on wednesday. this is referred to as a particularly dangerous situation, as you heard in the report from southern california. and here's what we mean by that. when there's when the situation is called a red flag warning, a particularly dangerous one is

because this is the highest threat level for winds, the highest level of urgency and attention to fire danger. it's a rare warning, typically issued only about once every 5 to 10 years. but now we're looking at the fourth warning, such warning in the last three months. and in each case, there has been a major fire after that warning. and as you can see now, three of the most intense fires, three major fires still burning, the palisades fire, only 14% containment. the eaton fire, only 33% containment. a little bit better news with the hearst fire. 95% containment. kristin. >> all right. thanks for that information. spencer. concerning. thank you. new developments regarding legal action over the fires today. at least four lawsuits were filed by homeowners and renters who lost their homes in the eaton fire. the suits against southern california edison alleged that the utility failed to de-energize all of its electrical equipment, despite red flag warnings issued by the national weather service. the ceo of the utility's parent company confirmed to abc news

that investigations are underway to determine if any of their election, or, i should say, electric equipment contributed to either the eaton or hurst fire ignitions. governor gavin newsom says he's cutting the red tape so wildfire victims can rebuild faster. he signed an executive order yesterday suspending some permit and state review requirements to try to speed up construction. the governor talked about the order on nbc's meet the press. >> and so we want to fast track by eliminating any sequel requirements. i've got coastal act changes that we're making. i want to make sure when someone rebuilds that they have their old property tax assessments and that they're not increased. >> the executive order also extends protections against price gouging on building materials and other essential goods. la's district attorney today also warned against price gouging with regard to housing, but that may be difficult because california stands at the intersection of climate change and housing demand and insurance

challenges. what is likely to happen to the housing market now, with 12,000 structures already destroyed and even more threatened by flames? joining us live now to discuss this is the chief economist at corelogic, provider of property information. selma hepp. thank you for your time today. >> thanks for having me. >> i'm just going to ask you this because a lot of people are wondering this, right? how do you expect these wildfires will impact housing affordability in the la areas and even beyond, perhaps even here in northern california, in the bay area? >> yeah, thanks for the question. unfortunately, natural disasters do tend to put a lot of inflationary pressure on housing markets, which is really unfortunate in very inopportune time for us right now, given all the price appreciation that we've had over the last few years. and so the first effect that you're likely to see is surge in rents. and we're already getting some anecdotal evidence of that. so as

households seek shelter and would like to stay in proximity of their schools or even jobs, the rent of those locations tend to go up significantly down the road. what we're likely to see is pressure on home prices as well. first, given the number of structures that were destroyed. secondly, those were some really, really expensive homes. and so they need to be rebuilt. and a lot of them and the cost of rebuilding, as we know, has gone up significantly, too, in light of all the other inflationary pressures. so i'm seeing a lot of costs spreading across the board in terms of housing costs. >> right. and you mentioned a really good point. and it's not just the immediate like after our wildfires here in 2017. and you know, we saw home prices in santa rosa, napa sonoma actually go up. right. you think some people may not want to return. you think they might want to move out of wildfire risk areas, but they don't. so what does this mean. because when they

rebuild the homes i assume cost more. and that means insurance companies are looking at it like, ooh, now you got a two $3 million home to insure. >> yeah, absolutely. i mean, the, you know, home prices in any natural disaster tend to go up to go up immediately after disaster because as i said, people are seeking shelter and they need somewhere to live. so we're likely to see pressure on home prices immediately following these disasters. unfortunately, you know, areas that have seen persistent natural disasters. and now, for example, we'll give you an example of not the wine country in northern california, but north of that where we've seen, for example, butte county and placer county, persistent wildfires. and it's not in proximity to jobs or, you know, a lot of schools or urban amenities. people have started to be less interested in those areas. so we did see we do see demand wane in those areas. another example of that is in

gulf coast of florida, where you see persistent hurricanes. as a result of that. now we have less demand in those areas. so it really depends on what the type of the area is. los angeles is a large urban area with a lot of jobs, you know, access to a lot of amenities that people want to be close to, which means that naturally, in those areas that are close to areas that were destroyed are going to see a lot of price pressures. now, that's not necessarily the case all across county, because it is such a large county, and there's a lot of other urban areas around los angeles where people can move. but more most likely, the biggest pressure is going to be in areas immediately surrounding destroyed regions. >> well, let me just ask you, you know, about this kind of a financial conundrum, because the insurance companies are worried about greater and greater losses as climate change makes these events more frequent and more devastating. so they've dropped, what, a million, you know,

customers in california and the socal area. and so i'm asking what is the strain and how do you keep this up? i mean, where is it going to break? >> well, you know, ultimately we're going to have higher insurance costs. it really comes down to that because in order or people are going to self-insure, you know, people who have the means don't have to. if you buy your home without a mortgage, you don't have to insure your home. so you're taking a personal risk there and you're self-insurance people in the silicon valley, right, when they can afford that. >> but for the majority of us, what does this mean? because you can't. fair is so expensive, right? the last choice insurance option. and then we have these regulations that keep insurance companies from being able to just raise their rates. so i guess how does this end? what are the options that you see. >> yeah. so i mean, in terms of the housing market itself, what what ends up happening, you see less and less demand for those areas that are prone to natural disasters. and as a result of

that, home prices decline. now, again, i don't see that necessarily being the case here because we are so constrained for, for housing stock. but in areas that do continue to see natural disasters and lack insurance, that's where you're going to start seeing home prices decline and demand leaves the area. >> selma hepp, we're facing a really tough situation here. thanks for joining us to offer some insight. really appreciate your time. >> thanks for having me. >> and we have much more coverage of the fire ahead, including a live report from a reporter in altadena. but first, after the break, sinking schedules to improve transfers and reduce wait times on transit. the changes being made by bart and one of san francisco's largest conventions gets underway. how much of an economic boost a team can help you plan for your dreams. so your dream car, and vacation home, may be closer than you think. ready to meet the dream team? you can with wells fargo.

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transit agencies across the bay area began adjusting their schedules to try to make your commute more efficient and build a better bay area, abc7 news reporter lena howland explains what riders need to know. >> this is a commute into san francisco from the east bay will soon be a little easier. in a move to improve safety and reduce waits for transfers between bart and other systems, bart is shifting departure times starting monday. the goal is to align with the golden gate ferry system, caltrain, smart train, and valley transportation authority. something bart is calling the big sync. >> it's a great example of the many different transit agencies working as one, so that way we can increase ridership and hopefully prove that we should get more funding so that we can make even more improvements. >> the big sync is also kicking off a long overdue construction

project to replace bart's train control system, which is more than a half century old. >> the existing train control equipment currently causes about 10% of the delays systemwide. >> right now, bart runs trains on a fixed block system, meaning only one train can be on a section of track at a time. soon, the agency will use a modern communications based train control system. >> now, what's going to happen is the trains will actually run close together and communicate with each other the entire time. so what that means is we can run trains closer together, which means you'll get to where you want to go faster. >> but alicia trost, a spokesperson for bart, says this billion dollar project is a huge undertaking across 50 stations and many miles of track. >> we're going to go segment by segment. the good news for most of our riders is that this work takes place overnight. >> for now, the riders facing the biggest impact will be out of millbrae, where changes to

the evening schedule will lead to more transfers. in many cases, overall, bart says that most rides have only shifted by a few minutes, but that's why they are still encouraging all riders to check their schedules before they go. there is no estimated date of finishing up construction of those upgrades just yet. in pleasanton, lena howland abc seven news. >> right now, the j.p. morgan healthcare conference is getting underway in san francisco. it's one of the biggest conventions held in the city, and city leaders and business owners hope it will bring a boost to downtown. just like at dreamforce, city leaders say convention goers will wine and dine and visit local businesses. there will be plenty of security, including san francisco police ambassadors. the conference is being held at the westin saint francis hotel in union square. >> the j.p. morgan conference is one of the most significant conferences that we've had. it's one of our longest lasting partnerships. >> the conference is estimated to generate more than $90 million for san francisco's

economy, including small businesses, restaurants and hotels. after the break, our coverage of the southern california wildfires continues as we take you live to altadena for a report on the situation there today and

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the renewed concern over the intensifying wind conditions. abc news reporter josh einiger is in altadena for us and joins us live with the latest. josh. >> kristen. the damage here in l.a. county is it's actually hard to describe and we make a living describing things. but i'll just show you this is just one building. it's on a corner. it's probably 3 or 4 different small businesses, but you really can't tell because it's been burned beyond recognition. clearly, people lost it all. all their investments, all their livelihoods. here. here's somebody's car. let's look across the street. there's a gas station that's destroyed. to the

right of the gas station is a church that's destroyed. and this is just one tiny stretch of altadena drive. in fact, we drove nearly two miles in the other direction, and we saw basically nothing but destruction. there isn't a lens wide enough to capture the extent of what happened in altadena, california. thousands of homes have all but vanished. now there are row after row of ash, very established homes and established communities, generational family homes that have been passed down. >> and it's extremely sad to see the devastation that has happened here. >> jake rodriguez works for the u.s. forest service, which owns the land where the fire started, in the mountains that ring this city and from which the firestorm raged. >> when you have a wind event like that, it's nearly impossible to get in front of the fire. and even if you do get in front of the fire, it's very difficult to combat it just because the wind is so heavy and

strong, and the fire behavior is very extreme and erratic. >> altadena is far removed from downtown l.a. and the freeways and the smog instead, set against the backdrop of the angeles national forest, those beautiful mountains made for an idyllic place to live until the fire roared down them and devoured everything in its path. today in altadena, power crews started the delicate task of replacing the wood poles where utility lines precariously perched and the work continues from the air to dump retardant on any hotspots. it is a race against time, with another windstorm expected this week and the potential for the fire to spread all over again. >> all available lafd resources have been staffed. i have strategically pre-positioned engine strike teams and task forces, which are dedicated to rapid response for any new fire that breaks out in the city. >> more than 10,000 homes were obliterated in two massive fires here in altadena and in pacific

palisades. and now there's a concern over looting the communities locked down and police on patrol with people who have lost lives, lost homes, lost businesses. >> there are still people in our community who, rather than saying, thank you, look at this as an opportunity to commit crime and to take illegal profit and advantage over the situation. >> and we saw just a little while ago a team of people, of rescue workers trying to see if they could find any human remains actually in that location. we just showed you. so that does that work does continue, as do the concerns over what happens tomorrow and into the next day with the potential for that big wind windstorm, that big wind event, even just in the last hour, we've noticed you may not be able to see. but from the mountains behind me, a little bit of smoke rising from there for the first time all day. so the wind up there potentially picking up and it could spell

bad news coming tomorrow. we're live in altadena tonight. josh einiger, abc seven news. >> we'll keep our fingers crossed for them. josh, thank you so much. if you'd like to help people affected by the california wildfires, you can donate at red cross.org/abc to help the red cross respond and help people recover, and from the conditions in southern california to conditions here in the bay area. the wind is the big story today. let's give you a live look outside. right now it looks pretty clear. and usually when we see clear that's associated with winds. that's right. spencer, i've listened to you enough to know. yeah. >> no, you're right about that. well, we had some pretty strong wind gusts earlier today. in fact, kristen, we also had a wind advisory in effect for much of the north bay. the winds have calmed down a little bit right now. so here's a look at the satellite radar composite image adding to the windy pattern we've had the last several days is the development of this low pressure system, which is adding to the intensity of the winds. but as i mentioned, our winds have calmed down quite a bit. it's breezy out there right now,

but we don't have many gusty areas. concord 18 mile per hour gusts. that's about the strongest we have at the moment and we've got clear skies. as kristen pointed out, my weather assistant, it is 60 degrees in san francisco right now. oakland 64, hayward 6167 at san jose. pretty mild out there, 63 redwood city and 61 at half moon bay. nice view of blue sky over the golden gate, 68 degrees up north at santa rosa right now. petaluma 63, napa 6460. in fairfield, 61 concord and 59 livermore. a beautiful view from the east bay hills. camera looking at a mainly sunny sky. but these are our forecast headlines. it's going to get quite chilly tonight. we have a frost advisory in effect for much of the bay area next few days. sunny and relatively mild, but the extended outlook shows a little bit of a cooldown coming our way. but still, this dry pattern will persist. so we have a lot more a lot more sunny days coming our way. look for a frost advisory. well, here it is. look for frost possibly developing i should say, as a frost advisory will be in effect from 1 a.m. to

9 a.m. tomorrow for virtually all of the bay area except the bay shoreline and the coast. temperatures may drop as low as 32 degrees in some of the coldest spots overnight lows. as you can see, numerous locations in the 30s. highs tomorrow, generally between 60 and about 62 degrees. a little bit milder in places like san jose, which will top out at about 65. and here's the accuweather seven day forecast. as i mentioned, a string of sunny and dry days coming our way and mild through thursday. it starts to cool down a little bit on friday, but even cooler over the weekend as high temperatures will reach only into the 50s saturday, sunday and monday. but that's a seasonally cool range for this time of the year. yeah, absolutely. >> all right. thank you. spencer, i'm curious to know what you think about this next story coming up. >> i'll be watching. >> yes. well, it's official, you being the baseball fan that you are, future hall of famer justin verlander is san francisco giants newest pitcher. okay, so, folks, now you know how spencer feels about this. i'm excited. yeah. thumbs up. all right. the team introduced him today after signing him to a one year, $15

million deal verlander spent most of last season hurt, but in his career, he's won the cy young award three times. that is the most valuable player award in 2011 and has won two world series titles. i think it's the most valuable pitcher, right? spencer. yes. thank you. pitcher. yeah. the 41 year old verlander has played for houston, detroit and the mets next.

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(daughter) that was corny, but i'll take it. (vo) you can. visit wellsfargo.com/getfargo. air on abc seven. the game between the minnesota vikings and l.a. rams was supposed to happen in los angeles, but it was moved to arizona due to the wildfires, of course. the rams earned a home game after winning the nfc west division. rams

quarterback matthew stafford is hoping to give l.a. fans something to cheer for. >> every time we suit up, you know we're the los angeles rams. you know we play for the people in this community, the people that support us. and this week will be, you know, another example of that, obviously. and you know, it's i'm sure hopefully a great escape for people who have been going through a lot of tough times. >> coverage of the nfc wild card game kicks off at 4:30 p.m. that's followed by after the game with sports director larry beil, then at nine. it's world news tonight with david muir. jeopardy! and wheel of fortune will air at 930 and ten, and then join us for abc seven news at 1030 and 11. thanks so much for joining us. world news tonight with david muir starts right now. and i'll see ♪ tone, we have breaking news as we come on the air. this new warning, the winds coming again tonight. they're warn of a particularly dangerous situation. winds up to