Twenty-three people have been reported missing following the devastating wildfires in the Pacific Palisades and the Altadena/Pasadena area, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna.
Of those missing reports, 17 come from the Eaton Fire and 6 come from the Palisades Fire area.
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“All of them are adults,” Luna said during a press conference Monday. “Thank God there's no juveniles, but if you believe you have somebody who's missing, make sure you report that to us as soon as possible.”
Luna also confirmed 21 deaths "in the L.A. County area of responsibility" with 16 in the Eaton fire area and 5 in the Palisades area.
“And sadly, yes, unfortunately, I anticipate the number to go up,” he said.
This number comes one day after the County of Los Angeles Department of Medical Examiner reported that there were 24 deaths.
He also urged residents who want to go check out their property to stay put for now.
“People are saying, ‘I just want to go look at my house and I want to see what's left’ -
we know that,” he said. “But we have people literally looking for the remains of your neighbors. Please be patient with us. There's a lot of hazards in the area.S till, the area has not been rendered safe . Please be patient with us. And then we have the potential of crime scenes, and I’m not saying that's what it is - I'm just saying we have to think ahead because we can't go back from that.”
Luna also said there are over 92,000 people who are under evacuation orders and 89,000 people who are under evacuation warnings.
He reminded residents that the 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew was still in effect in mandatory evacuation areas for the Palisade and Eaton fires and that he’d arrested two people for curfew violations.
He added that two people were arrested for a drone incident.
“So, as I talk to our community again, if you do not have business in the evacuation areas, do not go there,” he said. “Please, you're infringing upon the work that our first responders need to attend to.”
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