The Los Angeles fires death toll has skyrocketed to 24 amid warnings hellish weather conditions will spur on the raging infernos for at least three more days.
Meteorologists warned residents in fire-ravaged evacuation zones that winds reaching 70mph will pick up on Sunday night and last to Wednesday, heightening the risk for fires to spread even further across southern California.
The weather warning also prevents locals from returning home to inspect the damage, and makes it more challenging for first responders sifting through the ash and debris searching for dozens of people who remain unaccounted for.
Four fires burned through 40,000 acres across the most affluent neighborhoods in LA, with A-list celebrity homes and restaurant hotspots among the 12,300 structures wiped out.
The Los Angeles medical examiner updated the death count on Sunday afternoon, revealing 24 people are now confirmed dead as a result of the fires.
But dozens more are unaccounted for as evacuees locked out of their suburbs face an anxious wait to return home and see what - if anything - remains.
With cadaver dogs now being brought in to locate human remains, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna has warned the death toll will likely continue to rise.
'The Los Angeles County Coroner's Office and the Los Angeles County Fire Department are using cadaver dogs, doing grid searches,' he said.
