Search teams with dogs fanned out looking for victims in Los Angeles on Monday, as firefighters girded for hurricane-force winds that could spark new blazes.
With the disaster in America's second biggest city in its seventh day, 24 people are known to have died -- a toll expected to rise -- and more than 90,000 people remain displaced.
But the first glimmers of normal life have begun to re-emerge.
Schools -- shuttered since roaring winds spread flames through whole communities -- re-opened, while the beloved Los Angeles Lakers basketball team was set to play Monday night.
However, with strong Santa Ana winds returning, California officials were bracing for new problems.
Forecasters say "extremely critical fire weather conditions" were developing in the region, and would last until Wednesday, with winds already gusting to 75 miles (120 kilometers) per hour in parts of Los Angeles and Ventura counties.
"Not only will these extreme and dangerous conditions make fighting ongoing fires much more difficult, but these will make new ignitions much more likely," the National Weather Service said.
- Children -
The renewed danger was doing little to soothe frayed nerves, with parents struggling to make sense of the disaster for their children.
Zahrah Mihm, whose Altadena neighborhood was levelled, said she hoped to minimize the trauma for four-year-old Ethan.
"I'm trying to take this moment out of his mind, and just be like, 'It's all good. Our house got a little owie, we are gonna fix it. It's gonna be fine,'" she said, still wearing the slippers in which she fled last week's blaze.
There was some good news for youngsters, as hundreds of thousands of children went back to classrooms -- though damaged schools and those in evacuation zones remained closed.
Nine people have been charged in connection with looting in no-go areas, Los Angeles County's chief prosecutor said.
The charges include for one burglary that netted $200,000, and one in which an Emmy statuette was stolen, said District Attorney Nathan Hochman.
Meanwhile teams with cadaver dogs were going plot-to-plot in ruined areas searching for victims.
"It is a very grim task, and we unfortunately, every day we're doing this, we're running across the remains of individual community members," County Sheriff Robert Luna said.
"That is not easy work," he said, adding: "I believe we'll continue to find remains."
- Fresh resources -
The Palisades Fire has consumed almost 24,000 acres (9,700 hectares) and was 14 percent contained, with limited fire activity at its boundaries.
The Eaton Fire stood at 14,000 acres and one third containment.
More than 12,000 structures lie in ruins, a figure that includes homes, outbuildings and some vehicles.
US President Joe Biden said it will "cost tens of billions of dollars to get Los Angeles back where it was."
"We're going to need Congress to step up to provide the funding to get this done," the outgoing president said, in a briefing with emergency officials.
A huge firefighting effort was concentrating on mopping up hotspots, with Los Angeles fire chief Kristin Crowley telling reporters strike teams were ready for the wind, which is expected to worsen on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Operations were bolstered by teams from across the western United States and from neighboring countries.
Mexican firefighter Benigno Hernandez Cerino said he and his countrymen were honored to help.
"Our mission is to support our brothers and sisters in Los Angeles, and to do the best possible job to help them prevent fires," he told AFP.
Elon Musk, who along with president-elect Donald Trump has sharply criticized authorities' handling of the fires, sent several Cybertrucks with Starlink satellite internet terminals to assist.
- Hollywood responds -
The body that awards the Oscars said it was cancelling its ritzy nominees' luncheon, as Hollywood tries to navigate the somber mood at a time it would usually be celebrating award season.
It also moved its Academy Awards nomination announcement online.
Major studios and streamers including Netflix, Disney, Amazon, Warner and Universal parent company Comcast have all announced eight-figure donations.
A dozen city sports clubs among them the Lakers, and the Dodgers baseball team, have pledged $8 million toward wildfire relief.
Fire investigation experts combed the wreckage looking for clues to what caused the blazes, with residents desperate for answers and social media overflowing with unsubstantiated videos showing everything from hikers to power lines seemingly at fault.
While wildfires can be deliberately ignited, they are often natural and a vital part of an environment's life cycle.
But urban sprawl puts people more frequently in harm's way, and the changing climate -- supercharged by humanity's unchecked use of fossil fuels -- is exacerbating the conditions that give rise to destructive blazes.
California governor spars with Musk
California Governor Gavin Newsom has accused tech billionaire Elon Musk of spreading "lies" about the state's response to deadly wildfires ravaging Los Angeles, escalating their online row over swirling misinformation.
President-elect Donald Trump and Musk -- the Tesla and SpaceX owner poised to play a key role advising the incoming administration –- have stepped up criticism of the governor's handling of the devastating blazes that have killed at least 24 people and displaced tens of thousands.
In a post on his social media platform X, Musk blamed the huge loss of homes in Los Angeles on "bad governance at a state and local level that resulted in a shortage of water."
"(Musk) exposed by firefighters for his own lies," Newsom posted late Sunday, alongside a video clip showing the tycoon asking a firefighter whether water availability was an issue.
The firefighter replied there was water in "several reservoirs," and added that battling large-scale fires required supplementing the effort with water trucks.
In a separate spat over the weekend, Newsom accused Musk of "encouraging looting by lying," after the billionaire amplified a post on X that falsely claimed the governor and his fellow Democrats had "decriminalized looting."
"It's illegal -- as it always has been," Newsom responded, amid concerns of a looting spree in areas where people were forced to flee the fires.
"Bad actors will be arrested and prosecuted," he added.
- Viral, misleading videos -
Musk's personal account on X, which has more than 212 million followers, has become increasingly influential and has often courted criticism for amplifying misinformation.
The platform -- previously called Twitter, which Musk purchased in 2022 for $44 billion dollars -- has seen an explosion of right-wing misinformation about the deadly wildfires, researchers say.
Even though months of dry weather and strong winds created optimal conditions for the wildfires, narratives on X have singled out diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies in the Los Angeles fire force as a culprit.
"DEI means people will DIE," Musk posted over the weekend, while downplaying the impact of climate change.
One viral video debunked by the misinformation watchdog NewsGuard had falsely claimed fire department officials were desperately using women's handbags to fight the flames because their resources had been diverted to "woke causes" and war assistance to Ukraine.
But the water-filled pouches seen in the video were actually "canvas bags," carried by firefighters because they were easier to use for extinguishing small flames than having to haul out a hose, the entertainment news site TMZ cited local officials as saying.
Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones baselessly claimed on X that the fires were part of a "globalist plot to wage economic warfare and deindustrialize the United States."
"True," Musk wrote in response to Jones.
Wildfire misinformation was also swirling on other platforms including the Meta-owned Facebook.
Authorities recently warned of a false Facebook post urging people to travel to California to join a clean-up crew in areas affected by the wildfires.
"We would like to clarify that there is no such opportunity available," the state's fire protection department wrote on its website.
Meta triggered a global backlash last week after it announced it was scrapping third-party fact-checking in the United States and introducing a crowd-sourced moderation method similar to X.
Disinformation researchers have criticized Meta's policy overhaul, which came less than two weeks before Trump takes office, warning that it risked opening the floodgates for false narratives.
Facebook currently pays to use fact checks from around 80 organizations globally on the platform, as well as on WhatsApp and Instagram. AFP currently works in 26 languages with Facebook's fact-checking scheme.