After a weekend of reprieve allowing fire teams to continue making progress battling the deadly infernos burning in Los Angeles County, Southern California now faces another round of fire-fueling Santa Ana Winds Monday.

By Chad Terhune and Rollo Ross LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -Los Angeles officials told most evacuees from the wildfires on Thursday to stay away from their homes at least another week as emergency responders remove toxic waste from incinerated neighborhoods and cut off electricity and gas lines posing a hazard amid the ruins.

Improving weather conditions continue to aid in the increased containment of both the Eaton and Palisades fires, with some evacuations lifted in the Palisades Fire area.

Dangerous winds forecast to hit Los Angeles next week could rekindle the devastating fires that have wreaked havoc on the US West Coast for almost two weeks, meterologists said on Sunday. The National Weather Service (NWS) Los Angeles predicted "damaging Santa Ana winds and extreme fire weather" to hit the city Monday through Tuesday,

Two wildfires still burning in Los Angeles have torched more urban area than any other fire in the state since at least the mid-1980s, an Associated Press analysis shows. The Eaton and Palisades fires that erupted last week have collectively burned almost 4 square miles of highly dense parts of Los Angeles,