Days after an inferno razed Pacific Palisades, Maya Lieberman is desperate to find somewhere to live. But unscrupulous landlords who are jacking up prices are making it hard.”The price gouging is going haywire, it’s obscene,” the 50-year-old stylist told AFP.”I can’t find anywhere for us to go.”Huge fires that have torn through Los Angeles since Tuesday have leveled whole neighborhoods, turning swaths of the city to ash.More than 150,000 people have been ordered to leave their homes as authorities try to keep down a death toll that has already reached 16.One blaze devastated Pacific Palisades, an upmarket enclave that was home to celebrities like Billy Crystal and Kate Beckinsale, which — until this week — was some of the most desirable real estate in the United States.With the area now under a compulsory evacuation order, even those whose homes survived the inferno need to go elsewhere for the foreseeable future.The higher-than-average incomes of people forced to leave homes there appear to have tempted opportunists, who see a chance to make money from others’ misery.”We put in an application at a house… that was listed at $17,000 a month, and they told us if we didn’t pay $30,000, we weren’t going to get it,” Lieberman said.”They told me they have people ready to offer more and pay cash. It’s absolutely insane.”- Illegal -Similar stories of apparent price gouging abound.”I have friends who booked a hotel outside Los Angeles, and when they arrived there, they were asked for a higher price,” said TV producer Alex Smith, who has been forced to leave his home.The sharp practice has drawn the ire of California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who warned Saturday there are laws against it.”Price gouging is illegal. We will not stand for it. We will hold you accountable. We will prosecute,” he told reporters, adding that those found guilty could land themselves a year in jail.Once a state of emergency is declared — as it has been for the out-of-control fires — vendors cannot increase their prices by more than 10 percent.That applies to small businesses as well as to mega-companies whose automated tools use supply and demand to set the cost of everything from hotel stays to concert tickets.”If those algorithms lead to prices higher after the declaration of emergency than before, by more than 10 percent, you’re violating the law,” Bonta said.”You need to figure out how to adjust your prices consistent with the law. And if that means departing from your algorithm, depart from your algorithm.”The protections had been due to expire after 30 to 180 days — but on Sunday, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed an executive order extending them until Jaunary 7, 2026.But for Brian, a retiree who has been sleeping in his car since the evacuation order was raised, the rules protecting against price gouging are almost beside the point.The 69-year-old, who did not want to give his full name, had been living in a rent-controlled studio apartment in Pacific Palisades for two decades.That has now gone, and along with it the guarantee that his rent cannot rise.His pension, he fears, will not stretch far in a city where rents have doubled in the last 10 years — a problem likely to be exacerbated by the sudden rush of people needing somewhere new to live.”I’m back on the market with tens of thousands of people,” he said.”That doesn’t bode well.”

US officials warned “dangerous and strong” winds were set to push deadly wildfires further through Los Angeles residential areas Sunday as firefighters struggled to make progress against the flames.At least 16 people have been confirmed dead from blazes that have ripped through the city, reducing whole neighborhoods to ashes and leaving thousands without homes.Despite massive efforts, including precision sorties from aerial crews, the Palisades Fire continued to grow, spreading east towards the priceless collections of the Getty Center art museum and north to the densely populated San Fernando Valley.”The winds are potentially getting dangerous and strong again,” Deanne Criswell, head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), told CNN.”The biggest thing that people need to know is that this is still dangerous.”A brief lull in the wind gave way to gusts that forecasters warned could reach up to 50 miles per hour (80 kilometers per hour) early Sunday, and feed the blazes for days to come.The winds were due to weaken later Sunday before picking up again overnight, the National Weather Service said.- Nowhere to live -The Palisades Fire was 11 percent contained but had grown to 23,600 acres (9,500 hectares), while the Eaton Fire was at 14,000 acres and 15 percent contained.Official figures show more than 12,000 structures burned, though Cal Fire’s Todd Hopkins said not all were houses and the number included outbuildings, trailers and sheds.In some areas, the ferocious fire left streaks of molten metal flowing from burnt-out cars.The sudden rush of evacuated people needing somewhere to live posed a growing problem for the city.”I’m back on the market with tens of thousands of people,” said a man who gave his name as Brian, whose rent-controlled apartment has burned. “That doesn’t bode well.”With incidences of looting and a nighttime curfew in place, police and National Guard mounted checkpoints to prevent people getting into the disaster zones.Two people were arrested near Vice President Kamala Harris’s Brentwood house for violating the curfew order after police received reports of burglary.A handwritten sign with “looters will be shot” was hung on one tree, next to the US flag outside a house in Pacific Palisades.But the security checkpoints have left residents frustrated as they queue for up to 10 hours to try to get back in and see what, if anything, is left of their homes or check on family.Prevented from entering an evacuation zone, Altadena resident Bobby Salman, 42, said: “I have to be there to protect my family, my wife, my kids, my mom and I cannot even go and see them.”The queues left some people fuming about poor management, the latest gripe from a population already angry over hydrants that ran dry in the initial firefight.City officials have put on a united front after reports of a behind-the-scenes row between the mayor and the fire chief.But President-elect Donald Trump accused California officials of incompetence.”This is one of the worst catastrophes in the history of our Country. They just can’t put out the fires. What’s wrong with them?” Trump said on his Truth Social platform.Teams with cadaver dogs were combing through the rubble, with several people known to be missing and fears that the death toll will grow.Among those known to have died in the tragedy was former Australian child star Rory Sykes, who appeared in British TV show “Kiddy Kapers” in the 1990s.- Climate impact -A huge investigation by federal and local authorities was underway to determine what caused the blazes.California Governor Gavin Newsom told Meet the Press he was also launching a “Marshall Plan” for the state as it looks to rebuild.”We already have a team looking at reimagining L.A. 2.0,” he said.He also stressed the immediate problem of weather conditions, saying “the challenge is the winds. We’ve got these winds coming back this evening, Sunday night. We’ve got peak winds on Monday.”While the ignition of a wildfire can be deliberate, 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.