GEOFF BENNETT: Welcome to the "News Hour."

Unprecedented warnings about wind conditions have residents around Los Angeles on high alert again tonight, while firefighters work to control major blazes that have destroyed communities and taken at least 24 lives.

AMNA NAWAZ: More than 40,000 people have applied for FEMA assistance already.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass issued an executive order to remove red tape and speed up rebuilding efforts.

And Governor Gavin Newsom suspended state rules to make it easier for students to attend school in a different location because of the fires.

But, as Stephanie Sy reports, for the moment, it's hard for many residents to look beyond the next 24 hours.

KRISTIN CROWLEY, Los Angeles City, California, Fire Chief: Life-threatening and destructive and widespread winds are already here.

STEPHANIE SY: Even as firefighters continue to battle blazes in Altadena and the Pacific Palisades, the weary residents of Los Angeles are bracing for another 24 hours of dangerous fire conditions.

Strong Santa Anas, combined with extremely dry weather and vegetation, could shape another perfect storm.

Fire officials say they're in position and ready for any fresh fires, as well as flare-ups of the Palisades and Eaton fires, which have been burning for a week.

KRISTIN CROWLEY: For this significant wind event, we are taking an aggressive lean-forward posture and the LAFD has staffed all available resources, strategically placing fire patrols and engines in the unimpacted high fire risk areas in the city.

STEPHANIE SY: In Ventura County, some 60 miles northwest of Los Angeles, a new blaze exploded overnight.

The Auto Fire burned through this agricultural area in the dry riverbed town of Oxnard.

The Ventura Fire Department said it managed to stop it in its tracks.

But nearby residents were prepared with go-bags packed.

JIM KELLER, California Resident: We have been monitoring the fires every day, viewing the Cal Fire map, wind speeds, wind direction, trying to assess whether we're in particular danger for the day or not.

STEPHANIE SY: Back in L.A. County, gale-force winds reached upwards of 50 miles per hour.

Forecasters say that's strong enough to blow still-smoldering embers miles beyond the fire lines.

When they can take off, aircraft are blasting hard-to-reach canyons with hot pink flame retardant.

On the ground, firefighters are removing brush, trees or anything that could act as tinder.

The efforts have kept the already historic infernos at bay for the past two days.

KAREN BASS (D), Mayor of Los Angeles, California: The massive, massive destruction is unimaginable until you actually see it.

STEPHANIE SY: L.A. Mayor Karen Bass, who has faced criticism over funding for the fire department and being away when the fires broke out, said she assessed the damage on an aerial tour.

KAREN BASS: It's one thing to see it on television.

It's another thing to see it from air.

While we're preparing for the next couple of days, we also want to move into the time when we prepare for moving forward and rebuilding, but making sure that we can get people's lives back and whole.

STEPHANIE SY: Before they can rebuild, more than 88,000 Angelenos remain evacuated, many unsure how much has been lost or saved.

Officials say evacuation orders will remain in place until conditions are safe.

For thousands, including Brentwood resident Aviva Copaken, the road ahead is difficult to contemplate.

AVIVA COPAKEN, California Resident: My landlord tries to update us every day, and he's been saying that it definitely could change.

If it does change, I actually don't know where I would go, to be honest.

Like, I don't have family here.

I have friends, but they're all affected.

So I don't have a set plan in mind, and it's terrifying.

STEPHANIE SY: Let's hear more about the challenges so many are facing, this time from a member of our extended family.

Special correspondent Marcia Biggs lives in Malibu and had to evacuate last week.

She's been staying at a hotel and is now with a friend.

Marcia Biggs, thank you so much for joining the "News Hour."

It must be an unimaginably difficult time for you and your community.

And I know you have been back to your neighborhood.

So, just start by describing what you have seen.

MARCIA BIGGS: So, I'm lucky because I have a press pass and I'm able to get through.

Most of my neighbors, all of my neighbors have not been able to get in.

And I have taken videos for my neighbors and tried to get into their homes if I have keys or door codes and get what they need.

So I think what is really tough for people right now is just not knowing.

They can see on the map, they can see from footage, news footage, satellite imagery that their house is intact.

But they haven't been able to lay eyes on their homes.

And that is, I think, one of the most frustrating parts right now, as we just wait.

Those that have lost their homes are now trying to figure out how to go forward.

But in terms of my house, I am one little area of a block that was untouched, and everything else around is burned.

I mean, that's across the street.

That's incredible.

It was so fast.

I grabbed my dog, my computer, my passport, a necklace of my mom's, and I got out.

I don't know how we got so lucky.

I am beyond grateful, beyond grateful and relieved, because I also had my insurance canceled.

But it's really hard to be happy when you know everybody is struggling and is dealing with utter devastation.

STEPHANIE SY: The pictures that you sent us, it was like everything around you was ash, but your apartment building somehow remains intact.

I mean, can you even see yourself living in a place where everything around you is gone?

MARCIA BIGGS: I mean, that part is really hard and I think that that's what everybody is dealing with.

And that's, I think, what's so heartbreaking is, what we loved about this area is the community.

And it's really hard to imagine going home to a graveyard.

I mean, it's not a graveyard in the sense that people died, thank God, but it's charred remains of a life.

It's also -- this scope, I think, is hard for people to understand.

Like, everything that we know, everything that we do in our daily lives is now gone.

The grocery store, the pharmacy, the dry cleaner's, the coffee shop, the place we go for brunch on Sundays, the farmers market, all my friends' kids schools, the Palisades Rec Center where they would do sports, it's all gone.

So what I'm sort of struggling with, I mean, it's easier for me because I'm a single person, but what my friends are struggling with, with kids and families is, what do we kind of rally around?

What's that one singular thing that all these families can cling to?

And it's a difficult struggle, because there's really nothing left.

STEPHANIE SY: Looking ahead, they're starting to talk about recovery.

What does recovery look like to you in your community?

MARCIA BIGGS: I can't think that far.

I don't know.

STEPHANIE SY: You can't think that far.

MARCIA BIGGS: I think that's so many years ahead that I can't even imagine it yet.

STEPHANIE SY: Marcia Biggs, I'm so sorry for the losses in your community, but I'm glad you're OK.

Thank you so much for joining us.

MARCIA BIGGS: Thank you.