The Morning: The winds arrive

Plus, a special counsel report, Russian bombs and 35 simple health tips.

View in browser|nytimes.com January 14, 2025 Good morning. Today, my colleague Raymond Zhong explains why the Los Angeles fires have been so hard to contain. We're also covering a special counsel report, a potential cease-fire deal and 35 simple health tips. —David Leonhardt In Pacific Palisades. Loren Elliott for The New York Times The airborne flames By Raymond Zhong I'm a climate reporter. More howling, whipping, fire-stoking winds have arrived in Los Angeles. They are expected to strengthen by dawn and may blow up to 70 miles per hour. Some gusts could rekindle parts of the major blazes tearing through the city's hills and suburbs. Others could start new fires. It may seem hard to understand why the combined resources of the federal government, California and Los Angeles haven't been able to defeat the wildfires after a week of fighting them. The winds are a major reason. The gusts hurl embers across great distances, spreading fire quickly and thwarting efforts to pinch it off. Planes and helicopters that spray water and flame retardant can't fly. Firefighters on the ground can't battle the flames on streets and hillsides without fear they'll be incinerated. At their peak, the winds have forced firefighters to focus on something else: evacuating residents. "You're just trying to keep people alive," Lenya Quinn-Davidson, a fire expert in Northern California, said. How to stop a fire When forests and grasslands ignite, crews follow a strategy called anchor and flank. They find a safe spot, or anchor point, upwind of the blaze. Then they attack from the edges: They douse the flames with hoses and remove anything flammable from the fire's path. They use power tools to thin the vegetation or — for the bigger stuff — reduce it to ash with small controlled burns. That's called a fire line. The advancing blaze stops when it reaches the fire line and finds nothing else to consume. Source: Cal Fire | Data is as of 2:00 a.m. Pacific time on Jan. 14. | By The New York Times Sources: Cal Fire; New York Times analysis | Data is as of 2:00 a.m. Pacific time on Jan. 14. | By The New York Times But it's incredibly hard to anchor and flank in strong winds. Even a spot that seems safe won't remain safe for long. Flying embers can soar miles away from the fire's front, meaning the danger spreads too quickly for firefighters keep up. "Fires under these conditions — they're not moving on the ground" as a normal fire would, said Hugh Safford, a fire ecologist at the University of California, Davis. "They're moving in the air." That's why some wildfires in Southern California can't be stopped until the desert winds, known as the Santa Anas, recede. Urban warfare The Los Angeles inferno adds another difficulty: an urban tinderbox. When embers float from home to home on a crowded street, there's no way to create fire lines to interrupt the flames. "All of the things that we have in our houses — drapes, couches, carpet — all of a sudden that stuff can ignite really rapidly," Rick Connell, an officer with the U.S. Forest Service, said. Hastings Ranch in Pasadena, Calif. Source: Nearmap | By The New York Times And winds don't just ground firefighting aircraft. They also make the water and fire retardants they spray less effective. Gusts turn the liquid into mist by the time it hits the ground, where it does little to smother the blaze. Even in the best circumstances, retardants can do only so much. "If you've already got 100-foot flames, you're just wasting money," Connell said. Over the last week, Los Angeles deployed more firefighters and received additional air support, including from the military. "We're absolutely better prepared," the county's fire chief told reporters on Monday. But the experts I interviewed said it would be unrealistic to expect fires of this size to be contained in just a week. For now, the best hope may be to wait until the current winds slow down. More on the fires In Pasadena, Calif. Isadora Kosofsky for The New York Times "It's like being lost in a fog": After fleeing their homes, residents are trying to carry on while living in shelters, friends' homes and cars. See photos of the devastation and the latest maps of the fires. Investigators have determined the spot where the Palisades fire began, on a ridge near a hiking trail. But it's still not clear what ignited it. A man and his son, who both used wheelchairs, called for help in evacuating the Eaton fire. They died in the blaze, and the family wants answers. Hollywood is debating whether the awards season should continue, The Washington Post reports. The fires complicate Los Angeles hosting the 2028 Olympics. THE LATEST NEWS Special Counsel Report Donald Trump  Doug Mills/The New York Times Jack Smith, who indicted Donald Trump on charges of illegally trying to cling to power after the 2020 election, said in a report that there would have been sufficient evidence to convict Trump in a trial. Trump's 2024 win made it impossible for the prosecution to continue. The report contained an extensive justification for pursuing the prosecution, given what Smith called Trump's "unprecedented criminal effort to overturn the legitimate results of the election." Read the report here. Hunter Biden Another special counsel, David Weiss, released the report on his investigation of Hunter Biden. In it, Weiss denounced President Biden for criticizing the inquiry and said that Biden threatened "the integrity of the justice system as a whole." Confirmation Hearings Senators will question Pete Hegseth, Trump's pick for defense secretary, this morning. Trump's allies have pressured Republicans to support him. Democrats are likely to ask Hegseth about allegations of sexual assault and public drunkenness, as well as his comments about women in the military. Read what to expect. Several other confirmation hearings are scheduled for this week. Here's how the process works. More on Politics The Education Department canceled student loans for thousands more borrowers. The loans of more than five million Americans have now been forgiven. The singer Carrie Underwood will perform at Trump's inauguration. Elon Musk is expected to use office space in the White House complex, which will keep him close to Trump as he builds his Department of Government Efficiency. Steve Bannon, a longtime Trump adviser, is feuding with Musk: "He's a truly evil person," Bannon said. "Stopping him has become a personal issue for me." International Israel and Hamas are said to be close to an agreement for a cease-fire in Gaza and the release of hostages, according to officials. Last summer, American intelligence officials learned of a Russian plot to detonate airline cargo in the U.S. So the White House sent a warning to the one man who could stop it: Vladimir Putin. Lebanon's Parliament named Nawaf Salam, the head of the International Court of Justice, as prime minister. His selection is seen as a blow to Hezbollah. Business Rachel Maddow will return to nightly shows on MSNBC for Trump's first 100 days in office. Texas sued Allstate, accusing the insurer of illegally tracking drivers through mobile phone apps. Other Big Stories National standards direct police officers to fire their Tasers only under threat. But in Mississippi, where the rules are lax, officers use the weapons with impunity. In the coming decades, as Americans live longer, dementia will become far more prominent, researchers say. A Texas man was charged with stalking Caitlin Clark, the W.N.B.A. star. Opinions In the House chamber. Mark Peterson for The New York Times To escape our two-party trap, we need a better system of electing people to Congress: proportional representation, Jesse Wegman and Lee Drutman argue. The Los Angeles wildfires burned down diverse, middle-class neighborhoods. Most people won't be able to afford to rebuild, Héctor Tobar writes. Victims of the fires should channel their anger into support for the environment, Patti Davis writes. Here are columns by Michelle Goldberg on Democrats' immigration cowardice and Thomas Edsall on Trump and revenge. A subscription to match the variety of your interests. News. Games. Recipes. Product reviews. Sports reporting. A New York Times All Access subscription covers all of it and more. Subscribe today. MORNING READS Illustration by Lorena Spurio 35 simple tips: Health experts swear by these small things to improve your life. Hot fitness: Is a heated workout really better for you? No good spots: Some cities have cut parking requirements for real estate projects. Residents aren't happy. Ask Well: "Do I need to worry about microplastics in tea bags?" Lives Lived: Oliviero Toscani was a photographer, art director and creative mastermind of Benetton's advertising campaigns who used images of an AIDS patient and death row inmates to break the boundaries of fashion imagery. He died at 82. SPORTS N.F.L.: The Rams, displaced by the Los Angeles wildfires, upset the 14-win Vikings in the final wild-card playoff game, 27-9. M.L.B.: The Japanese pitcher Roki Sasaki narrowed his possible free-agent destinations to three: the Dodgers, Padres and Blue Jays. ARTS AND IDEAS In New York.  Yuvraj Khanna for The New York Times In New York City's 24-hour diners, patrons of all backgrounds bump elbows over patty melts and pancakes. But the diners are endangered by rising costs and food delivery. Priya Krishna spent a Friday night at a diner in Brooklyn to appreciate the magic of a restaurant that never closes. More on culture On Broadway, mothers are usually either objects of devotion or monsters. A wave of multidimensional characters suggests things might be changing. Pope Francis' autobiography, "Hope," was released today. Jimmy Kimmel became emotional when discussing the California wildfires on his show. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Linda Xiao for The New York Times Add white chocolate and almond flour to this one-bowl olive oil and lemon cake. Try these egg substitutes. Keep your hands hydrated. Work with a portable second screen. GAMES Here is today's Spelling Bee. Yesterday's pangrams were bootjack and jackboot. And here are today's Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. 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