California wildfires live updates: Death toll rises to 16 as Palisades Fire expands east to Brentwood and Encino

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Two devastating wind-fed fires have killed at least 16 people and swept through 37,000 acres in the greater Los Angeles area, destroying entire communities and more than 12,000 structures. Crews are also making progress on containing two smaller fires in the region.

At least 13 people are missing, L.A. County Sheriff Robert Luna said today. It's unclear if the missing persons reports are related to the fires, he said.

Evacuation orders for the largest blaze, the Palisades Fire, have expanded as it sweeps east and threatens Brentwood and Encino. It is 11% contained.

At least 153,000 L.A. residents were under evacuation orders overnight. A map of the evacuation zone is here.

Gov. Gavin Newsom called for an independent investigation into the loss of water pressure to local fire hydrants and the reported unavailability of water supplies from the Santa Ynez Reservoir.

Los Angeles County declared a public health emergency, warning that smoke and particulate matter could pose immediate and long-term threats. The full warning and list of recommendations can be found here.

Watch live coverage from NBC Los Angeles here.

weather to stop flames from expanding the Palisades Fire's northern footprint today.

Cooler Pacific winds in the area earlier today blew inland from the south-southwest, giving firefighters temporary respite from warm, dry, offshore winds that move from north to south and heat up air molecules under pressure as the gusts descend mountains toward the sea.

"Winds are in our favor in that area, so it looks really good," said California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Operations Chief Christian Litz.

He explained that some of the northeastern contours of the fire near Mandeville Canyon were fortified with dozer lines amid the fire's northern pause. "We watched as it was backing down," Litz said during a community meeting streamed for public viewing tonight.

The area has been the subject of concern after evacuation warnings spread across the 405 freeway into parts of Bel Air and abutting the campus of UCLA in Westwood. The fire didn't jump the freeway.

"That topside looks really good," Litz said.

Tomorrow represents the possibility of another difficult day as the kind of Santa Ana winds that helped fuel Southern California's devastating fires during the week were expected to return overnight.

National Weather Service data tracked the winds as they turned around and returned to the dreaded offshore direction from the north-northeast tonight. Red flag warnings were in effect for much of L.A. and Ventura counties tonight, with gusts of 50 to 75 mph possible tonight into tomorrow morning and again tomorrow night into Monday morning, federal forecasters said.

Federal forecasters have "high confidence in long duration critical fire weather conditions," the weather service's Oxnard, California, office said in its red flag warning message.

Red flag warnings alert residents to dangerous fire weather as measured by winds of at least 20 mph and relative humidity of 25% or less, according to the weather service.