Families of color, making up over half of Altadena, have bought homes and kept them for generations. The Black homeownership rate exceeds 80%, almost double the national rate.

"It's a nightmare. My soul and my heart ache. Everything is gone. Houses, schools, churches, banks. Everything," Teresa García, who is originally from Poncitlán, Jalisco, a small town in Central Mexico,

These photos chronicle the catastrophic scale of destruction from wildfires in California that started on January 7.

LOS ANGELES -- A humanitarian team from Mexico, deployed to fight the fires burning in Southern California ... would fight the Eaton Fire in Altadena, but because the Palisades Fire is continuing ...

As climate change warms the planet, wildfires have become so unpredictable and extreme that new words were invented: firenado, gigafire, fire siege — even fire pandemic. California has 78 more annual “fire days” — when conditions are ripe for fires to spark — than 50 years ago.

When fires swept through Altadena, in Los Angeles County, generational wealth and a place of opportunity for people of color, went up in smoke.

I started receiving texts from other friends who were fleeing Altadena. Families like Jeff and Kevin, two Marines who fell in love in the service, got married at the Altadena Town & Country Club, and had a beautiful baby boy together.

Fire agencies are investigating whether Southern California Edison -- a subsidiary of Edison International -- infrastructure sites caused fires in areas devastated by the Eaton and Hurst wildfires. "You can't rule out anything ever until you can get your eyes on the equipment," Pizarro said.

Attorneys for Altadena resident Evangeline Iglesias have asked a judge to order Edison to preserve evidence in the area.

Fanned by strong winds, the wildfires have killed at least 24 people and swept through 40,000 acres in the Greater Los Angeles area.

A day after firefighters got a reprieve with lighter winds than expected, gusts were hitting up to 35 mph (56 kph) on the coast and valleys and 55 mph (88 kph) in the mountains before dawn, National Weather Service meteorologist Todd Hall said. Here's the latest:

LOS ANGELES (NEXSTAR) — Millions of Southern Californians nervously kept watch as winds began picking up Wednesday during a final round of dangerous wildfire weather forecast for the region where two massive blazes have killed at least 25 people and destroyed thousands of homes.