Firefighters holding Eaton, Palisades fires in check, but new wind event is on the way

Hundreds of evacuees and volunteers on Saturday descended on the parking lot at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, where a grassroots donation center was set up a few miles south of the Eaton Fire.

The ad-hoc donation center was established outside the race track after being moved from the parking lot of the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. Officials said the Rose Bowl grounds were needed for a command post as firefighters deployed to nearby fire zones.

After group of street-vendor friends came together to start feeding those who come to the donation center for free. Santa Anita Park has blocked off a portion of the park for the food effort. They are accepting donations through Sunday evening.

A massive fire relief effort is underway at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia.

On Saturday afternoon, those in need were seen moving among a massive amount of clothing, pallets of bottled water, and other donated goods that were made available in rows and rows of piles and boxes, similar to the layout of a swap meet.

Hundreds of evacuees and volunteers descended on the parking lot at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, where a grassroots donation center was set up a few miles south of the Eaton Fire zone.

Santa Anita Park canceled racing this weekend due to the ongoing wildfires in Los Angeles County. Track officials say their property was being used to support several relief efforts, including the sprawling charity drop-off.

Southern California Edison is using the entire north parking lot as its base camp to restore power to those in the affected areas and Santa Anita is working with additional response organizations requesting space.

Morning horse training will continue as scheduled throughout the weekend and Santa Anita will remain open for simulcast wagering.

Supervisor Kathryn Barger said she sent a letter to President-elect Donald Trump inviting him to Los Angeles County "to engage in wildfire recovery efforts and to visit the area "to see the impact firsthand."

"By accepting this invitation, Mr. President-Elect, you will join us in supporting our citizenry and thanking our heroic first responders, who have risked their own lives to save others," Barger wrote to Trump. "We would also ask you, as our President, to stand with the people of Los Angeles County as we set our course to rebuild. Your presence would be deeply felt and appreciated."

Trump did not immediately respond.

In a news release, Barger noted that in November 2018, the Trump administration issued a Major Disaster and Emergency Declaration for the Woolsey Fire that devastated Malibu and its surrounding communities.

"The White House's declaration allowed for the rapid deployment of federal resources, including emergency personnel and financial assistance," the statement said.

As the cataclysmic wildfires rage across Los Angeles, Trump hasn't been offering much sympathy. Instead, he's claiming he could do a better job managing the crisis, spewing falsehoods and casting blame on Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Trump has lashed out at his longtime political foe Newsom's forest management policies and falsely claimed the state's fish conservation efforts are responsible for fire hydrants running dry in urban areas. Referring to the governor by a derisive nickname, Trump said he should resign.

AIR7 aerials spotted a structure burning in the Mandeville Canyon, which is the first time we've seen flames reach a structure in the area since the Palisade Fire started burning toward the 405 Freeway.

The structure appeared to be a home.

AIR7 aerials spotted a structure burning in the Mandeville Canyon, which is the first time we've seen flames reach a structure in the area.

Firefighters were seen making multiple water drops in an effort to save other homes in the Mandeville Canyon area. The tense development came as new evacuations were underway Saturday.

A software error led to an errant emergency evacuation alert that was sent to millions of mobile devices throughout Southern California, Office of Emergency Management Director Kevin McGowan said.

The first erroneous alert was sent out around 4 p.m. Thursday, shortly after the Kenneth Fire erupted in the West Hills area. The alert about evacuation warnings was only supposed to be sent to people in the affected area near that fire, but instead, it was sent to cell phones throughout most of the county, including residents in the South Bay, the Westside, downtown Los Angeles, the San Fernando Valley, even as far away as Orange County.

A software error led to an errant evacuation alert that was sent to millions, Office of Emergency Management Director Kevin McGowan said.

Speaking at a Saturday morning news conference, McGowan said the first wayward alert "was indeed correctly targeted to the right recipients. We believe that the problem occurred in the software system that accidentally blasted the alert countywide, rather than to the targeted recipients who needed to get the information to safely prepare to evacuate."

A correction message was sent out countywide about 15 minutes later. Law enforcement and government agencies across the region also issued statements assuring people the message was in error.