Fire crews gathered around a roof here, a fence there. But mostly, everything was just gone. The inferno had torn down the cliffs, destroyed the scarps, hopped the Pacific Coast Highway and ignited almost every last structure until it reached the sand.

Small canvas bags that Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) firefighters used as makeshift water containers to quickly put out a trash fire have been misdescribed on social media as women’s handbags, suggesting the LAFD is under-resourced because of budget cuts and donations of firefighting supplies to Ukraine.

The biggest threat to Los Angeles remains the strong winds, which reduced in speed early Thursday morning, allowing firefighters to better take control of the fires. Stronger winds, however, are expected to return later in the day.