LOS ANGELES (AP) — A year after twin infernos tore across opposite ends of Los Angeles County, the scars are still visible. Thousands of homes were reduced to rubble, with rebuilding slow, and the death toll showed how a wildfire under extreme weather conditions can turn catastrophic.

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The Palisades and Eaton fires exploded in size within hours of each other on Jan. 7, 2025. These figures show how fast the disaster unfolded and the toll it left behind:

90 miles per hour

The speed of predicted wind gusts in mountain areas, equivalent to 145 kilometers per hour. Red Flag warnings were issued Jan. 6 for severe wildfire danger as Southern California was buffeted by the region’s notorious Santa Ana winds. Grass and brush were tinder dry after months with little or no rain. The National Weather Service warned it could be a life-threatening wind event. Firefighting assets were pre-positioned in areas deemed to be at especially high risk for fires.

4 hours

FILE – A lone sunbather sits and watches a large plume of smoke from a wildfire rise over the Pacific Palisades, in Santa Monica, Calif., Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File)

How long it took for a small wildfire to explode in size. At 10:30 a.m. reports began coming in about a small blaze on a ridge in LA’s upscale Pacific Palisades neighborhood, in the same area where crews had responded to a fire on New Year’s Day. Before long, a large plume of dark smoke was visible from miles away. Shortly after 11 a.m. on Jan. 7, the revived fire was reported to be about 10 acres (4 hectares), located near Palisades Drive on the coastal neighborhood’s western edge.

Over the next two hours, roads were jammed with motorists trying to flee as flames roared down streets and decimated homes. Officials issued an evacuation order for the Palisades while warning residents of surrounding areas that they should also get ready to leave. Within hours, the blaze had rapidly grown.

FILE – A woman cries as the Palisades Fire advances in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Etienne Laurent, File)

As firefighting resources were focused on the Palisades, another blaze was sparked about 30 miles to the east in Altadena, on the other end of Los Angeles County. The Eaton Fire started at 6:17 p.m. and all firefighting aircraft in the county were soon grounded because of high winds. By 8 p.m. it had doubled in size.

59 square miles

FILE – The Palisades Fire burns a Christmas tree inside a residence in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope, File)

The amount of land charred by the two infernos, equivalent to 155 square kilometers. That’s roughly the size of the entire city of San Francisco.

31 lives

The number of people who died — 19 in the Eaton Fire and 12 in the Palisades Fire.

31 days

How long the Palisades Fire burned before it was extinguished. Investigators determined the 37-square-mile blaze had actually grown out of the earlier fire that started on Jan. 1.

25 days

FILE – Melissa Young, center right, gets a hug from a well-wisher at her fire-ravaged home in the aftermath of the Eaton Fire, Jan. 9, 2025, in Altadena, Calif. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer, File)

The number of days it took for the Eaton Fire to be extinguished. It burned 22 square miles.

$33.9 billion

The amount of federal disaster aid requested by Gov. Gavin Newsom. The Trump administration and Congress have yet to approve it.

45 years in prison

The maximum sentence faced by a 29-year-old man charged with sparking the Palisades Fire. He has pleaded not guilty. The cause of the Eaton Fire remains under investigation.

16,246 structures

FILE – A bus sits among burned out homes, Jan. 9, 2025, in Malibu, Calif. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill, File)

The number of structures destroyed in both blazes, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire. In Altadena, 9,413 homes, businesses and other buildings were razed. In Pacific Palisades and neighboring areas including Malibu, 6,833 buildings, mostly homes, were gone.

10 houses

The number of homes rebuilt so far, according to city and county data. Most are in the Altadena area, with one in Pasadena and two in Pacific Palisades. None are finished in Malibu. Hundreds more are under construction across the region.

$970 million

The total charitable commitments to LA fire relief is between at least $860 million to $970 million, according to a study by the Milken Institute. Most was raised in the first month after the fires, and individual donations through GoFundMe brought in $265 million.

This story has been updated to correct the date the two fires erupted to Jan. 7, 2025, not Jan. 6, 2024.

WASHINGTON (AP) — CIA turncoat Aldrich Ames, who betrayed Western intelligence assets to the Soviet Union and Russia in one of the most damaging intelligence breaches in U.S. history, has died in a Maryland prison. He was 84.

A spokesperson for the Bureau of Prisons confirmed Ames died Monday.

Ames admitted being paid $2.5 million by Moscow for U.S. secrets from 1985 until his arrest in 1994. He admitted disclosing the identities of 10 Russian officials and one East European who were spying for the United States or Great Britain. His betrayals are blamed for the executions of Western agents working behind the Iron Curtain and were a major setback to the CIA.

He pleaded guilty without a trial to espionage and tax evasion and was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Prosecutors said he deprived the United States of valuable intelligence material for years.

He professed “profound shame and guilt” for “this betrayal of trust, done for the basest motives,” money to pay debts. But he downplayed the damage he caused, telling the court he did not believe he had “noticeably damaged” the United States or “noticeably aided” Moscow.

“These spy wars are a sideshow which have had no real impact on our significant security interests over the years,” he told the court in a matter-of-fact tone.

In a jailhouse interview with The Washington Post the day before he was sentenced, Ames said he was motivated to spy by “financial troubles, immediate and continuing.”

In what has been called a “heartbreaking” loss, Jett, the former St. Paul police horse, has died.

“In true police form, he fought hard his last few weeks with us. He beat every medical challenge that came his way. His passing was unexpected, and heartbreaking to watch,” wrote Jen Mink on a GoFundMe page set up to help with veterinary bills.

She said an emergency veterinarian euthanized Jett on Christmas Day after he was unable to get on his feet, even with assistance.

Mink was partnered with Jett for about four years when she was a St. Paul police officer, and she owned and cared for him after he retired from duty in 2018. The police department opted to disband its mounted unit in 2019.

“If Jett was a person, he would be receiving a funeral or service with honors. I know it probably sounds silly, but to me, he would have given his life to help others,” Mink wrote. “He lived an honorable life. He was in the small percentage of horses that are courageous and brave. I wish he knew how important he was. Even after retirement, he still served and helped others. He had a big blue heart. And now he is gone, like he and his life weren’t a big deal.”

In mid-December, Jett, an appendix quarter horse, was battling a fever and had been eating and drinking minimally. As veterinarians sought a diagnosis amid evidence of a bowel impaction, Mink created the GoFundMe and asked for the public’s help with expenses.

She said that with the money raised, she knows that everything possible was done to prolong Jett’s life as long as possible.

“My heart hurts so bad right now … but I have moments of comfort, knowing there was nothing left for me or the vet to do. There are no ‘what-if’s’ or ‘if only’s.’ I have all of you to thank for that,” she wrote.

Jett was estimated to be in his late 20s, which is old for a horse.

Mink, who left policing in 2021, now teaches basic horsemanship skills to children through adults with three other retired St. Paul police horses, including Moose, her partner after Jett.

She said she is now turning to having Jett cremated and planning a memorial service consistent with his law enforcement service.

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Three Republican members of the Minnesota House are set to testify Wednesday morning before the U.S. House Oversight Committee for a hearing on fraud and misuse of federal funds.

Rep. Kirstin Robbins, R-Maple Grove, the chair of Minnesota’s Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Committee and a Republican candidate for governor in 2026, as well as Rep. Walter Hudson, R-Albertville, and Rep. Marion Rarick, R-Maple Lake, are scheduled to testify. Hudson and Rarick also serve on the state’s fraud committee.

Members of the Republican-majority U.S. House have recently ramped up their probe into government program fraud in Minnesota. Oversight Committee Chair Rep. James Comer, a Kentucky Republican, has issued requests to multiple state officials to testify before the Oversight Committee.

“American taxpayers demand and deserve accountability for the theft of their hard-earned money,” Comer said in a news release ahead of the hearings. “The U.S. Department of Justice is actively investigating, prosecuting, and charging fraudsters who have stolen billions from taxpayers, and Congress has a duty to conduct rigorous oversight of this heist and enact stronger safeguards to prevent fraud in taxpayer-funded programs, as well as strong sanctions to hold offenders accountable.”

Comer said the Oversight Committee will hold future hearings on fraud. He’s invited Democratic-Farmer-Labor Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison to a February hearing, blaming the top elected officials for not doing enough to address the problem in the state.

Walz, who ended his bid for a third term as governor this week as political pressure on fraud continues to mount, has pointed to recent actions of his administration — such as canceling payments in a fraud-beset housing program, ordering third-party audits and the appointment of a top anti-fraud official — as signs that he is tackling the problem.

Ellison pointed to his office’s work to combat fraud in federally-funded programs, including prosecutions in “over 300 Medicaid fraud cases” where his office “won over $80 million in recoveries.”

“Attorney General Ellison has put fraudsters in prison while defending our tax dollars and the services they pay for,” his office said in a statement. “Attorney General Ellison will review Representative Comer’s invitation and respond at the appropriate time.”

Comer also has asked other state officials to give testimony to the committee. Former Department of Human Services Commissioner Jodi Harpstead, who resigned last January, got a letter from the chairman in December requesting she provide testimony in an in-person transcribed interview on Feb. 6. Comer said the committee will have to “evaluate the use of the compulsory process” if she did not testify voluntarily.

A similar letter went out to Eric Grumdahl, the former assistant commissioner of Homelessness and Housing Supports at DHS, who left his job before federal prosecutors announced fraud charges in the state’s Medicaid-funded housing stabilization services program.

Other officials with DHS and the Minnesota Department of Education also got letters from Comer.

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Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson, who is leading prosecutions in the $250 million Feeding Our Future children’s meal program fraud case and in Medicaid-funded programs, has estimated fraud in Minnesota could top $9 billion.

Walz and officials in his administration have disputed that number, saying Thompson has presented no evidence to back it up. Walz on Tuesday called that estimate “defamation” of the state.

The hearing starts at 9 a.m. Central Time on Wednesday. It can be viewed at oversight.house.gov/hearing.