Search for bodies under way with fierce winds set to return

Search teams with dogs fanned out looking for victims in Los Angeles on Jan 13, as firefighters girded for hurricane-force winds that could spark new blazes.

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With the disaster in America's second-biggest city in its seventh day, 24 people are known to have died, with the toll expected to rise, and more than 90,000 people remain displaced.

But the first glimmers of normal life began to re-emerge.

Schools - closed since roaring winds spread flames through whole communities - reopened, while the beloved Los Angeles Lakers basketball team was set to play again.

But with strong Santa Ana winds returning, officials in Southern California were bracing themselves for new problems.

Forecasters say "extremely critical fire weather conditions" were developing, and would last until Jan 15, with winds already gusting to 120kmh in parts of Los Angeles and Ventura counties.

"Not only will these extreme and dangerous conditions make fighting ongoing fires much more difficult, but these will make new ignitions much more likely," the National Weather Service said.

More than 8,500 firefighters attacked the fires from the air and on the ground, preventing conflagrations at either end of Los Angeles from spreading overnight on Jan 13.

"This set-up is about as bad as it gets," Los Angeles City fire chief Kristin Crowley told local residents. "We are not in the clear."

The state authorities were prepositioning firefighting crews in Los Angeles and other Southern California counties that were under elevated fire danger, officials said.

The renewed danger was doing little to soothe frayed nerves, with parents struggling to make sense of the disaster for their children.