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As I described here on Thursday, at least 20 looters have been arrested in LA County so far, but there are many media reports suggesting the number of looters goes far beyond that. Some reports indicated that caravans of men on cars and scooters were going through neighborhoods under evacuation orders looking for homes they could rob. So many people were experiencing this that some homeowners refused to leave in order to safeguard their homes.

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On Friday, the 62-year-old said she has been camped out at her two-bedroom Craftsman after seeing news reports that roving bands of thieves are targeting homes that weren’t leveled and remain unoccupied in evacuation zones around the city…

“No one’s here securing the homes, so these criminals are coming and breaking in,” she said. “Just to add more insult to injury, we have that now. So I’m living in my house right now, with a generator, even though we’re supposed to be evacuated, and basically camping here so we can protect our home and assets. Because the crime is a problem. Nothing here is good.”

It should have been obvious that this would happen but it wasn’t until Thursday afternoon that Gov. Newsom called out the National Guard to show up at evacuation areas.

Better late than never I guess. Newsom also put out this video about looting which Elon Musk mocked as clown world.

Musk may have had a point:

In any case, Newsom responded to his jab:

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Newsom also announced today that the number of National Guard members in the streets would be doubled.

There are still indications that suspicious characters are driving around these neighborhoods.

Thieves aren’t the only danger. You may have heard that a group of citizens stopped and held a guy who was allegedly starting fires with a blowtorch. Neighbors believe this guy may have intentionally set the Kenneth Fire.

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The arrest happened around 4:30 p.m. Thursday, near the area of Arcos Drive and Galendo Street. Residents say a man was riding around on a bicycle carrying a large blow torch, trying to set multiple old Christmas trees and garbage cans on fire. When the man rode away, neighbors followed him, and eventually stepped in.

There’s video of the confrontation that led to the arrest.

Police came and arrested him and initially seemed to believe he was responsible.

Yesterday the story changed and police decided they didn’t have probably cause to arrest him for arson but he did get held on felony probation violation.

In addition to calling out the National Guard, a curfew has also been put in place in a couple areas.

The curfew will take place from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. for two current fire evacuation areas, which include the Palisades Fire and Eaton Fire.

More than 100,000 people remain under evacuation orders across LA County.

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Meanwhile. the real problem remains. There are still four fires (some reports say six) burning around LA County and containment of the two biggest ones (Palisades and Eaton) remain pretty limited. There’s also renewed concern that winds could pick up again tonight.

With powerful winds set to return to Los Angeles County Saturday night, there’s “a very significant concern” the wildfires currently raging across the area will continue to grow, Cal Fire Battalion Chief David Acuna said.

Current wind conditions are allowing firefighters to use aircraft to perform water and fire retardant drops over wildfires to shore up containment lines, which are still “frail,” Acuna told CNN’s Fredricka Whitfield Saturday.

“But when the wind picks up and those embers start flying, that’s where our concern is,” he added.

Winds are forecast to increase again Monday and Tuesday. So, unfortunately, this disaster is not over yet.