Evacuated residents are waiting in their cars for hours to get permission to return to Los Angeles neighborhoods devastated by the Palisades Fire, which has been burning for three weeks and destroyed thousands of homes and other structures.

Some Pacific Palisades residents said they waited on line for more than two hours Tuesday to get approval to go back to their homes.

Palisades Fire initially started 10:30 a.m. Jan. 7 in Los Angeles County. It has burned 23,448 acres after being active for 22 days. A crew of 800 firefighters has been working on site and they managed to contain 97% of the fire by Wednesday evening. The blaze's cause remains under investigation.

Thousands of firefighters have been battling wildfires across 45 square miles of densely populated Los Angeles County. The two largest fires, the Palisades Fire in Pacific Palisades and the Eaton Fire near Pasadena,

PST Local, state, and federal officials announced help for those affected: former President Joe Biden announced wildfire victims are eligible for a $770 one-tim

As Los Angeles recovers from its devastating wildfires, environmental engineers, urban planners and natural disaster experts are casting forward with visions of what could come next for neighborhoods that have been reduced to ash and rubble.

As Los Angeles reels from the loss of lives and homes to the Easton and Palisades fires, scientists are asking why the events of this January have been so catastrophic.

Climate change was a major factor behind the hot, dry weather that gave rise to the devastating LA fires, a scientific study has confirmed. It made those weather conditions about 35% more likely, according to World Weather Attribution - globally recognised for their studies linking extreme weather to climate change.