Los Angeles skyline is seen following the Palisades Fire at the Pacific Palisades neighborhood in Los Angeles, California [Source: Reuters]

Dangerously high winds were expected to return to Los Angeles on Monday, jeopardizing efforts to contain two massive wildfires that have leveled whole neighborhoods, claimed the lives of at least two dozen people and burned an area the size of Washington, D.C.

Dry Santa Ana winds of up to 50 to 70 miles per hour (80 to 112 kph) were forecast to resumelater on Monday and persist through Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service, which issued a “particularly dangerous situation” red flag warning, the agency’s most serious fire warning.

Fire crews were able to keep the fires from spreading overnight and are preparing for increased winds in the days ahead, officials said at a press conference on Monday morning.

Officials said the state was pre-positioning firefighting crews in vulnerable areas, including around the Palisades and Eaton fires, the two largest blazes burning on either side of Los Angeles. More than 8,500 firefighting personnel are assigned to those two fires.

Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said firefighters were “absolutely better prepared” for extreme winds this week, after the fires grew rapidly last week following similar dire warnings from forecasters.

There are more personnel on the ground and additional firefighting aircraft in the air now, he said, though he acknowledged that nothing was guaranteed.

At least 24 people have died since the fires began last Tuesday, and more than two dozen people are reported missing, authorities said. The fires have destroyed or damaged more than 12,000 structures.

Deputies are finding human remains every day as they search through burned-out parts of Altadena, where the Eaton fire first ignited, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said.

The blazes have reduced entire neighborhoods to smoldering ruins, leaving an apocalyptic landscape. California Governor Gavin Newsom has said the firestorm could rank as the most devastating natural disaster in U.S. history. Private forecaster AccuWeather has estimated the damage and economic loss at $135 billion to $150 billion.

Hundreds of volunteers gathered at the Santa Anita Park racetrack on Sunday in Arcadia, close to the Eaton Fire, hauling in boxes of food, clothing and diapers for victims.