With their Los Angeles-area homes still smoldering, families return to search the ruins for memories

Some Los Angeles area residents have begun returning to their still smoldering neighborhoods to search for memories even as the threat of new fires persists. For many it has been a first look at the staggering reality of what was lost. Southern California faces a gargantuan challenge of overcoming the disaster and rebuilding. The blazes have killed at least 11 people, obliterated neighborhoods and left the nation’s second-largest city on edge. Firefighters were making gains Friday. But new flareups continued to pop up. By Friday evening, new evacuations were ordered in an area that includes part of Interstate 405 after a flare up on the eastern side of the Palisades Fire.