Firefighters in Los Angeles battled flames for a fourth straight day on Friday, trying to get the upper hand on wildfires that have destroyed thousands of homes and killed at least 11 people. Officials have warned that the death toll, updated late Thursday, could increase once the multiple fires have been brought under control and workers can comb through the ruins. Firefighting operations continued overnight into Friday morning, with water-dropping helicopters taking advantage of a temporary lull in the winds. President Joe Biden convened key officials Friday to discuss the federal government’s response to the wildfires. “We have an awful lot of experience with this stuff, unfortunately,” Biden later told reporters Friday. “Climate change has been real. It’s been real for the last four years of our administration. We’ve seen devastating impacts.” As of Friday morning, the largest blaze, the Palisades fire, was only 8% contained, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. It has burned through more than 8,000 hectares of land. The second-largest blaze, the Eaton fire, was 3% contained, according to the department. That one has burned through nearly 6,000 hectares of land. The Palisades and Eaton fires already rank as the most destructive in Los Angeles history. Together, they have burned through about 85 square kilometers of land and destroyed or damaged about 10,000 structures. “It looks like an atomic bomb dropped in these areas,” Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said at a Thursday news conference. Deanne Criswell, FEMA administrator, told reporters at the White House via video call from California that winds were forecast to pick up again after a pause Friday. Biden told reporters Friday that his administration was coordinating with the incoming Trump administration. President-elect Donald Trump has faulted Biden and California Governor Gavin Newsom for the crisis. “He is the blame for this,” Trump wrote about Newsom on Truth Social. Trump claimed California’s water policies are to blame for the fires, but the Los Angeles area is experiencing extremely dry conditions and fierce Santa Ana winds. Trump demanded that Newsom “open up the water main” in Northern California to send water south, but there is no such central water valve in the state. Local officials have said the overall water supply is not the problem; rather, it’s that power was shut off to pumps around the fires. At a news briefing Friday afternoon, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre rebuked criticism of the emergency response to the fires. “It is on all of us to show these people, to show folks in California some compassion, as they are reckoning with an unimaginable disaster,” she said. Biden told a White House briefing Thursday afternoon that federal resources and additional funding have been made available to California to fight the wildfires that he described as the “worst fires to ever hit Los Angeles.” The money will be used, the president said, to cover all the costs for 180 days for temporary shelters, the removal of hazardous materials, first responder salaries, and measures to protect life. “I told the governor, local officials, spare no expense to do what they need to do and contain these fires,” Biden said Thursday. Vice President Kamala Harris, a former U.S. senator for California, spoke at the briefing, describing the situation in California as “apocalyptic” and “something that is going to have an impact for months and years to come.” Authorities said the wildfires burning in and around Los Angeles prompted the evacuation of nearly 180,000 people, destroyed thousands of homes, and burned tens of thousands of hectares of land. “This is absolutely an unprecedented, historic firestorm,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said. Bass has faced criticism for being absent from Los Angeles when the Palisades fire erupted Tuesday. She was in Ghana attending the inauguration of President John Dramani Mahama as part of a U.S. presidential delegation. Bass returned the following day. On Thursday, she highlighted the “unprecedented” nature of the fires and defended her leadership. “My focus right now is on the lives and the homes,” Bass said. At a news briefing Thursday, Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley told reporters the fierce winds that had driven the fires calmed enough to allow firefighters to increase containment and air operations to resume. Cal Fire is fighting five active wildfires in the Los Angeles area: the Palisades, Eaton, Hurst, Lidia and Kenneth fires. As of Friday morning, the Kenneth fire was 35% contained, the Hurst fire was 37% contained, and the Lidia fire was 75% contained, according to CAL FIRE. Los Angeles firefighters achieved 100% containment of the Sunset fire on Thursday. That fire triggered mandatory evacuation orders in Hollywood and the Hollywood Hills. Troops from the California National Guard arrived Friday morning to secure the fire zone in Altadena from theft. At least 20 people have been arrested for looting in devasted neighborhoods. “I promise you, you will be held accountable,” Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger said at a news conference Thursday. “Shame on those who are preying on our residents during this time of crisis,” Barger said, according to The Los Angeles Times. Ash and smoke from the fires have put at least 17 million people in the Los Angeles area under air quality advisories. The air quality index reached 173 in the area; good air quality is 50 or less on the index. Meanwhile, California’s insurance commissioner blocked insurance companies from canceling or not renewing the policies of customers in the areas of the Palisades and Eaton fires for a one-year period. Concerns have increased that this week’s fires could hasten the flow of insurers out of California. Fern Robinson and Chris Hannas contributed to this report. Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.