Residents in burn scar areas should be ready to evacuate if needed. City and county agencies have readied streets for debris flow with K-rails and sandbags, as a storm moves in on Wednesday, Feb.

A new wildfire was reported today at 5:55 a.m. in Los Angeles County. The wildfire has been burning on private land. There is no update on the containment of the fire and its cause has not yet been determined.

But wildfire experts say cutting down Southern California's chaparral won't make the region safer from wildfires. In fact, because of the local ecology, they say clearing vast swaths of native brush could actually make the landscape even more flammable.

By Matt Stiles, Sean O'Key, Byron Manley, Lou Robinson, Curt Merrill, Annette Choi, Rachel Wilson, Henrik Pettersson, Amy O’Kruk and Renée Rigdon, CNN

The Palisades and Eaton fires, two of the deadliest and most destructive wildfires in California history, reached 100 percent containment more than three weeks after they began.

While scientists were able to save and move some creatures in the aftermath, researchers are worried about the prospects for other species