LOS ANGELES >> The two biggest fires devastating the Los Angeles area grew just slightly as firefighters began Friday to gain some control of blazes that have killed at least 10 people, obliterated neighborhoods and left the nation’s second-largest city on edge.

Officials expressed optimism that an easing of the punishing winds that had been stoking the flames will allow firefighters to make headway on the fires that have burned an area bigger than San Francisco and destroyed more than 10,000 homes and other structures since Tuesday.

“These fires are not out, though today we’re going to make a lot of progress,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Friday.

Metropolitan LA and its 13 million residents, who haven’t seen rain in more than eight months, woke up Friday to another day of strong winds and the threat of new flareups. The gusts were expected to diminish by evening, however, and already have died down from earlier in the week, when hurricane-force winds blew embers that ignited hillsides.

But meteorologist Rich Thompson warned the break could be short-lived.

“We’re looking for a little respite on Friday and Saturday from the Santa Ana winds but then they’re going to pick up again Sunday through most of next week,” he said Thursday evening.LA Mayor Karen Bass, who faces a critical test of her leadership as her city endures its greatest crisis in decades, said Friday that firefighters had contained several smaller fires in the past 24 hours. A brush fire in the suburbs far north of downtown set off a new evacuation order later Friday, not far from the site of another ongoing blaze.

The level of devastation is jarring even in a state that has grown used to massive wildfires. Dozens of blocks of scenic Pacific Palisades were flattened to smoldering rubble. In neighboring Malibu, oceanfront homes next to a fire station were in ruins.

Bridget Berg, who watched her home in Altadena erupt in flames live on TV while she was at work, came back with her family “just to make it real.”

They searched through charred debris of the house they bought 16 years ago, finding pottery and a piece of petrified wood handed down by her husband’s grandmother.

“It’s not like we just lost our house,” she said. “Everybody lost their house.”

No cause has been identified for the largest fires.

A firefighting plane had to be grounded Thursday after it was struck by a drone flown by a civilian, the Los Angeles County Fire Department said. Nobody was injured. It’s a federal crime to fly a drone during firefighting.

Firefighters for the first time have made progress containing the Eaton Fire north of Pasadena, officials said Friday. It started Tuesday night and has burned more than 5,000 structures, a term that includes homes, apartment buildings, businesses, outbuildings and vehicles.

To the west, the fire in Pacific Palisades, the largest burning in the LA area, has destroyed over 5,300 structures.

The blaze is already the most destructive in Los Angeles’ history.

At least five churches, a synagogue, seven schools, two libraries, boutiques, bars, restaurants, banks and groceries have been burned.