Containment grew on the Eaton and Palisades fires Monday before dangerous winds were expected to hit the region.

The Eaton fire, burning in Altadena and Pasadena, was 33% contained, officials said, and the fire did not expand beyond the 14,117 acres reported burned as of Sunday.

Near the coast, fire crews had reached 14% containment of the Palisades fire, while the fire expanded minimally overnight to 23,713 acres, according to Cal Fire.

The growth over the past 36 hours has been “very little,” said Jim Hudson of Cal Fire Incident Management Team 2, a plus, though a red flag fire weather warning is in place in the area.

Containment, the percentage of a blaze’s border not expected to swell, increased several percentage points for each of the six-day-old fires.

Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said the state had set up a mobilization center in Banning with resources in the event of a new fire or the expansion of an existing one. The chief also said aircraft from local, state, federal and military agencies were available.

“I think that we’re very well prepared for the next event,” Marrone said. “We’re never sure we’re ever going to be able to catch the next fire and keep it small. They said 70 mph winds. It’s going to be very difficult to contain that fire. That’s why we ask all residents in any brush-prone area to be prepared.”

“The danger has absolutely not passed,” Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley said, urging the public to stay vigilant throughout the continued red flag warning and to heed all evacuation orders.

The death toll for both fires was updated over the weekend to 24, with 16 of those deaths from the Eaton fire, according to the county medical examiner’s department.

In addition, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said officials were working 23 missing-persons cases possibly linked to the fires — 17 with the Eaton fire, and six from the Palisades fire. All of the missing are adults.

More than 7,000 structures have been damaged or destroyed in the Eaton fire, based on aerial photos. More than 5,000 structures have been damaged or destroyed in the Palisades fire, though that figure has not been updated in several days.

Mandatory evacuation orders remained in place for thousands of residents in the fire areas, although at least one area around the Eaton fire was reduced to an evacuation warning, allowing residents to return. That area was in the Altadena Kinneloa Mesa community, south of Heights Road to New York Drive, and east of Outpost Lane to Sierra Madre Villa. Only residents will be permitted in the area.

Some residents were frustrated at not being allowed to return to their homes for medications or family pets.

“We are hearing the community loud and clear, and we want to get you in there as soon as possible,” Luna said. “But I want to reiterate what is holding us up.”

In Altadena, he said, the department was in the third day of grid searching.

“It is a very grim task,” the sheriff said. “And we unfortunately — every day we’re doing this we’re running across the remains of individual community members. That is not easy work. Very sad to report.

“And I believe that work is not only going to continue, but I believe we’ll continue to find remains,” Luna added. “So please be patient with us. People are saying, ‘I just want to go look at my house, and I want to see what’s left.’ We know that. But we have people literally looking for the remains of your neighbors. Please be patient with us.”

There’s a lot of hazards still, Luna said, adding that some burned areas have not been deemed safe.

The sheriff said 34 people have been arrested so far for various crimes, including looting, burglary and drone and curfew violations. Four of those arrests occurred Sunday night: two for curfew violations and two for drone violations. Los Angeles police have arrested another 14.

A curfew from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. remained in place for mandatory evacuation areas, the sheriff said.

Crowley said crews did “excellent work overnight mopping up flare-ups and hot spots.”

Santa Ana winds were expected to return but in weaker fashion than last week. The National Weather Service forecasted 20 to 40 mph winds with higher gusts and low relative humidity, between 8% and 15%.

The winds may persist through Wednesday, the weather service said, with extreme conditions most likely from Monday night into today.

With the potential for rain in the area of the Eaton fire this weekend and at the end of January, basins in the area, including the Eaton Basin, have been sized for this possibility and can handle debris, said Mark Pestrella, the director of Los Angeles County Public Works.

Mudflow and debris flow vulnerability is being assessed by Public Works, and a map reflecting areas at risk will be released soon.

Firefighting resources are said to be ready if fires begin over the next 24 hours, the most critical period of the current Santa Ana wind event.

“With this Santa Ana wind, winds typically blow from the east to the west, so our areas of concern are the west side of this fire, which includes the community of La Cañada,” Cal Fire Operations Section Chief Jed Gaines said Monday evening.

Fire personnel are preparing, with water tenders available in the area and fire retardant being applied.

“We don’t expect this fire to leave its current footprint,” fire behavior analyst Dennis Burns said of the Eaton fire.

Still, the fire has already deeply affected many.

Alisha Cathirell-Tanzer and her family have strong roots in Altadena going back to her grandmother moving to the town because of redlining, a discriminatory housing policy.

When explaining Altadena to people, she starts by saying L.A., then the Rose Bowl and then refers to it as Pasadena’s hat.

“We’re this weird, funky, eclectic, big small town where everyone knows each other,” Cathirell-Tanzer said. “If you don’t know each other, you know someone who knows each other.”

Her family is active in the community and always finds ways to help, Cathirell-Tanzer said, and she has been heartened by the way Altadena has already responded to the tragedy.

“I wouldn’t even say the community is lost because of the way that everyone has rallied around,” Cathirell-Tanzer said.

It’s that tightknit nature that Cathirell-Tanzer and others in the community are already thinking about defending.

“The people are what make Altadena what it is, and we have to try to guard that, we have to try to protect that,” Cathirell-Tanzer said.

Cathirell-Tanzer’s home survived, but several family members and friends nearby were not as lucky. Her aunt, identified by family as Evelyn McClendon, died in the fire and was discovered by Cathirell-Tanzer’s uncle, Zaire Calvin.

Cathirell-Tanzer, a director at the nonprofit L.A. Works, said she has seen people online commenting that those who lost their homes will be fine because of the high value of the homes.

She said that reflects a misunderstanding that the homes were inherited, passed down for generations, and that many, like her grandmother, purchased homes during White flight when nobody wanted to buy the house.

“We’re not millionaires,” Cathirell-Tanzer said.

The fear is that the fire’s devastation will exacerbate attempts to gentrify Altadena.

“We’re so close, we’re so tightknit, we don’t want the demographics to change,” Cathirell-Tanzer said. “We don’t want everything to go askew and have like a bunch of really rich elite people move in because people can’t afford the houses.”

City News Service contributed to this report.