Firefighters are hoping for a break from fierce winds fueling massive blazes in the Los Angeles area, killing 10 people, obliterating whole neighborhoods and setting the nation’s second-largest city on edge.

Fierce winds fueled new fires and made it harder to contain the largest blazes, which have destroyed whole neighborhoods and have become some of the most devastating in California’s history.

Ferocious winds that drove the flames and led to chaotic evacuations have calmed somewhat and were not expected to be as powerful during the day. That could provide an opportunity for firefighters to make progress reining in blazes that have hopscotched across the sprawling region,