New research suggests the wildfires that swept through densely populated neighborhoods of Los Angeles County last winter killed hundreds of people — far more than the official count of 31. Publishing in the Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers found 440 excess deaths from January 5 to February 1 as the Palisades and Eaton fires consumed 16,000 structures while displacing 150,000 residents. The excess deaths are attributed to lung or heart conditions exacerbated by smoke or stress and other indirect factors.