Crews are scouring the ruins in Los Angeles with cadaver dogs searching for additional victims from the still-smoldering fire siege that has forced tens of thousands to flee and reduced entire neighborhoods to ash.
Fast-moving wildfires, fanned by hurricane-force winds, have destroyed 2,000 homes, forced nearly 180,000 people to evacuate, and left at least five dead in the past two days. The Los Angeles County Sheriff warned that the death toll was likely to rise as crews searched the burned area.
Conditions inside the fire zones hampered their work, a Sheriff’s Department spokesman said Los Angeles TimesBut investigators are investigating multiple deaths.
As authorities try to determine the effects of the disasters, fires continue to burn throughout Los Angeles. Although the strong winds eased somewhat on Thursday, they are expected to intensify in the evening and over the weekend, causing more panic in the city hit by what officials described as among the worst disasters in its history.
“We are facing a historic natural disaster. I think that can’t be stated strongly enough,” Kevin McGowan, Los Angeles County’s director of emergency management, said at a news conference Thursday.
On Wednesday evening, a new wildfire broke out in the Hollywood Hills area, spreading embers everywhere and sparking a massive response from firefighters who sought to keep the flames from penetrating the city’s urban core. The fire brought the total number of wildfires burning in Los Angeles County to at least five, and prompted Joe Biden to cancel a trip to Italy to focus on the federal response.
The state of emergency in Southern California began Tuesday afternoon with high winds blowing through the Pacific Palisades neighborhood, one of the city’s most desirable addresses and home to a string of movie stars.
Aaron Sampson, 48, was in Pacific Palisades Tuesday at the home of his father-in-law, who was caring for him while he recovered from a medical procedure. They had to take a ride from a neighbor because the couple did not have a car and could not find other means of transportation. But just half an hour later, flames began to surround them as they sat in traffic. The police ordered them to flee on foot as the fire raged and the tops of the palm trees burned.
They walked for about 15 minutes before another good Samaritan saw them struggling, stopped and told them to get into his car.
In the evening, the Eaton fire burned eastward into the hillside suburb of Altadena, destroying house after house. Thousands were evacuated from across the city and the fire intensified overnight, with firefighters struggling to control it during what one official described as among the “most destructive and terrifying nights” in the city’s history.
Throughout the day Wednesday, residents’ cell phones blared warnings as mandatory evacuation lines extended, prompting some exhausted residents who once fled their homes to flee danger again.
Firefighters said Wednesday afternoon that the devastation was unlike anything they had seen in their decades-long careers, and officials described the scenes as “horrific.” Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said some areas “look like a bomb was dropped on them.” He called for patience while officials try to determine the death toll.
“Right now, frankly, we don’t know yet,” he added.
Authorities have not publicly identified any of the deceased, but family members have begun to come forward. Victor Shaw, 66, died in the Eaton fire after staying to try to protect the home his family lived in for more than half a century, his loved ones said. KTLA. A family friend said they found his body the next morning. He was lying on the ground, still holding the garden hose.
In the Pacific Palisades area, one firefighter estimated that only one in five homes escaped the charred gullies left by the sprawling flames. The homes of many notable celebrities were burned to the ground, including actors Anthony Hopkins, Billy Crystal, and Eugene Levy.
The fires led to the depletion of water resources in the region. As they battled the fires, firefighters faced low water pressure and drying up of fire hydrants in some areas due to increased demand. But officials said firefighters were unable to stop the unprecedented fires regardless.
“These erratic wind gusts were blowing embers for several miles before the fire,” Pasadena Fire Chief Chad Augustine said.
By Thursday morning, all evacuation orders had been issued due to the Hollywood Hills wildfires The area has been liftedOfficials expressed cautious optimism that Fire in that area “Under control”, although the danger has not subsided yet.
Critical fire weather conditions were expected to continue Thursday across parts of Southern California today, with red flag warnings in effect through Friday evening in most of Los Angeles and Ventura counties due to strong offshore winds and low humidity, the National Weather Service said.
“This firestorm is the biggest,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said at a press conference after cutting short an official trip to Ghana to return to the city.
Of the five fires, the Palisades Fire on Los Angeles’ west side burned the most land — more than 17,200 acres (6,960 hectares) and hundreds of buildings in the hills between Santa Monica and Malibu. Aerial video broadcast by KTLA-TV showed block after block of homes on fire in Pacific Palisades, the smoke grid occasionally punctuated by the orange flames of another house still burning.
Although relatively small in size, the Sunset Fire burned over Hollywood Boulevard and the Walk of Fame, while to the east, in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, the Eaton Fire destroyed another 10,600 acres, another 1,000 buildings, and killed at least four people. Officials said. One death is attributed to the Palisades Fire.
The Hearst Fire in Los Angeles’ Sylmar neighborhood had burned 855 acres as of Thursday morning and was 10% contained. The Lydia Fire in Acton has burned 348 acres and is 40% contained. A structural fire also destroyed at least two homes and spread to the Studio City area before being extinguished by more than 50 firefighters Wednesday evening.
Areas where fires occurred have a history of fires and are susceptible to ignition. But human-caused climate collapse is worsening extreme weather events around the world, causing more frequent and deadlier disasters, from heatwaves to floods to wildfires.
The area saw above-average temperatures in January, in part due to recent dry air blasts, including the notorious Santa Ana winds. Southern California has not recorded more than 0.1 inch (2.5 mm) of rain since early May.