Workers with cadaver dogs are searching the rubble of Los Angeles for more victims of the continuing fires that have forced tens of thousands of people to evacuate and reduced neighborhoods to ashes. Ta.
Fast-moving wildfires fanned by hurricane-force winds have raged through communities over the past two days, forcing the evacuation of nearly 180,000 people and killing at least 10 people.
The Eaton Fire near Pasadena destroyed more than 5,000 buildings, including homes, apartments, businesses, outbuildings and vehicles. To the west, in the Pacific Palisades, one of the largest fires in the Los Angeles area destroyed more than 5,300 buildings. Between the Eaton and Palisades fires, more than 10,000 structures were destroyed.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office warned that the death toll could rise even further as investigators search through more than 30,000 acres (12,000 hectares) of burnt land.
A Sheriff’s Department spokesperson told the Los Angeles Times that conditions within the fire zone are hampering the agency’s work, but detectives are investigating multiple deaths.
Fires continued to burn across Los Angeles as authorities tried to determine the effects of the devastating blaze. A new wildfire, the Kenneth Fire, broke out Thursday afternoon in the San Fernando Valley just a few miles from a high school where fire evacuees were taking shelter, prompting evacuation orders for the community of Calabasas.
The strong winds eased slightly on Thursday but were expected to pick up in the evening and into Friday, causing further panic in a city hit by what authorities described as one of the worst disasters in history.
“We are facing a historic natural disaster, and I don’t think I can say that strongly enough,” Los Angeles County Emergency Management Director Kevin McGowan said at a news conference.
The Southern California wildfires started Tuesday afternoon with heavy winds in the Pacific Palisades area. The area is one of the city’s most popular addresses and home to a string of A-list movie stars.
Aaron Samson, 48, was at his stepfather’s home in Pacific Palisades, caring for him while he recovered from a medical procedure. They didn’t have a car and couldn’t find any other means of transportation, so they had to ask a neighbor to give them a ride. But just 30 minutes later, flames began closing in on them as they sat in the driveway. Police ordered them to flee on foot as the fire intensified and burned the tops of palm trees.
They walked for about 15 minutes until someone saw them struggling and stopped and told them to get in a car.
That night, the Eaton Fire ignited east of the foothills outside Altadena, destroying homes. Thousands of people were evacuated across the city and firefighters battled to extinguish the blaze as it intensified overnight in what one official described as “one of the most devastating and terrifying nights” in the city’s history. I had a hard time.
Firefighters said the destruction was unlike anything they had seen in their decades-long careers, with officials describing the scene as “apocalyptic.” Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said some areas “looked like a bomb had been dropped.” He asked for patience as authorities try to ascertain the death toll.
“At this point, frankly, we don’t know yet,” he said. County officials announced Thursday night that seven people were killed in the fire.
Authorities have not released the identities of the deceased, but families are beginning to come forward. Victor Shaw, 66, died in the Eaton fire after staying to protect the home his family had lived in for more than half a century, his loved ones told KTLA. A family friend said they discovered his body the next morning. He was lying on the ground still clutching the garden hose.
Amputee Anthony Mitchell’s daughter said Mitchell, 67, and his son Justin, who has cerebral palsy, were waiting for an ambulance to arrive, but it didn’t arrive in time.
Hajime White said authorities told the family Mitchell was found next to his son’s bed in Altadena. The Washington Post reported that the family believes Mitchell was trying to save her son.
“He wasn’t going to leave his son behind, no matter what,” White said.
Rodney Nickerson died in his bed at his home in Altadena. The 82-year-old had lived through fires so many times that he felt safe enduring them at home, his daughter Kimiko Nickerson told KTLA.
Nickerson bought the house in 1968 with a $5 down payment and raised his family there, his daughter said.
“I went through the 1994 earthquake, and this just feels apocalyptic,” said Sherry Solinger, who lives in the area. She called the neighborhood “the best community in Los Angeles,” where racially diverse working-class residents helped each other keep their homes.
Neighbors took turns dousing houses with water hoses to protect them from flying sparks and embers. On Thursday, their focus shifted to clearing fallen trees and branches. Fidel Rodriguez, who lives next door, showed up with a saw and tried to help Solinger with the branches in his garden.
In the Pacific Palisades, one firefighter estimated that only one in five homes could be saved as the fire spread and charred canyons. Many famous people’s homes were completely incinerated, including those of actors Anthony Hopkins, Billy Crystal, and Eugene Levy.
The fires are straining the region’s water resources. As firefighters battled the blaze, they struggled with low water pressure and hydrants running dry in some areas due to increased demand. But officials said crews would not have been able to stop the unprecedented fire anyway.
“Variable wind gusts caused embers to spread several miles away from the fire,” Pasadena Fire Chief Chad Augustin said.
As of Thursday morning, all evacuation orders for the Sunset Fire in the Hollywood Hills area have been lifted, and officials are cautiously optimistic that the fire in the area is “under control,” although the danger has not yet been reduced. Showed.
Severe fire weather conditions are expected to remain in parts of Southern California on Thursday, according to the National Weather Service, with red flag warnings in effect for much of Los Angeles and Ventura counties through Friday night due to strong offshore winds and low humidity. It is said that it will be done.
“This firestorm is the biggest one yet,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said at a news conference after cutting short an official visit to Ghana and returning to the city.
Of all the fires raging in Los Angeles, the Palisades Fire on the west side of Los Angeles has consumed the most area. About 20,000 acres and thousands of structures were destroyed in the foothills between Santa Monica and Malibu. KTLA-TV aerial video showed blocks of smoldering homes in the Pacific Palisades, with smoke-covered grates occasionally punctuated by the orange flames of other homes still burning. .
Although relatively small, the Sunset Fire burned just above Hollywood Boulevard and its Walk of Fame, while the Eaton Fire destroyed an additional 13,690 acres and nearly 5,000 buildings in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains to the east. It was burned down, killing at least five people. said the official. Two people are believed to have died in the Palisades fire.
The Hearst Fire in Los Angeles’ Sylmar neighborhood had burned 671 acres and was 10% contained as of Thursday afternoon. And the Lydia Fire in Acton has burned 348 acres and is 60% contained. A structure fire also destroyed at least two homes in Studio City and was extinguished by more than 50 firefighters after it spread through brush.
The area where the fire occurred has a history of fires and is highly flammable. But human-induced climate change is intensifying extreme weather events around the world, causing more frequent and deadly disasters, from heat waves to floods and wildfires.
The region has experienced warmer-than-average temperatures in January, due in part to recent blasts of dry air, including the infamous Santa Ana winds. Southern California has not recorded more than 2.5 mm of rain since early May.
Lois Beckett, Reuters and Associated Press contributed reporting
