At least five people died and more than 100,000 were forced to flee their homes in various areas of Los Angeles, where six fires of gigantic proportions have already destroyed around 1,500 homes.
Authorities ordered residents of the historic Hollywood neighborhood in Los Angeles, in the US state of California, to leave their homes after a new fire broke out hundreds of meters from Hollywood Boulevard.
“Immediate threat to life. This is a lawful order to leave now. The area is legally closed to public access,” said the Los Angeles Fire Department on Wednesday, which also released a map showing sections of the famous area connected to the cinema.
Meanwhile, United States President Joe Biden canceled an official trip to Italy, scheduled for this Thursday, due to the forest fires raging in Los Angeles, the White House announced.
Biden, who traveled to Los Angeles on Wednesday to meet with emergency services, “made the decision to cancel his upcoming trip to Italy to focus on managing the overall federal response in the coming days,” the spokesperson said. White House voice Karine Jean.
At least and more than 100,000 were forced to flee their homes in various areas of Los Angeles, where six fires of gigantic proportions have already destroyed around 1,500 homes.
Smoke clouds block the sun in Los Angeles
Some Portuguese who live in Los Angeles had to be evacuated and are staying with friends. Others are on alert because they live near areas where the fires are spreading.
Many people have decided not to send their children to school due to warnings about poor air quality. There are 160,000 homes without electricity for more than 24 hours and a state of emergency has already been declared by Los Angeles County and California Governor Gavin Newsom, who got the green light from President Joe Biden to obtain federal aid to fight fires.
“The situation in Los Angeles is highly dangerous and rapidly evolving,” said Newsom, at a joint press conference with Joe Biden.
“President Biden’s quick action is a tremendous help to California as we do everything we can to protect residents with significant federal, local and state resources.”
With the state of emergency declared by the governor of California, the district decided to close all schools in the county due to poor air quality, falling ash and winds that remain strong.
Firefighters have not yet managed to contain any part of the fires, which have an unpredictable path due to strong winds, which reached 160 kilometers per hour. These are the worst winds since 2011 and the fire is already .
Desperation and criticism of firefighters from those who lost everything in the Los Angeles fires
Makeshift beds and blankets provided by the American Red Cross are all that survivors of the fires in Pacific Palisades and Malibu have after last night’s devastation, with mandatory evacuations across the city.
“They told us to leave at nine at night,” she told Lusa Ray, who escaped the fire with her husband and teenage daughter. “At five in the morning our house was in ashes,” he added.
They left in pajamas and sweaters, with their cell phones, and only had time to save their pet, a ten-year-old pygmy goat. “Today [quarta-feira] we’re going to sleep in the car,” said Ray, outside El Camino Real High School in Woodland Hills, which has been transformed into a shelter.
The pygmy goat cannot sleep inside, so they will have to stay in the car.
“We don’t have the mind for anything else. Tomorrow we’ll look for another place,” shared Ray.
The house, in Malibu, is completely destroyed. They had lived there for 20 years and had been through other fires, but had never seen anything so destructive.
The strong Santa Ana winds made and the fires continue to spread. Ray was emotional, but also angry at the firefighters, who she said did nothing to save the homes.
“They didn’t let us use high-pressure hoses because they said there was little water (…) They wanted to use it in Pacific Palisades,” he accused.
More fires have also broken out in the last few hours, including one in the Hollywood Hills, where there are large mansions and celebrities live.
As Mimi Teller, spokesperson for the North American Red Cross, told Lusa, the shelters currently have 94 people in Westwood and 12 in Pacoima. Lusa was at the Woodland Hills shelter, where employees counted nine people since the fires started.
The Critics Choice Association has decided to postpone its film and television awards ceremony, which was scheduled for Santa Monica on Sunday, January 12, and the of nominees for the 2025 Oscar ceremony.
