At least five people are because of it raging, reinforced by strong winds, in areas around the megacity, forcing thousands of citizens to flee.
An increase in the dead is expected
The death toll is at risk of getting even higher, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna warned, stressing that the situation remains “very volatile.”
And a new fire front in Los Angeles
For her part, the chief of the Los Angeles fire department, Christine Crowley, – beyond the five with which her men are fighting – in low vegetation in the Hollywood Hills area.
Citizens evacuate their homes
Authorities have ordered some 100,000 citizens to urgently leave their homes amid the fires.
The worst fire is considered to be the one in the expensive suburb of Pacific Palisades, where various celebrities live.
The situation is out of control
The fire there started yesterday Tuesday and had burned almost 65,000 acres as of yesterday. In their wake, the flames destroyed some 1,000 buildings, Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Maroni said, stressing that the situation remains uncontained.
“We don’t have enough firefighters to deal with this situation,” said local fire chief Maroni in despair.
“The flames devoured our dreams”
In Altantina, north of Los Angeles, where flames swept through some 43,000 acres after a fire broke out the day before Tuesday, William Gonzalez returned yesterday to his home, from which he had hurriedly left. He said that “we lost almost everything”: “the flames devoured our dreams. There is nothing but ashes left here.”
Cloud of smoke, smell of burning
Plumes of smoke are rising in the air of the US’s second-largest city, where the smell of burning is omnipresent.
Authorities urged citizens to conserve water as three tanks that supply firefighters were emptied.
“Trying to fight these fires with municipal water systems is a real challenge,” admitted Janice Quinones, an official with the Metropolitan Water and Power Agency (LADWP).
“Deadly danger” from the fire
Warm winds known as Santa Ana, common during the California winter, were expected to blow with gusts of up to 100 miles per hour yesterday, according to the US Weather Service (NWS), spreading the flames and raising “mortal danger”.
Beyond the winds, meteorologist Daniel Swain pointed to “the lack of rain and the unnatural heat and dryness for six months” to explain the fires in mid-January.
Firefighters are also working on two other fronts, around Santa Clarita and in the San Fernando Valley.
Outgoing President Joe Biden, who is visiting California, went to a Santa Monica fire station. He promised to do everything he can “for as long as it takes” to get the fires under control.
Donald Trump is critical
Through Truth Social, President-elect Donald Trump, for his part, took on California’s Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, the tycoon’s black sheep. He accused him of being the main “responsible” for this “true disaster” and claimed, falsely, that what the state is suffering is due to his environmental protection policies.
Winter fires are rare in California
Large winter wildfires are very rare in California. The University of Louvain disaster database includes only two since 2000, the Thomas Fire in 2017 (which consumed 1,102 square kilometers) and the less extensive Gavilan Fire in 2002 (23 square kilometers), which however, it caused a massive hasty evacuation of residents and injuries.
Scientists keep warning that climate change will make extreme weather events much more frequent and will multiply so-called natural disasters.
Residents are being evacuated in the heart of Hollywood
Authorities on Wednesday ordered residents of the historic Hollywood district to evacuate their homes because of a new fire that broke out in low vegetation in its hills, a few hundred meters from Hollywood Boulevard.
“Immediate threat to life. Residents are ordered to evacuate immediately. Public access to the area is prohibited,” the Los Angeles City Fire Department said, citing a map that includes areas of the famed neighborhood, the heart of the film industry.
Biden canceled his trip to Italy
US President Joe Biden has canceled a farewell trip that was to begin today in Italy due to the fires raging in areas of Los Angeles, the White House announced Wednesday.
Mr. Biden, who earlier yesterday went to meet members of the fire department of the second largest US city, “has made the decision to cancel his upcoming trip to Italy to focus on managing the entire federal government response in the coming days.” announced the representative of the American presidency, Karin Jean-Pierre.
The Democratic president had planned to visit Italy from today, January 9th to Sunday, January 12th, possibly making his last trip abroad before Republican Donald Trump returns to power next Monday, January 20th.
The outgoing head of state, a devout Catholic, planned to meet with Pope Francis, his Italian counterpart Sergio Mattarella and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
Source: APE – MEB
