flames continue to spread in California, death toll rises to 16

Firefighters have benefited from a calm in the winds over the past three days. But the gusts should get stronger again this weekend.

An increasingly chaotic situation. The multiple fires that have been raging in Los Angeles for five days have left at least 16 dead, and spread, on Saturday January 11, to areas that had until now been spared. Firefighters have benefited from a calm in the winds over the past three days. But the gusts should get stronger again this weekend.

Despite the efforts of thousands of firefighters on site, the “Palisades Fire” spread to the northwest of Los Angeles on Saturday. It now threatens the densely populated San Fernando Valley, but also the Getty Museum and its priceless works of art.

“These winds, combined with dry air and dry vegetation, will keep the fire threat in Los Angeles County high”warned Anthony Marrone, the county fire chief. Faced with looting in disaster-stricken or evacuated areas, a strict curfew, in force between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m., was decreed Friday by the authorities in the Pacific Palisades and Altadena sectors, the most ravaged.

The hot, dry Santa Ana winds that fanned these fires are a classic of California autumns and winters. But this time they reached an intensity not seen since 2011, according to meteorologists, with gusts of up to 160 km/h this week.

Enough to spread the embers very quickly, sometimes over kilometers. A nightmare scenario for firefighters, because California is coming out of two very rainy years which gave rise to lush vegetation, now dried up by a severe lack of rain for eight months. Scientists regularly point out that climate change is increasing the frequency of extreme weather events.