The devastating wildfires in Los Angeles remain out of control. Around 150,000 people had to leave their homes following evacuation orders. The worst of the now six fires is now raging across an area of more than 42 square kilometers, and the other five fires are not yet under control, according to authorities. According to US media, this is already one of the worst fire disasters in the city’s history.
Strong winds fan the flames. “These are hurricane-force winds,” Los Angeles County Fire Department Chief Sheila Kelliher told CBS on Wednesday. “It’s extreme.” Hundreds of buildings in the upscale Pacific Palisades neighborhood are likely lost. The damage is sure to become more severe if the fires continue to get out of control, said City Councilwoman Traci Park, whose district includes the neighborhood.
Five deaths have been reported so far and some people have been injured in the Palisades fire, which has burned about 1,200 hectares of land, according to local media. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass urged residents on Wednesday to follow evacuation and parking orders and to use shelters set up by authorities if necessary.
Authorities have already urgently called for the evacuation of downtown Hollywood due to the outbreak of a new fire in the Los Angeles area. “Immediate danger to life. This is a legal order to leave the area now,” the Los Angeles Fire Department said on Wednesday (local time). An attached map showed that the evacuation order affected historic parts of the Los Angeles district known worldwide as the film dream factory. The new fire broke out just a few hundred meters from famous Hollywood Boulevard. The fire already has a name: “Sunset Fire”.
The fires are fueled by strong winds. Due to the drought prevailing in the area, the fire department does not have enough water to extinguish the fire.
US President Joe Biden is sending 2,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles to fight the fires. During a visit to Cal Fire officials, Biden said his administration would provide all support “for as long as it is needed.” This also included 15 firefighting helicopters, the president continued.
The president declared the affected region in California a disaster area. This would allow communities and survivors to receive immediate federal funding to speed up reconstruction, the White House said on Wednesday. In addition, the disaster management agency (Fema) has promised the US state of California financial help in fighting the fire. The president canceled his last planned trip in office, to see the Pope in Rome, because of the fires.
The support also includes individual aid programs for citizens and companies, such as emergency accommodation and money for destroyed property, said California Governor Gavin Newsom. Newsom had previously declared a state of emergency for the region where the fires were raging.
On Wednesday, US television stations showed footage of countless burning houses in their morning shows, some of which collapsed in front of the camera. There were power lines on the streets, some of which gave off sparks. More than 1,400 firefighters were deployed to fight the flames.
Firefighters in Pacific Palisades are struggling with water shortages. For 15 hours, four times as much water as usual was used there, said Janisse Quiñones, the head of the city’s water and power department. This reduced the water pressure, which was particularly a problem with the hydrants.
The “Los Angeles Times” had previously reported on water shortages. “The hydrants are down,” a firefighter is said to have announced via the internal radio system. “The water supply just stopped,” the newspaper quoted another as saying.
The authorities called on the remaining residents to save water. “We’re fighting a forest fire with a municipal water system,” Quiñones said. Because of the strong winds, firefighting planes were unable to take off in many places.
US President-elect Donald Trump blamed California’s Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom for the extent of the fires. Specifically, the Republican on Network Truth Social criticized Newsom’s water saving measures and accused him of not caring about the people in the US state.
“Now the ultimate price is being paid. “I will demand that this incompetent governor let beautiful, clean, fresh water flow to California!” Trump wrote. The Republican has often lashed out against the prominent Democrat Newsom in the past and described his policies as radical.
Water policy in California has been hotly debated for years. Newsom has advocated for environmental regulations that limit water transfers in certain regions to protect endangered species. Critics accuse Newsom of endangering agricultural operations and fire protection. However, experts emphasize that factors such as climate change-related drought, strong winds and forest management play a larger role in the intensity of wildfires.
-On Tuesday, an initially small fire on the western edge of Los Angeles quickly turned into an inferno due to strong winds. Some of the residents of Pacific Palisades had to flee their homes. Some of them left their cars on one of the few arterial roads and fled on foot. Dozens of houses have now been engulfed by flames.
Actor James Woods wrote on “At this moment I don’t know if our house is still standing,” he wrote. Sadly, some houses on his street burned down, he continued.
In Altadena, almost 900 hectares of land went up in flames. Among other things, a nursing home had to be evacuated and dozens of residents were brought to safety. Evacuated resident Kelsey Trainor told local station KTLA that the fire had spread rapidly. As they fled, the street was suddenly lined with flames on both sides.
The fire caused huge clouds of smoke that could be seen throughout the city. In the neighboring city of Malibu, which lies west of Los Angeles and was hit by a major fire in December, schools were closed. Residents were told to “prepare for a rapid evacuation.”
The warm Santa Ana winds typical of California’s winter fueled the fires and could become the worst storm of the decade, according to forecasts. According to the US Weather Service, winds of up to 160 kilometers per hour were expected.
The German actor Ralf Möller is also affected. “I have never experienced anything like this in more than 30 years here in the USA. The situation is a catastrophe. The hot desert winds with more than 60 hours of kilometers fan the flames like a hairdryer held into the hot embers,” he told “Bild”. “We know similar moments from previous years. Mostly in September or October. But this time everything is different. The Santa Ana winds are creating real hell here.”
The devastating wildfires around Los Angeles have also destroyed the properties of several celebrities, including Paris Hilton’s estate, among others. “The devastation is unimaginable. “To know that so many people are waking up today without the place they called home is truly heartbreaking,” the hotel heiress wrote on Instagram. In a video on the platform, she showed footage of her destroyed home in the coastal town of Malibu. “This house was the place where we built so many precious memories,” Hilton continued.
In addition to Hilton, actors such as Mandy Moore, Cary Elwes and Mark Hamill have also announced that their homes were destroyed or threatened by the flames. Jamie Lee Curtis wrote on Instagram Wednesday that her family is safe, but suggested her neighborhood and possibly her home are on fire. Other stars who live in the area include Adam Sandler, Ben Affleck, Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg.
On Wednesday it was also announced that Hollywood legend Will Rogers’ house was completely burned down. This is a historic ranch from the 1920s that Roger’s wife gave to California State Parks in 1944.
US Vice President Kamala Harris’ home is also in an evacuation zone, a spokesman confirmed. But she and her husband weren’t at home and didn’t need to get to safety.
Just in December, a destructive forest fire raged in the Californian coastal town of Malibu. The flames spread from the hilly hinterland to the beaches. The famous Pacific Coast Highway had to be closed in parts. Several houses burned down. Thousands of local residents were affected by evacuations, including celebrities such as singer Cher, actresses Jane Seymour and Mira Sorvino, and actors Mark Hamill and Dick Van Dyke.
However, the Pacific Palisades fire is the most devastating in Los Angeles’ recent history. According to fire department figures, on Wednesday it had burned down at least 1,000 buildings and was continuing to spread. This made it far more destructive than the Sayre fire in November 2008, which destroyed 604 buildings in the north of the city. This fire was the most devastating in recent history, according to statistics from the Wildfire Alliance, which includes the city fire department and the organization MySafe:LA. Before that, for almost 50 years, it was the Bel Air Fire of 1961. At that time, almost 500 homes were destroyed, including those of stars like Burt Lancaster and Zsa Zsa Gabor.
dpa/AP/gub/mp/us
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