the apocalyptic video shared by Elon Musk

The streets of Pacific Palisades, west of Los Angeles (California), are nothing but ashes and desolation. In a publication broadcast on his social network «and [de ses amis]». No words are spoken in this sequence, where only the wind is audible. The landscape is apocalyptic.

Six destructive fires have surrounded the west of America’s second-largest city since at least Tuesday. The provisional toll established Wednesday evening is five deaths and could get even worse, announced the county sheriff. According to the Associated Press, these fires have already devoured some 108 square kilometers, almost the equivalent of a city like San Francisco, and are now threatening the Hollywood district, whose residents have been ordered to evacuate.

Sunset Boulevard

In the video, the sidewalks are empty. Not a single human or stray animal appears in the footage. The houses and other dwellings are nothing more than piles of ashes or shattered bricks, the trees are bare when they are not on the ground. The cars are nothing more than hulks. Only a few buildings survived the destructive fires fanned by the violent, hot and dry Santa Ana winds. In places, flames emerge from among the debris. The sky, gray, sometimes orange, is filled with smoke.

Fire trucks marked “Los Angeles City Dire Dept.”, parked in front of an uninjured Fire Station, make it possible to locate the exact location where the video was taken. A little research is enough to confirm that it is barracks number 69, located on the legendary Sunset Boulevard, whose official name is West Sunset Boulevard.

By following the trajectory of the car, it is, for example, possible to say that the building of Coldwell Banker Realty, a real estate franchise network, is almost completely destroyed. Nail salons and an insurance agency have suffered the same fate.

At the end of the video, low-rise buildings on Monument Street, adjacent to Sunset Boulevard, appear to have fared better against the flames.