questions and criticisms surrounding fire-fighting infrastructures

By their brilliance and intensity, the fires that have ravaged Los Angeles since Tuesday, January 7, have put its firefighting infrastructure under severe strain, giving rise to questions and criticism. Fire hydrants notably found themselves dry in the midst of fighting the flames, in the upscale neighborhood of Pacific Palisades, destroyed by the main source of this violent wave of fires. Another failure: a water tank located on the heights of the district, currently being repaired, was empty.

“We need answers to find out what happened”wrote the Democratic Governor of California, Gavin Newsom, in an open letter on Friday, January 10. Qualifying as “deeply disturbing” the lack of water supply and loss of pressure at fire hydrants, which occurred in the first hours, he asked “a comprehensive independent review” water distribution services in the second largest city in the United States.

While controversy rages over the existence of budget cuts targeting the Los Angeles firefighters, their chief, Kristin Crowley, has openly criticized the city, accusing it of having neglected the firefighters. “I’ve been saying for three years that we need more help. The current situation cannot continue any longer”she insisted on Friday on CNN, regretting that her services were lacking “personnel, resources and funds”. “We have data that shows we need sixty-two additional fire stations, that there has been a 55 percent increase in call volume since 2010. And guess what? We are responding with fewer firefighters”she gets annoyed.

Last failure, several evacuation alerts were sent by mistake Thursday and Friday to the phones of residents in Los Angeles. Messages which led the authorities to apologize.

At least eleven people lost their lives

To date, at least eleven people have lost their lives, the Los Angeles County medical examiner announced Friday. Five were killed in the Pacific Palisades fire and six others in the Eaton fire.

Friday evening (Saturday morning in Paris), the surroundings of Los Angeles remained ravaged by six different outbreaks. The most extensive (86 km²), the Palisades Fire, in the northwest of the city, consumes the upscale neighborhood of Pacific Palisades, known for its villas of multimillionaires and celebrities, located between Malibu and Santa Monica. This fire is now 8% contained, according to firefighters. The second (55 km²), the Eaton Fire, hits Altadena, a suburb of eastern Los Angeles. This fire is contained to 3%.

Four outbreaks are much smaller. The Kenneth Fire (4 km²), le Hurst Fire (3 km²) and the Lidia Fire (1.6 km²) are more controlled, contained at 50%, 70% and 75% respectively. The Archer Fire, which broke out on Friday, the most recent and smallest of all, extends over 77,000 m². It is located near the Kenneth Fire, north of Los Angeles. Three minor outbreaks, the Sunset Fire, the Woodley Fire and the Olivas Fire, were quickly brought under control.

At least 10,000 homes and buildings went up in smoke, including at least 5,000 in the Palisades Fire and between 4,000 and 5,000 in the Eaton Fire, according to Los Angeles County firefighters. These two outbreaks are already the two most destructive in history. Around 150,000 people remain under evacuation orders. The authorities are urging throughout press conferences to respect these orders, with some residents trying to stay at home to try to save their homes.

Nighttime curfew

The burned neighborhoods are subject to a second danger: looting. Police have arrested at least twenty people for thefts in the Los Angeles area since the first fires broke out on Tuesday. The Los Angeles County sheriff announced a nighttime curfew. The National Guard had been tasked to patrol the affected areas.

With luxury homes destroyed, the fires could be the costliest on record. The private meteorology service AccuWeather estimates the damage between 135 and 150 billion dollars (between 131 and 146 billion euros), a figure which could still increase.

A few days before his return to the White House, President-elect Donald Trump seized on these dramatic events, accusing, among others, outgoing President Joe Biden and the governor of California, both Democrats, of“gross incompetence” and of “bad management”. “It’s all his fault!!! »attacked the Republican about Gavin Newsom. Joe Biden said Friday during a meeting at the White House devoted to the fires that the disaster areas looked like “ to a war scene, after bombings.”

“The fact that so few people died, despite the massive material losses, testifies to the timely action of the authorities and firefighters. People are not trapped, which is a significant risk with such strong winds and dry conditions.”remarks Chris Sheah, professor of disaster management at Paul Smith University, on the East Coast, in an interview with Agence France-Presse. “California firefighters are among the best in the world. They are so well trained at these fires, more so than most places, because this is their reality.”he continues.

More “the network in a city like Los Angeles, which is in fact a collection of cities more than a century old, is designed to fight fires in individual homes. Services are structured to respond to fires in commercial or residential buildings”he continues. “The amount of water used in a fire” of this type “is very different from that used for a fire that affects thousands of hectares. They had so many trucks hooked up, so many things pulling on the system, it’s no surprise it was overwhelmedestimates the specialist. This is to be expected. »

The first operations carried out subjected the system to a water demand four times higher than normal for around fifteen hours, estimated in the New York Times the head of the city’s water and energy department, Janisse Quinones.