An impressive blaze tore through the night on the outskirts of Los Angeles. The fire broke out late Tuesday morning, January 7, in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood, populated with multi-million dollar villas and located in the mountains northwest of the city. The disaster has already ravaged nearly 1,200 hectares. The authorities identify “many structures destroyed”, explained California Governor Gavin Newsom during a press briefing Tuesday evening.
About 30,000 people are under evacuation orders and more than 13,000 structures are threatened, according to authorities. No injuries have been reported at this time.
“I never thought the wind could have such an effect”Gary told local channel KTLA. This Pacific Palisades resident reported seeing “embers dragged for 100 meters” in the air, contributing to the spread of the fire.
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Many people evacuated their homes in panic, with just a few belongings and their pets. Many found themselves stuck in traffic, like Kelsey Trainor. “There was nowhere to go and people were abandoning their cars”she said. “Everyone was honking, there were flames all around us, left and right. (…) It was terrifying. »
A huge cloud of smoke
Actor Steve Guttenberg, who lives in the neighborhood, urged people who abandon their cars to leave the keys in them so they can move them so fire trucks can get around. “It’s not a parking lot,” declared to KTLA, the actor who himself was trying to park vehicles. The firefighters finally had to clear the roadway using a bulldozer to intervene as quickly as possible.
Some trees and plants on the Getty Villa grounds burned Tuesday evening as a result of the disaster, but the museum’s staff and collections are safe, its president, Katherine Fleming, said in a statement.
The fire caused a huge cloud of smoke, visible from the entire megacity. The fire broke out at the worst time for Los Angeles, which is being swept by violent gusts. Warm Santa Ana winds, typical of California’s winter, can blow up to 100 mph in the region, according to the US Weather Service (NWS). Enough to spread the flames very quickly and cause a “mortal danger”.
“We are absolutely not out of the woods”insisted Gavin Newsom, recalling that the gusts would “reach their peak” during the night from Tuesday to Wednesday, between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. (between 7 a.m. and 2 p.m., in Paris). The Democratic governor of the “Golden State” asked Californians to “respect evacuation orders”, which are not always followed in the United States.
“The strongest wind episode since 2011”
More than 250 firefighters are currently mobilized, said Kristin Crowley, a Los Angeles fire official. “The combination of strong winds and topography” steep neighborhood “make the task extremely complex”she insisted. It will be difficult for air assets to intervene at night.
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“This is expected to be the strongest wind event in this region since 2011”warned Daniel Swain, specialist in extreme events at UCLA University. But the risk of fire is, according to him, “much higher” than at the time. Because, after two very rainy years which reinvigorated the vegetation, southern California suffered “one of the driest start to winter on record”. In other words, anything that has grown back abundantly now acts as fuel.
Scientists regularly point out that climate change is increasing the frequency of extreme weather events. “November, December, January… There is no more fire season. It takes place all year round »recalled Governor Newsom.
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Tuesday evening, 28,300 homes were also without electricity due to violent winds, according to Los Angeles town hall. In total, half a million users risk being deprived of power preventively.
The storm disrupted the visit of President Joe Biden, who came to California on Tuesday to announce the creation of two national monuments, vast protected areas in the south of the state. Present in Los Angeles, the octogenarian Democrat immediately approved federal aid for the second largest city in the United States. “It’s something (…) which we must appreciate at its true value, at this moment in American history”greeted Mr. Newsom.
Donald Trump, who is due to succeed Mr. Biden on January 20 in the White House, threatened in September 2024 to cut the federal aid usually received by California to fight against forest fires.
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