fires out of control, 130,000 people evacuated… Update on the situation

Recap
The fire continues to ravage Los Angeles this Thursday, leading to the evacuation of tens of thousands of people. It was “one of the most destructive natural disasters in the history” of the city, firefighters announced.

Firefighters are still unable to control the fires ravaging Los Angeles, despite their efforts. This Thursday, January 9, their manager in the city, Kristin Crowley, even considered the outbreak raging in the upscale neighborhood of Pacific Palisades as the“one of the most destructive natural disasters in history” of the second largest city in the United States. At least five people have died as flames threaten Hollywood. “New Obs” takes stock of the situation.

• Five deaths and 130,000 evacuations

The two main fires ravaging Los Angeles remain out of control this Thursday despite the efforts of firefighters, local authorities said. So far, the fires have killed five people, but the authorities fear finding other bodies in the charred rubble. “More than 7,500” firefighters, sometimes from other American states, lead the fight against these “Unprecedented fires in Los Angeles”said California Governor Gavin Newsom.

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Since Tuesday, around 2,000 houses or buildings have been destroyed and more than 130,000 people have fled, particularly in the historic Hollywood district, whose famous Hollywood Boulevard is threatened by flames.

The current episode nevertheless remains far from the damage caused in November 2018 by the series of most destructive fires in California’s history. More than 20,000 buildings were devoured by flames, mainly in the fire « Camp »which had raged north of Sacramento.

• Heat, drought and wind: an flammable cocktail

Current weather conditions are making Los Angeles fires worse. “We’re seeing fires spread when it’s hot and dry and windy: all of these conditions are happening right now in Southern California.”summarizes Kristina Dahl, vice-president of the scientific research organization Climate Central. California was subjected in 2024 to the El Niño phenomenon, with heavy rains making vegetation abundant, and in the second half of the year to a drought in the south, with only 4 mm of precipitation in central Los Angeles over the period.

Very low humidity was coupled with strong, dry winds (up to 160 km/h in recent days) which swept the land and fanned the five outbreaks ravaging Los Angeles. The squalls are gradually weakening, but the weather services have maintained their red alert for strong winds until Friday. The last element of this flammable cocktail is temperature. It’s around 20 degrees Celsius in the Californian megacity in the middle of the day, a high temperature at the start of winter.

• Hollywood and its ravaged star villas

A posh hideaway, Pacific Palisades is known for its multi-million dollar luxury residences, now completely ravaged by fires causing scenes of chaos. “We lost everything… There’s nothing left. I saw our house go to ashes, helpless in the face of the flames which took everything away”for example, wrote Laeticia Hallyday on Instagram on Thursday, in a publication showing the flames devouring the residential district of Pacific Palisades, where 6,500 hectares were charred.

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The actor couple Adam Brody and Leighton Meester, as well as the actress Anna Faris (« Scary movie »), the actor and director Billy Crystal and Fergie, the singer former member of Black Eyed Peas, saw their villas destroyed by the flames, according to the American media TMZ. Paris Hilton announced that she had lost her seaside villa in Malibu, west of the City of Angels. “I am heartbroken to find out what happened to my house when I saw it burning live on television”reacted on Instagram the heiress of the Hilton hotel empire.

The home of Oscar-winning actor Anthony Hopkins was also devastated, according to a photo obtained by the American magazine Page Six. “At this time it is impossible to know if the house is still standing”for his part indicated on Wednesday the French singer Patrick Bruel, owner of a residence in this district. “There was no one in the house and the children are safe”he reassured. With the destruction of luxury homes, the Palisades fire could be the costliest on record: damage was estimated at $57 billion (55 billion euros) by AccuWeather.

In the film industry, filming was stopped, and the Universal Studios Hollywood theme park closed. The announcement of Oscar nominations has been pushed back two days, to January 19. The Critics Choice Awards ceremony, which was to be held on Sunday, was also postponed, and the nominations for the SAG Awards (SAG), the awards of the American actors’ union, were revealed by simple press release.

• Donald Trump seizes the subject to attack Democrats

“Gavin Newscum must resign. It’s all his fault!!!! » the Republican wrote Thursday on his Truth Social network, using a nickname constructed from the word « scum »which means « rebut ». In another message, the day before, he had denounced “the gross incompetence and mismanagement of the Biden/Newscum duo”. Donald Trump had already in the past threatened to deprive the governor of California of federal aid in the event of fires. The 57-year-old governor is considered one of the Democratic Party’s hopes, and he is one of Donald Trump’s favorite targets.

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On the social network from Los Angeles, or expressing indignation at the announcement of $500 million in aid to Ukraine, all themes dear to the Trumpist base.

On the Democratic side, President Joe Biden traveled to Los Angeles on Wednesday to meet with emergency services, and approved federal aid for the second largest city in the United States. He canceled his trip planned for Thursday to Italy. The Democratic governor of California, Gavin Newsom, simply deplored the situation: “November, December, January… There is no more fire season. It takes place all year round. »