(Los Angeles) The fire continues to ravage the outskirts of Los Angeles, overhung by acrid whitish smoke: the main fires remain out of control on Friday in the Californian megacity, which now records at least ten deaths and where military reinforcements have been deployed.
Posted at 6:23 a.m.
Updated at 7:05 a.m.
Romain FONSEGRIVES, with Paul NOLP in Washington
Agence France-Presse
“It feels like the apocalypse,” Oren Waters told AFP, in front of his house reduced to ashes in the town of Altadena, north of Los Angeles. “To come back and see this is unimaginable. »
Entire swaths of the United States’ second-largest city were in ruins Friday, with more than 10,000 buildings destroyed according to state fire officials.
“My house burned down and I lost everything,” says Hester Callul, who joined a shelter after fleeing her home in Altadena.
In the northwest of Los Angeles, the outbreak which devours the upscale district of Pacific Palisades, with its villas of multimillionaires and celebrities, between Malibu and Santa Monica, was still not contained, despite the contribution of helicopters dropping water. After a lull, the winds returned and new fires continued to break out.
In Altadena, even though the spread of the fire was “considerably stopped” during the previous night according to firefighters, the situation was identical.
Flames have so far burned more than 35,000 acres in Los Angeles, according to the California State Fire Department. More than 180,000 people have been evacuated and the death toll is now at least ten.
US President Joe Biden deplored “very widespread” and “devastating” fires during a crisis meeting a few days before the end of his mandate.
These fires could be the costliest on record, with AccuWeather estimating total damages and losses at $135 billion to $150 billion.
AFP journalists flew over Malibu and Pacific Palisades on Thursday: instead of sumptuous villas with breathtaking views of the ocean, there are often only scrap metal skeletons, filled with ashes.
Military reinforcements
Following reports of looting, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said a nighttime curfew would be put in place and the National Guard had been tasked to patrol affected areas.
Governor Gavin Newsom declared that these soldiers were part of a deployment of a thousand state agents: “to those who would seek to profit from the evacuations, I want to make clear that looting will not be tolerated” .
Mr. Luna said for his part that his agents were patrolling the evacuated areas and that they would arrest anyone who was not supposed to be there.
In the middle of the ruins of Altadena, some improvise as vigilantes and patrol to protect what remains of their neighborhoods.
“I didn’t save this damn house for some idiot to come and steal from me.” There is no way,” Nicholas Norman told AFP. “So I did the classic American thing: I went and got my shotgun, sat down and turned on a light so we knew people were there.”
New home
The gusts which blew up to 160 km/h in recent days, dragging embers for kilometers, have calmed down. But the wind has not disappeared and the hills remain ultra-dry: conditions remain “critical”, according to the authorities.
“The winds retain their historic character. This is absolutely unprecedented,” warns Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.
The weather alert will last until Friday, and a “significant development of fires remains likely”, according to the weather services.
Thursday afternoon, another outbreak broke out near Calabasas and the wealthy Hidden Hills neighborhood, where star Kim Kardashian lives.
The legendary Hollywood district, threatened for a time by the flames, can breathe: the fire in its hills was brought under control by firefighters, according to local authorities, and the evacuation order lifted Thursday morning.
Californians are being urged by authorities to save water, as some reservoirs supplying fire hydrants have been emptied by the fight against flames.
Cinema disrupted
President-elect Donald Trump spread false information on his Truth Social network, claiming that California is running out of water because of Democratic environmental policies that would divert rainwater to protect “useless fish.”
In fact, most of the water used by Los Angeles comes from the Colorado River, and is used primarily by the agricultural sector.
“Climate change is a reality,” reaffirmed Joe Biden, who will cede power on January 20 to his climate-sceptic successor.
The fires are disrupting the cinema industry: several film and series shoots have been stopped, and the Oscar nominations have been postponed by two days, to January 19.
Closed for the last two days, the Universal Studios Hollywood theme park will reopen on Friday.
The hot, dry Santa Ana winds currently blowing are a classic of California autumns and winters. But this time they reached an intensity not seen since 2011, according to meteorologists.
A nightmare for firefighters: California is coming out of two very rainy years which gave rise to lush vegetation, now dried up by a glaring lack of rain for eight months.
Scientists regularly point out that climate change is increasing the frequency of extreme weather events.