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Fires spread to Los Angeles, death toll rises to 16
The multiple fires that have raged in Los Angeles for five days have left at least 16 dead, and spread on Saturday to areas that had until now been spared. Besieged by flames since Tuesday, the American megacity continues to count its dead: the The toll, which had so far reported 11 victims, increased on Saturday evening. “It’s just upsetting,” Dara Danton, a resident of the upscale Pacific neighborhood for 25 years, told AFP. Palisades, the first to catch fire on Tuesday. She is one of more than 150,000 people forced to flee in the face of the flames in the region. Despite the efforts of thousands of firefighters on the job, the “Palisades Fire” spread Saturday northwest of Los Angeles. It now threatens the densely populated San Fernando Valley, but also the Getty Museum and its priceless works of art. In many neighborhoods ravaged by the fire, houses were nothing but ashes and pieces of blackened metal. The soldiers of the fire have benefited from a calm in the winds over the last three days. But the gusts are expected to strengthen again this weekend. “These winds, combined with dry air and dry vegetation, will keep the fire threat in Los Angeles County at a high level,” warned Anthony Marrone, the county fire chief.- Reviews – The City of Angels replays scenes that it has not experienced since the pandemic. Its legendary traffic jams have disappeared and residents who venture outside often wear masks, to protect themselves from the air stale by toxic fumes. Many of them are beginning to question the management of the authorities, particularly because the firefighters have sometimes had to deal with empty fire hydrants or low pressure. “Our city has completely let us down,” Nicole Perri, another resident of Pacific Palisades who lost her home, told AFP. Highly criticized, the mayor from Los Angeles, Karen Bass, assured Saturday that her services are “all on the same wavelength”. The day before, the city’s fire chief had pointed out the insufficient budget allocated by the municipality to fire fighters. The Democratic governor of the most populous state in the country, Gavin Newsom, requested Friday “a complete independent review” of city water services. Donald Trump launched a new attack on California state leaders on Sunday. “The fires are still raging in Los Angeles. Incompetent politicians have no idea how to put them out,” the US president-elect said in a message published on his Truth Social platform. Evacuees face a headache head to relocate with a dizzying jump in rental prices. On Saturday, the state attorney general recalled that artificially inflating prices is a “crime punishable by one year in prison and a $10,000 fine.” – Curfews and blockades – Faced with looting in disaster-stricken or evacuated areas, a strict curfew, in force between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m., was decreed Friday by the authorities in the Pacific Palisades and Altadena sectors, the most ravaged “My father is diabetic and he needs the insulin that we left at home,” Jennifer Aguilera explained, with tears in her eyes. Two people were arrested near Vice President Kamala Harris’ home in Brentwood for violating the curfew order, after police received reports of a burglary, according to local media. The fire has so far destroyed or damaged more than “12,000” structures. A figure that includes buildings, but also cars, the authorities said on Saturday. The bill is expected to run into tens of billions of dollars, and some experts already fear that these fires will be the costliest ever recorded. – Sniffer dogs -Des Rescuers assisted by sniffer dogs continue to inspect the rubble for bodies or human remains. The toll could rise further, according to the authorities. The investigation to determine the causes of these multiple fires, in which the FBI is participating, is still ongoing, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna recalled on Saturday. “We will not neglect any avenue,” he assured. “If this is a criminal act – I’m not saying it is – (…) we have to get our hands on the person(s) responsible.”The hot, dry winds of Santa Ana that fueled these fires are a classic of Californian autumns and winters. But this time they reached an intensity not seen since 2011, according to meteorologists, with gusts of up to 160 km/h this week. Enough to spread the embers very quickly, sometimes for kilometers. A nightmare scenario for firefighters, because California is coming out of two very rainy years which gave rise to lush vegetation, now dried up by a severe lack of rain for eight months. Scientists regularly remind us that climate change is increasing the frequency of weather events. extremes.bur-rfo-hg/lgo/asm
