Keystone-SDA
Firefighters are still trying on Wednesday to contain the fires which have killed at least 24 people in Los Angeles, while a calm in the winds is hoped for in the coming hours.
This content was published on
January 15, 2025 – 10:53 p.m.
(Keystone-ATS) More than a week after the start of the disaster which devastated the second city in the United States, forecasters see a way out.
The situation will experience “a marked improvement tonight and tomorrow”, even if it will remain “worrying” in certain areas, Ryan Kittell of the American weather services (NWS) told AFP.
Parts of Los Angeles County and neighboring Ventura County remain in a “particularly dangerous situation,” a rare warning from the NWS.
The two main outbreaks which devastated the upscale district of Pacific Palisades and the city of Altadena, covering more than 16,000 hectares in total, were still smoldering on Wednesday.
“Infrared flights showed last night that there were several hot spots remaining,” said Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Kristin Crowley.
Battalions of firefighters from across the United States, but also from Mexico, are trying to “quickly treat any outbreaks to prevent the fire from spreading outside the perimeter,” she added.
Shaved neighborhoods
After climbing Tuesday evening to 25 deaths, the toll from the fires was revised to 24, the medical examiner having explained that one of the remains initially recorded was not that of a human being.
But the number of victims could rise further, with hundreds of buildings still to be searched.
The damage is considerable: more than 12,000 homes, other buildings and vehicles were destroyed or damaged and entire neighborhoods razed.
These fires could be the costliest ever recorded in the United States with a toll now estimated at 275 billion dollars (251 billion francs).
Thousands of people are still displaced on Wednesday, and life is far from having returned to normal in the City of Angels.
Children from evacuated families, or whose school was damaged, were welcomed in other establishments.
“They need to be here drawing, coloring, playing, running and laughing,” said Caroline Nick, who took her two children to a school in west Los Angeles after theirs burned down.
“They don’t need to listen to the adult conversations my husband and I have to have. It’s not good for them,” said the stay-at-home mom, who lost her home in the fire that devastated Pacific Palisades.
Ongoing investigation
Federal authorities launched an investigation on Tuesday aimed at determining the causes of these fires, which are the subject of numerous theories.
They are also fighting with the local police against looting, another threat that threatens the evacuated residents of Los Angeles, where more than 50 people have been arrested and nine charged for acts of this nature since the start of the disaster.
California Governor Gavin Newsom on Tuesday ordered cleanup crews to be ready to respond, as emergency officials predict possible winter rainstorms that could cause mudslides.
Some Palisades residents have decided not to wait and are working to remove the charred debris from streets and sidewalks themselves.
Chuck Hart, a business manager, and his team were working on a construction site in his neighborhood when the fire broke out.
After saving his mother’s house from the flames, they began clearing the streets.
“Since then, we have been doing this non-stop (…). We’re going to do everything in our power to get this place back up and running as quickly as possible. »
