Dry time, strong winds and gusts test the limits of the 4000 firefighters who fight forest fires in Los Angeles on Thursday. The most recent fires, Hughes and Sepulveda, forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of people.
Sepulveda is the latest: he declared himself near the boulevard of the same name and the 405 highway in Los Angeles.
This brush fire, which has so far ravaged fifteen hectares, had forced the evacuation of residents at the end of the evening on Wednesday. Since then, this evacuation order has been lifted. But the proximity of the fire with the highway 405, highly frequented, briefly caused road congestion.
This new fire started a few hours after the firefighters managed to contain – in a proportion of only 14 % – the fire baptized Hughes. The latter quickly spread Wednesday in the morning in a suburb located in the northwest of the city of Los Angeles, ravaging just over 4000 hectares.
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A helicopter pours its cargo of water over the region of Lake Castaic, prey to the ravages of Hughes. This is one of the two recent fires to have declared themselves in southern California, hard experienced for two weeks.
Photo : Reuters / David Swanson
More than 30,000 evacuated
An alert of Critical conditions for the spread of fires
has been in force since Tuesday, and will remain at least until Friday, according to the national weather forecast center (National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center).
Due to Hughes, more than 30,000 people had to evacuate on Wednesday, while powerful flames and smoke spread in a mountainous area around Lake Castaic, near Santa Clarita, north of the city of Los Angeles .
The authorities raised the red flag and signified to the population and both the already existing fires and the emerging fires can quickly gain momentum. This extreme fire behavior is accompanied by winds oscillating between 48 and 80 km/h, and up to 104 km/h.
A call for vigilance has been launched to residents, who are asked to follow the instructions for the security services.
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Devastation after the passage of Eaton and Palisades
And that is without counting the Eaton and Palisades fires which, in the past two weeks, had shaved entire neighborhoods on the eastern and western flanks of Los Angeles. Due to these braziers, 28 people perished and nearly 16,000 structures were destroyed.
In the morning of Thursday, Eaton, who devastated around 5,670 hectares, was 95 %contained. Palisades, for his part of the destruction of around 9,490 hectares, was 70 %controlled.
South California has been deprived of rain for nine months. Hope on the horizon: rain is scheduled for Saturday, until Monday, enough to give firefighters and rescuers a little respite. It could nevertheless cause any mudslides and landslides in areas devastated by fire, filled with calcined toxic waste.
In the County of Los Angeles, workers have also prepared sandbags, gravel and concrete barriers which can be installed in case of heavy rain.
Without vegetation to anchor the soil, strong precipitation can cause sudden and fast debris flows which can destroy houses, block roads and place serious risks for life and goods
warned the governor of California, Gavin Newsom. This democrat assured that his services work in close collaboration
with local partners To prevent toxic runoff from entering rivers
. Invested on Monday, Donald Trump has to go to Los Angeles on Friday to see the damage. The republican billionaire must meet firefighters and people affected by fires, according to the authorities.
This visit will be closely scrutinized by residents and local authorities, because the tribune has threatened to cut the federal aid received by California for the anti-breastfeeding.
With information from the France-Presse agency
With information from BBC, Reuters, CNN and Los Angeles Times
