In Los Angeles, no return for “at least a week” for evacuees

Tens of thousands of residents evacuated because of the fires that engulfed Los Angeles will have to wait “at least one more week” before returning, authorities warned on Thursday, amid fears of landslides or exposure to toxic substances.

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“We have a discussion group where everyone complains, gets angry, and wonders why we continue to be locked out of our homes,” Ronnen Miz tells local television KTLA.

Among the evacuees, frustration is growing in the face of instructions from local authorities preventing them from returning home, even if their homes were lucky to escape the violent fires that ravaged certain sectors of the Californian megacity and destroyed more than 16,000 hectares. for ten days.

The reason: the situation is too dangerous at the moment, local authorities explained during a press conference. Electricity, gas and sewer networks suffered considerable damage. Toxic waste is found everywhere. And the risk of landslides or mudslides is growing.

“It’s going to take a while,” warns Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna. “I would say at least another week, and that’s an estimate, but I think it’s going to take longer than that.”

Threat of rain

At least 25 people died in the furious flames that engulfed the town of Altadena, north of Los Angeles, and the upscale neighborhood of Pacific Palisades, in the northwest of the megacity.

This number of victims is likely to increase further in the days to come, as search teams continue to search the rubble.

It is also “because we think that there may be other victims” in certain disaster areas that evacuated residents are prevented from returning there, local authorities further explain.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) crews began inspections Thursday to pick up pesticides, gasoline and lithium batteries from among the mountains of rubble, before the debris can begin to be cleared.

In contrast to the recent ultra-dry climatic conditions, it is now possible rain which represents a threat.

“The evacuation networks of the two sectors (the most affected) were damaged,” explains Los Angeles County Public Works Director Mark Pestrella. “In the event of heavy rain, we expect the entire neighborhood and streets to be affected by water flows carrying debris.”

Prisoners trained

The hills of Los Angeles were destabilized by the fires that swept through them and the enormous volumes of water used by firefighters to fight them.

Apparently intact buildings could also be affected by landslides, adds Mark Pestrella.

Photos from Pacific Palisades show a house, not attacked by the fire, which appears to have split in two from a collapsing hillside after the flames were extinguished.

The violent winds that swept the Los Angeles area for more than a week and fanned the flames calmed Thursday, helping firefighters — and more than 900 inmates who came to help them — to progress in their operations.

“It’s the first thing I’ve done in my life that I’m proud of,” told AFP Jacob Castro, 29 years old in prison and preparing in one of the firefighting training camps run by Californian prison authorities.

“It’s a chance to redeem myself,” he rejoices.