The human toll could get even worse, announced the sheriff of the county of Los Angeles, Robert Lunaadding that the situation was “still very unstable”.
The area was ordered to be evacuated because flames began to devour the hills on Wednesday evening, a few hundred meters from Hollywood Boulevard and the famous Chinese Theater. Another fire also broke out in the evening in the neighboring district of Studio Cityworrying the authorities.
Around 1,500 buildings were destroyed and more than 100,000 residents of the American megacity were forced to flee in the face of the flames. The authorities fear discovering new deaths.
Los Angeles is being swept by “hurricane-force winds combined with extreme drought conditions,” summarized Mayor Karen Bass during a press briefing Wednesday evening. Amid huge plumes of black smoke, gusts blew up to 160 km/h on Wednesday, and sometimes carried embers for kilometers. The squalls gradually weaken but the weather services maintain their red alert to strong winds until Friday.
A first fire declared Tuesday morning, in the hills of the upscale district of Pacific Palisadeswhich houses celebrities and numerous multi-million dollar villas. Since then, outbreaks have multiplied in the suburbs to the north of the city and often explode very quickly, within a few minutes.
“We don’t have enough firefighters in the county of Los Angeles to deal with this situation”, lamented Anthony Marrone Los Angeles County Fire Chief Wednesday morning. “More than 7,500” fire soldierssometimes from others American statesare leading the fight against these “unprecedented fires in Los Angeles,” said the governor of California Wednesday evening.
