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 toll, which so far showed 11 victims, increased on Saturday evening.
“It’s just upsetting,” Dara Danton, a resident of the upscale Pacific Palisades neighborhood, the first to catch fire on Tuesday, told AFP.
“All our friends, my best friends, lost their homes, and so did we,” she sighs, looking sadly at her husband.
The couple, who had lived there for 25 years, were among more than 150,000 people forced to flee in the face of the region’s flames.
Despite the efforts of thousands of firefighters on site, the “Palisades Fire” spread to the northwest of Los Angeles on Saturday. It now threatens the densely populated San Fernando Valley, but also the Getty Museum and its priceless works of art.
Firefighters have benefited from a calm in the winds over the past three days. But the gusts should get stronger again this weekend.
“These winds, combined with dry air and dry vegetation, will keep the fire threat in Los Angeles County high,” warned County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone.
– Critiques –
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, in particular because the firefighters have sometimes had to deal with empty fire hydrants or with low pressure.
“Our city has completely let us down,” Nicole Perri, another resident of Pacific Palisades who lost her home, told AFP.
Much criticized, the mayor of 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 country’s most populous state, Gavin Newsom, on Friday called for “a comprehensive independent review” of the city’s water services.
Evacuees face a headache finding rehousing 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.
Enough to frustrate some, already burned by certain evacuation alerts sent by mistake to the smartphones of thousands of people. On Friday, AFP journalists saw many people arguing with the police and National Guard soldiers about the roadblocks preventing them from returning home.
“My father is diabetic and he needs the insulin that we left at home,” Jennifer Aguilera explained, with tears in her eyes.
The fire has so far destroyed or damaged more than “12,000” structures. A figure which 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 on record.
– Sniffer dogs –
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 must get our hands on the person(s) responsible.”
The hot, dry Santa Ana winds that fanned these fires are a classic of California 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 over 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 point out that climate change is increasing the frequency of extreme weather events.
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