Southern California firefighters contained part of the fifth-largest fire in the state’s history, but on Wednesday warned coastal communities that they are still at risk if unpredictable winds whip up again and fan the flames.
The US National Weather Service extended warnings through today of extreme fire danger conditions throughout much of Southern California due to lack of moisture along with a possible increase in wind gust speeds at the end of the week.
Firefighters made some progress on Wednesday on corralling the so-called Thomas Fire, which has spread into national forest land northwest of Los Angeles.
However, they warned that the fire would continue to spread west as it eats up parched brush.
By Wednesday evening, state fire officials said the blaze was 30 percent contained, but it continued to threaten Santa Barbara, Carpinteria, Summerland and Montecito — a wealthy area home to celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey.
Since the blaze broke out on Monday last week, it has burned more than 965km2 and destroyed 921 buildings — including at least 700 homes. It threatens 18,000 buildings and has prompted evacuations of about 100,000 people.
Elsewhere, fire officials announced that a cooking fire at a homeless encampment last week sparked a blaze that destroyed six homes in the exclusive Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles.
Arson investigators determined that the so-called Skirball Fire near the world-famous J. Paul Getty Museum was started by an illegal fire at a camp near a freeway underpass, Los Angeles Fire Department Captain Erik Scott said, adding that the camp was empty when firefighters found it, but people apparently had been sleeping and cooking there for at least several days.
The Fire Department was working on a plan to relocate such encampments at the start of fire season next year to avoid danger, Scott said.
At the largest of the fires northwest of Los Angeles, firefighters protected foothill homes while the flames churned mostly into unoccupied forest land, Santa Barbara County Fire Department spokesman Mike Eliason said.
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member Eric Burdon and his wife, Marianna, were among the people who fled the smoke in the small city of Ojai on Tuesday.
Burdon, a member of the 1960s British Invasion band The Animals, wrote on Facebook last week about having to flee and returning temporarily to find his home still standing with ashes all around it.
“A week like this gives you the perspective that life is what truly matters,” he wrote.
A photograph accompanying the post showed his handprint and signature written in ashes.
Gaza is rapidly running out of its limited fuel supply and stocks of food staples might become tight, officials said, after Israel blocked the entry of fuel and goods into the war-shattered territory, citing fighting with Iran. The Israeli military closed all Gaza border crossings on Saturday after announcing airstrikes on Iran carried out jointly with the US. Israeli authorities late on Monday night said that they would reopen the Kerem Shalom crossing from Israel to Gaza yesterday, for “gradual entry of humanitarian aid” into the strip, without saying how much. Israeli authorities previously said the crossings could not be operated safely during
Hungarian authorities temporarily detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armored cars carrying tens of millions of euros in cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said on Friday. The Ukrainians were released on Friday, following their detention on Thursday, but Hungarian officials held onto the cash, prompting Ukraine to accuse Hungary’s Russia-friendly government of illegally seizing the money. “We will not tolerate this state banditism,” Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said. The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in the two armored cars that were carrying the money between Austria and
Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani on Friday after dissolving the Kosovar parliament said a snap election should be held as soon as possible to avoid another prolonged political crisis in the Balkan country at a time of global turmoil. Osmani said it is important for Kosovo to wrap up the upcoming election process and form functional institutions for political stability as the war rages in the Middle East. “Precisely because the geopolitical situation is that complex, it is important to finish this electoral process which is coming up,” she said. “It is very hard now to imagine what will happen next.” Kosovo, which declared
Counting was under way in Nepal yesterday, after a high-stakes parliamentary election to reshape the country’s leadership following protests last year that toppled the government. Key figures vying for power include former Nepalese prime minister K. P. Sharma Oli, rapper-turned-mayor Balendra Shah, who is bidding for the youth vote, and newly elected Nepali Congress party leader Gagan Thapa. In Kathmandu’s tea shops and city squares, people were glued to their phones, checking results as early trends flashed up — suggesting Shah’s centrist Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) was ahead. Nepalese Election Commission spokesman Prakash Nyupane said the counting was ongoing “in a peaceful manner”
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