The two biggest wildfires ravaging the Los Angeles area have burned at least 10,000 homes, buildings and other structures, officials said on Thursday as they urged more people to heed evacuation orders after a new blaze ignited and quickly grew.
The fast-moving Kenneth Fire started in the late afternoon in the San Fernando Valley just 3.2km from a school serving as a shelter for fire evacuees and then moved into neighboring Ventura County by the evening.
Only hours earlier officials expressed encouragement after firefighters aided by calmer winds and help from crews from outside the state saw the first signs of successfully beating back the region’s devastating wildfires, which had killed 10 people.
Photo: AFP
“We are expecting this fire to rapidly spread due to high winds,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said, echoing a forecast that said winds would strengthen on Thursday evening through yesterday morning.
The orders came as Los Angeles County officials announced that the Eaton Fire near Pasadena, which started on Tuesday night, had burned more than 5,000 structures, a term that includes homes, apartment buildings, businesses, outbuildings and vehicles.
To the west in Pacific Palisades, the largest of the fires burning in the LA area had destroyed more than 5,300 structures.
All of the large fires that have broken out this week in the Los Angeles area are in a roughly 40km band north of downtown, spreading a sense of fear and sadness across the nation’s second-largest city.
Dozens of blocks were flattened to smoldering rubble in scenic Pacific Palisades. Only the outlines of homes and their chimneys remained. In Malibu, blackened palm strands were all that was left above debris where oceanfront homes once stood.
At least five churches, a synagogue, seven schools, two libraries, boutiques, bars, restaurants, banks and groceries burned. The Will Rogers’ Western Ranch House and Topanga Ranch Motel, local landmarks dating to the 1920s also burned.
AccuWeather, a private company that provides data on weather and its impact, on Thursday increased its estimate of the damage and economic loss to US$135 billion to US$150 billion.
Firefighters made significant gains at slowing the spread of the major fires, but containment remained far out of reach.
Crews also knocked down a blaze in the Hollywood Hills with the help of water drops from aircraft, allowing an evacuation order to be lifted.
The fire that sparked late on Wednesday near the heart of the entertainment industry came perilously close to igniting the famed Hollywood Bowl outdoor concert venue.
Right now, it is impossible to quantify the extent of the destruction other than “total devastation and loss,” said Barbara Bruderlin, head of the Malibu Pacific Palisades Chamber of Commerce.
“There are areas where everything is gone, there isn’t even a stick of wood left, it’s just dirt,” Bruderlin said.
Of the 10 deaths, Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley confirmed two were in the Palisades Fire.
County officials said that the Eaton Fire had killed five people.
Cadaver dogs and crews are searching through rubble, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said.
Anthony Mitchell, a 67-year-old amputee, and his son, Justin, who had cerebral palsy, were waiting for an ambulance to come, but they did not make it out, Mitchell’s daughter, Hajime White, told the Washington Post.
Shari Shaw told KTLA that she tried to get her 66-year-old brother, Victor Shaw, to evacuate Tuesday night, but he wanted to stay and fight the fire.
Crews found his body with a garden hose in his hand.
On Thursday, recovery crews pulled a body from rubble of what was a beachfront residence in Malibu on the scenic Pacific Coast Highway. A charred washer and dryer were among the few things that remained.
At least 20 arrests had been made for looting, and the city of Santa Monica declared a curfew because of the lawlessness, officials said.
National Guard troops arrived in Los Angeles on Thursday evening.
The county sheriff said that to protect properties, they would be stationed near the areas ravaged by fire and a curfew was expected to go into effect from 6pm until 6am.
‘GREAT OPPRTUNITY’: The Paraguayan president made the remarks following Donald Trump’s tapping of several figures with deep Latin America expertise for his Cabinet Paraguay President Santiago Pena called US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming foreign policy team a “dream come true” as his nation stands to become more relevant in the next US administration. “It’s a great opportunity for us to advance very, very fast in the bilateral agenda on trade, security, rule of law and make Paraguay a much closer ally” to the US, Pena said in an interview in Washington ahead of Trump’s inauguration today. “One of the biggest challenges for Paraguay was that image of an island surrounded by land, a country that was isolated and not many people know about it,”
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
‘FIGHT TO THE END’: Attacking a court is ‘unprecedented’ in South Korea and those involved would likely face jail time, a South Korean political pundit said Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday stormed a Seoul court after a judge extended the impeached leader’s detention over his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law. Tens of thousands of people had gathered outside the Seoul Western District Court on Saturday in a show of support for Yoon, who became South Korea’s first sitting head of state to be arrested in a dawn raid last week. After the court extended his detention on Saturday, the president’s supporters smashed windows and doors as they rushed inside the building. Hundreds of police officers charged into the court, arresting dozens and denouncing an
‘DISCRIMINATION’: The US Office of Personnel Management ordered that public DEI-focused Web pages be taken down, while training and contracts were canceled US President Donald Trump’s administration on Tuesday moved to end affirmative action in federal contracting and directed that all federal diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) staff be put on paid leave and eventually be laid off. The moves follow an executive order Trump signed on his first day ordering a sweeping dismantling of the federal government’s diversity and inclusion programs. Trump has called the programs “discrimination” and called to restore “merit-based” hiring. The executive order on affirmative action revokes an order issued by former US president Lyndon Johnson, and curtails DEI programs by federal contractors and grant recipients. It is using one of the
RSS