LOS ANGELES: The fiercest wildfire to ravage parts of Los Angeles this week reportedly took a turn on Saturday, triggering more evacuation orders and posing new challenges for firefighters exhausted.
Six simultaneous fires that have spread across Los Angeles County neighborhoods since Tuesday have killed at least 11 people and damaged or destroyed 10,000 structures. The death toll is expected to rise as firefighters are able to conduct house-to-house searches.
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The fierce Santa Ana winds that unleashed the infernos subsided Friday night. But the Palisades fire on the city’s western edge is taking a new direction, prompting another evacuation order as it advances toward the Brentwood neighborhood and the San Fernando Valley foothills, the Los Angeles Times reported.
According to a report on the LA Times website, LA Fire Department Captain Erik Scott told local station KTLA: “The Palisades fire has grown significantly in the eastern portion and continues northeast.”
The fire, the most destructive in Los Angeles history, leveled entire neighborhoods, leaving behind only the smoldering ruins of what had once been people’s homes and possessions.
Before the latest outbreak, firefighters reported progress in extinguishing the Palisades fire and the Eaton fire in the foothills east of the metropolis after it burned out of control for days. As of Friday night, the Palisades fire was 8% contained and the Eaton fire was 3% contained, state agency Cal Fire said.
The two massive fires combined have burned 35,000 acres (14,100 hectares), or 54 square miles – 2.5 times the land area of Manhattan.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said about 153,000 people were still under evacuation orders and another 166,800 people faced evacuation warnings as a curfew was imposed in all evacuation zones.
Seven neighboring states, the federal government and Canada rushed aid to California, sending in air crews to drop water and fire retardant on the blazing hills and teams on the ground to attack fire lines with equipment. Hand tools and hoses.
The National Weather Service said conditions in the Los Angeles area will improve over the weekend, with sustained winds slowing to about 20 mph (32 kph), gusting from 35 mph to 50 mph,
“It’s not windy, so that should help firefighters,” NWS meteorologist Allison Santorelli said, adding that conditions remained severe with low humidity and carpeting. dry plants.
Cal Fire said strong winds are possible again on Tuesday.
“The likelihood of severe wildfire weather will continue to be high over the next week,” the agency said.
Officials declared a public health emergency due to the thick toxic smoke.
HOUSE REDUCED TO CASH
Pacific Palisades residents who ventured back into their devastated areas on Friday were shocked to see brick chimneys looming over charred garbage and burned-out cars as the smoke acrid The car floats in the air.
“This is a beloved house,” said Kelly Foster, 44, as she dug through the rubble where her house once stood.
Foster’s 16-year-old daughter, Ada, said she tried to get inside but “I just got sick. I can’t even…Yeah, it’s so hard.”
In Rick McGeagh’s Palisades neighborhood, only six of 60 houses remain, and all that remains of his farmhouse is a statue of the Virgin Mary.
“Everything else is just ash and rubble,” said McGeagh, 61, a commercial real estate broker who, along with his wife, raised three children in their home.
On Friday morning, hundreds of people flocked to the parking lot near the Rose Bowl in Pasadena to donate clothes, diapers and bottled water.
Denise Doss, 63, said she was anxious to return to her destroyed home in Altadena to see if anything could be salvaged, but officials stopped her because of safety concerns.
“At least say goodbye until we can rebuild. I will let God lead me,” Doss said.
BILLION LOSSES
Many Altadena residents said they worry government resources will go to wealthier areas and that insurance companies could defraud people who can’t afford to contest denials of fire claims .
In addition to those left homeless, tens of thousands remain without power and millions face poorer air quality as the fires leave behind traces of metal, plastic and other synthetic materials.
Private forecasting agency AccuWeather estimates damage and economic losses at between $135 billion and $150 billion, pointing to a difficult recovery and rising insurance costs for homeowners.
California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara on Friday called on insurers to suspend pending non-renewals and cancellations that homeowners received before the fires started and extend grace periods. pay.
President Joe Biden declared the fire a major disaster and said the US government would refund 100% of the recovered money in the next six months.