At least 10 are believed to be dead as multiple blazes scorch several cities in the Los Angeles County Area in one of the worst outbreaks of wildfires to strike southern California.
At least 10 people are believed to be dead as wildfires continue to scorch many cities in the Los Angeles County area.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna says the fires are some of the worst he’s ever seen. “It looks as though an atomic bomb dropped in these areas”.
Luna acknowledged the death toll with hesitancy, saying “even as I’m telling that, it’s leaving my lips, I’m nervous about that number”. The LA Sheriff warned that the figure may increase in the near future.
Luna says he “doesn’t expect good news” and expects the death toll to continue rising, based on the sheer scale of the devastation.
The Palisades and Eaton fires are the largest of six currently blazing across the city. The two blazes alone have burned through almost 30,000 acres since they began on Tuesday morning.
The two biggest fires ravaging Los Angeles this week have burnt down more than 10,000 homes, buildings and other structures this week, according to officials.
The blazes have prompted the evacuation of some 150,000 people as homes countless homes continued to get reduced to ash.
The fast moving Kenneth Fire started in the late afternoon in the San Fernando Valley near the West Hills neighbourhood. Only hours earlier, officials expressed encouragement after firefighters aided by calmer winds and help from out-of-state crews saw the first signs of successfully beating back the wildfires.
“We are expecting this fire to rapidly spread due to high winds,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said, echoing the forecast that called for winds to strengthen Thursday evening through Friday morning.
All of the fires that have broken out across the LA county area are located roughly 25 miles (40 km) north of downtown Los Angeles.
Dozens of entire blocks in the scenic celebrity favourite Pacific Palisades neighbourhood were flattened to smouldering rubble, with only the outlines of homes and their chimneys remaining. In Malibu, many beachfront homes, including Hollywood A-lister Paris Hilton’s family home, were burnt to the ground in scenes local described as apocalyptic.
At least five churches, a synagogue, seven schools, two libraries, in addition to many boutiques, bars, restaurants, banks and grocery stores were destroyed. The damage is extensive, analysts believe it will take months, maybe years, for the city to rebuild to pre-fire levels.
Firefighters made significant gains on Thursday in slowing down the spread of the Eaton and Palisades fires. The Eaton Fire though remained at 0% contained, while the Palisades Fire was only at a small percentage.
The government has not yet released figures on the cost of the damages incurred, or provided specifics on the quantity of structures burnt.
AccuWeather, a private company that provides data on weather and its impact say they estimate the damage and economic loss of the city to be in the $135-150 billion (€131-146 billion) range.
Fire officials say the wildfires have come out of their usual season, as they routinely strike during the dry and hot summer months. They say they do not yet know the cause of the fires, but are actively investigating.
