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.
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