At least ten people have been killed by massive wildfires that have destroyed entire neighborhoods and forced thousands of people to flee their homes in Los Angeles, according to authorities, as California’s National Guard soldiers prepare to take to the streets to help put out the chaos.
As large areas of the second-largest city in the US lay in ruins, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner revealed the increasing death toll late Thursday.
Even though new fires kept starting, a massive firefighting effort went on into the night, supported by water-dropping helicopters because of a brief lull in the winds.
The state’s National Guard was available to patrol the impacted areas, and Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna announced a nighttime curfew in response to reports of looting.
According to Governor Gavin Newsom, the service members were a part of a state personnel deployment that numbered in the thousands.
“We’re throwing everything at our disposal – including our National Guard service members – to protect communities in the days to come,” he stated. “And to those who would seek to take advantage of evacuated communities, let me be clear: looting will not be tolerated.”
Those who were not supposed to be in evacuation zones would be arrested, Luna said, adding that his officers were patrolling those areas.
However, because the fires were burning such a large area, evacuees were afraid that not enough was being done, and some were taking matters into their own hands.
After spotting suspicious people in the middle of the night, Nicholas Norman set up an armed vigil at his house.
According to Governor Gavin Newsom, the service members were a part of a state personnel deployment that numbered in the thousands.
“We’re throwing everything at our disposal – including our National Guard service members – to protect communities in the days to come,” he stated.
“And to those who would seek to take advantage of evacuated communities, let me be clear: looting will not be tolerated.”
Those who were not supposed to be in evacuation zones would be arrested, Luna said, adding that his officers were patrolling those areas.
However, because the fires were burning such a large area, evacuees were afraid that not enough was being done, and some were taking matters into their own hands. After spotting suspicious people in the middle of the night, Nicholas Norman set up an armed vigil at his house.
“I did the classic American thing: I went and got my shotgun and I sat out there, and put a light on so they knew people were there,” he stated to AFP.
Almost 20,000 acres of the affluent Pacific Palisades neighborhood have been destroyed by the largest of the several fires, and another fire near Altadena has burned 13,700 acres.
Six percent of the Pacific Palisades fire’s perimeter is contained, meaning it cannot spread any farther in that direction, according to firefighters who said they were beginning to gain control of the fire.
But after a lull, fresh fires kept popping up and the winds were coming back. Late Thursday, one exploded close to Calabasas and the affluent Hidden Hills community, which is home to Kim Kardashian and other celebrities. In just a few hours, the Kenneth Fire spread to nearly 1,000 acres, uprooting more homes and displacing more than 180,000 people.
During a White House briefing, US President Joe Biden stated that he had promised additional federal funding and resources to assist the state in overcoming “the most… devastating fire in California’s history.”
In contrast to Tuesday, when the multifaceted calamity erupted and winds of 100 miles per hour forced all aircraft to ground, firefighters managed to maintain a constant flow of sorties.
However, after hitting a drone, one Super Scooper an amphibious plane that can discharge hundreds of gallons of water at once—was grounded.
The Federal Aviation Authority said it was looking into the incident, even though no one was injured, and warned that anyone operating a drone in a fire zone could face a year in jail. On Thursday, some people who had been evicted from their homes started to come back to see scenes of devastation.
Desolation was seen in an AFP overflight of the Pacific Palisades and Malibu, which is home to celebrities like Paris Hilton, Anthony Hopkins, and
Billy Crystal and has some of the most expensive real estate in the world. Skeletal building frames on the highly sought after oceanfront plots in Malibu demonstrated the opulence of the devastation.
Mansions worth millions of dollars have completely disappeared, as if the fire’s force had carried them out to sea. Grids of roads that were lined with beautiful homes until Tuesday have taken on the appearance of temporary cemeteries in the Palisades.
Millions of people in the region experienced disruptions in their daily lives, including the closure of schools, the loss of electricity for hundreds of thousands, and the cancellation or relocation of major events, such as an NFL playoff game between the Minnesota Vikings and the Los Angeles Rams. Although they have subsided, meteorologists caution that the “critical” windy and dry conditions are still present.
According to a bulletin from the National Weather Service, “significant fire growth” was still expected “with ongoing or new fires” into Friday. Although wildfires happen naturally, scientists claim that climate change brought on by humans is changing the weather and the dynamics of the fire. A very dry year has replaced two wet ones in Southern California, leaving plenty of fuel dry and ready to burn.
