Death toll from wildfires rises to 10
The death toll from wildfires in Los Angeles has risen to 10 from seven, Los Angeles County’s Medical Examiner said. All cases are currently pending identification and legal next of kin notification.
Key events
Agence France-Presse have a report on the devastation of the Los Angeles fires as viewed from a helicopter on Thursday:
Flying south through smoky skies down the famous Malibu coast, at first the burnt-out mansions are the exception – solitary wrecks, smoldering away between rows of intact, gleaming beachfront villas.
But draw closer to Pacific Palisades and those small scorched ruins become sporadic clusters, and then endless rows of charred, crumpled homes.
From the air, the extent of the devastation from the Palisades fire on these two neighbourhods is starting to come into focus: whole streets in ruins, the remains of once-fabulous houses now nothing but ash and memories.
Access to this area of utter devastation has been largely closed to the public and even to evacuated residents since the fire began Tuesday.
The biggest among multiple blazes covering Los Angeles, the inferno has now ripped through more than 19,000 acres (7,700 hectares) of Pacific Palisades and Malibu.
A preliminary estimate of destroyed structures was “in the thousands,” city fire chief, Kristin Crowley, told Thursday’s conference. “It is safe to say that the Palisades fire is one of the most destructive natural disasters in the history of Los Angeles,” said Crowley.
For AFP reporters surveying the scenes from a helicopter on Thursday, it was hard to argue with that view.
On some of these highly coveted Malibu oceanfront plots, beloved by celebrities, skeletal frames of buildings indicated the lavish scale of what has been destroyed.
Other multimillion dollar mansions have vanished entirely, seemingly swept into the Pacific Ocean by the force of the Palisades fire. And looming above Malibu, a thin sliver of luxurious waterfront property, is Pacific Palisades itself – an affluent plateau of expensive real estate, now deserted.
Not the entire hilltop is blackened. Several grand homes stand unscathed. Some streets have been spared entirely. But toward the southern end of the Palisades, grids of roads that were until Tuesday lined with stunning homes now resemble makeshift cemeteries.
Where row upon row of family homes once stood, all that remain are occasional chimneys, blackened tree stumps and charred timber.
At a press conference on Thursday, Los Angeles district attorney, Nathan Hochman, described walking through Pacific Palisades to the remains of his sister’s home as “apocalyptic.”
“Not since the 1990s when Los Angeles was hit with the fires, the flood, the earthquake and the riots, have I seen such disaster occur here in our city,” he said.
“This is crazy,” agreed Albert Azouz, a helicopter pilot who has flown these skies for almost a decade, observing the destruction from above on Thursday. “All these homes, gone.”
All schools in Los Angeles unified school district closed on Friday
At least 180,000 people were under evacuation orders, reports the Associated Press (AP) and the fires have consumed about 45 square miles (117 square kilometers) – roughly the size of San Francisco. The Palisades fire is already the most destructive in Los Angeles’ history.
All schools in the Los Angeles unified school district, the nation’s second largest, will be closed on Friday because of the heavy smoke wafting over the city and ash raining down in parts, and classes will not resume until the conditions improve, officials said.
At least 20 arrests have 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 to protect properties they will be stationed near the areas ravaged by fire and a curfew was expected to go into effect from 6pm until 6am.
Earlier in the week, hurricane-force winds blew embers, igniting the southern California hillsides.
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, according to the Associated Press (AP).
Of the 10 deaths so far, Los Angeles Fire chief, Kristin Crowley, confirmed two were in the Palisades fire. County officials said the Eaton fire had killed five.
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 on 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 a beachfront residence in Malibu on the scenic Pacific Coast Highway. A charred washer and dryer were among the few things that remained, reports the AP.
AccuWeather, a private company that provides data on weather and its impact, on Thursday increased its estimate of the damage and economic loss to $135-$150bn, reports the Associated Press (AP).
Firefighters made significant gains on Thursday 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 to be lifted on Thursday. 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.
Fire officials do not yet know the cause of the fires but are actively investigating.
LA area’s two biggest blazes burn at least 10,000 structures
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 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) 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 that have killed 10 people so far.
“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.
The Associated Press (AP) reports that the orders came as Los Angeles County officials announced the Eaton fire near Pasadena that started on Tuesday night has 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 has destroyed more than 5,300 structures.
All of the large fires that have broken out this week in the Los Angeles area are located in a roughly 25-mile (40-kilometer) band north of downtown.
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, reports the AP.
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. The government has not yet released figures on the cost of the damage or specifics about how many structures burned.
20 people arrested since fires broke out, says LA county sheriff
Around 20 people have been arrested in disaster zones since the first fires broke out on Tuesday, Los Angeles county sheriff Robert Luna said, amid reports of looting.
Luna has pledged to beef up patrols and said his officers – who are soon to be backed up by California National Guard soldiers – will be proactively stopping anyone they see in an evacuation area.
“When we have an evacuation order by law, if you remain in that area, you are guilty of a misdemeanor. If you commit certain crimes, it could jump up to a felony,” he said.
“If you are in one of these areas and you do not belong there, you are going to be subject to arrest.”
Curfew planned amid reports of looting, says Los Angeles country sheriff
Amid reports of looting, Los Angeles county sheriff, Robert Luna, said a nighttime curfew was planned, and the state’s National Guard was on hand to patrol affected areas.
Governor Gavin Newsom said the service members were part of a thousands-strong deployment of state personnel.
“We’re throwing everything at our disposal – including our National Guard service members – to protect communities in the days to come,” he said.
“And to those who would seek to take advantage of evacuated communities, let me be clear: looting will not be tolerated.”
But with such a huge area scorched by the fires, some evacuees feared not enough was being done and some were taking matters into their own hands, according to a report from Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Nicholas Norman mounted an armed vigil at his home after seeing suspicious characters in the middle of the night.
“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 told AFP.
Sharlotte Thou
The Los Angeles Animal Services has said its six shelters are “extremely full” looking after 1,500 animals, while the county’s animal control manager Christopher Valles told USA Today that all seven of its care centres are near capacity. The organisations are urging the public to foster if they can.
Animal shelter Pasadena Humane says it has provided aid to over 300 animals in less than 24 hours. The shelter wrote on social media that many animals were presenting with burns and injuries – including one dog was coated in ash, with ulcers in her eyes from smoke exposure.
A list of emergency animal shelters can be found here.
Stephane Eyes, a senior wildlife biologist for the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s (FWS) Sacramento Fish and Wildlife Office, noted in October 2022 that wildlife will avoid smoke and actively burning areas until its safe to return.
“Wildlife is incredibly resilient,” Eyes said, noting that “California has a long history with wildfire, and many species adapted to endure it.”
Palisades fire – pictures
Of five wildfires currently burning in Los Angeles, officials say the Palisades Fire is among the least contained.
Here is an aerial view of the area.
Officials say the fire is only 6% contained and is 19,978 acres.
Homes reduced to ash along the Pacific Coast Highway.
A summary of recent updates issued by authorities and California governor Gavin Newsom:
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Palisades fire is 19,978 acres and 6% contained
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Eaton fire is 13,690 acres and 0% contained
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Kenneth fire is 1000 acres and 35% contained
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Hurst fire is 771 acres and 37% contained
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Lidia fire is 348 acres and 60% contained
The Kenneth fire is now 35% contained, according to a social media post by California governor Gavin Newsom:
The #KennethFire is 1,000 acres and now 35% contained. The forward rate of spread has been stopped.
Grateful for the heroic firefighters from Los Angeles and Ventura counties who are actively engaged on the scene, deploying both ground crews and aerial resources.
Some recent photos from the Eaton, Palisades and Kenneth fires.