Wildfires still burning in Los Angeles
AMN / WEB DESK
Firefighters in Los Angeles battled flames for a fourth day on Friday, trying to get the upper hand on wildfires that have destroyed thousands of homes and killed at least 11 people.
Officials have warned that the death toll, updated late Thursday, could increase once the multiple fires have been brought under control and workers can comb through the ruins.
At least 11 people have died in the devastating firestorms raging across Los Angeles County in the US. According to preliminary numbers from state and local officials, more than thirteen thousand structures have been destroyed in the fires.
The sheriff’s department said, over one lakh people are under evacuation orders. At present four major wildfires are raging across the region. The largest blaze, the Palisades fire between Santa Monica and Malibu, was 8 percent contained till yesterday. To the east, firefighters have contained 3 percent of the Eaton fire, near Altadena and Pasadena. Both fires now rank in the top five most destructive fires in California’s history.
California’s Governor Gavin Newsom has ordered an inquiry into the county’s water management after reports emerged that a critical reservoir was offline when the fires started and that firefighters were left with dry hydrants as they battled blazes ripping through Los Angeles. Media reports said, it is not clear what ignited the fires which erupted on Tuesday, and investigators will likely take months to come to any firm conclusions.
At a news briefing Friday afternoon, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre rebuked criticism of the emergency response to the fires.
“It is on all of us to show these people, to show folks in California some compassion, as they are reckoning with an unimaginable disaster,” she said.
Biden told a White House briefing Thursday afternoon that federal resources and additional funding have been made available to California to fight the wildfires that he described as the “worst fires to ever hit Los Angeles.”
The money will be used, the president said, to cover all the costs for 180 days for temporary shelters, the removal of hazardous materials, first responder salaries, and measures to protect life.
“I told the governor, local officials, spare no expense to do what they need to do and contain these fires,” Biden said Thursday.
Vice President Kamala Harris, a former U.S. senator for California, spoke at the briefing, describing the situation in California as “apocalyptic” and “something that is going to have an impact for months and years to come.”
Authorities said the wildfires burning in and around Los Angeles prompted the evacuation of nearly 180,000 people, destroyed thousands of homes, and burned tens of thousands of hectares of land.
“This is absolutely an unprecedented, historic firestorm,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said.
Bass has faced criticism for being absent from Los Angeles when the Palisades fire erupted Tuesday. She was in Ghana attending the inauguration of President John Dramani Mahama as part of a U.S. presidential delegation.
Bass returned the following day. On Thursday, she highlighted the “unprecedented” nature of the fires and defended her leadership.
“My focus right now is on the lives and the homes,” Bass said.
At a news briefing Thursday, Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley told reporters the fierce winds that had driven the fires calmed enough to allow firefighters to increase containment and air operations to resume.
Cal Fire is fighting five active wildfires in the Los Angeles area: the Palisades, Eaton, Hurst, Lidia and Kenneth fires.
