Out of the five fires currently blazing through Los Angeles and its surrounding areas, fires in Eaton and the Palisades have not been contained yet
AMN / WEB DESK
Forest fires in and around the city of Los Angeles have prompted the evacuation of nearly 180,000 people, destroyed thousands of homes and burned tens of thousands of hectares of land, according to officials in Southern California.
At a news briefing Thursday, Los Angeles city and county officials provided an update on the fires and efforts to bring them under control.
Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley told reporters the fierce winds that have driven the fires have calmed enough to allow fire fighters to increase containment and allowed air operations to resume.
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said it is fighting five active wildfires in the Los Angeles area: the Palisades, Eaton, Hurst, Lidia and Sunset fires, with the Palisades and Eaton fires being the largest.
In its last report, the department said the fires had burned more than 11,750 hectares of land.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said the Palisades, Eaton, Hurst and Lidia fires have prompted the evacuation of nearly 180,000 residents and another 200,000 residents are under evacuation orders.
Chief Crowley called the Palisades fire alone “one of the most destructive natural disasters in the history of Los Angeles.”
A leading national credit rating service echoed that view. In a statement Thursday, Morningstar-DBRS credit service said preliminary estimates show the fires could result in more than $8 billion in property losses.
Ever since the fires first began on Tuesday, more than 1.8 lakh people have been placed under evacuation orders. A National Weather Service (NWS) bulletin noted that there was potential for “significant fire growth” with new or ongoing fires from Thursday to Friday.
“We are far from out of the woods,” Ariel Cohen, a meteorologist at the NWS LA office told CNN. “That window of time when the winds have decreased in many areas is quickly coming to a close.”
Five people have been confirmed to be dead, though county sheriff Robert Luna has said that the number is likely to increase. 2,000 structures have been destroyed in the raging fires and thousands of people have been displaced.