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13-01-2025
LOS ANGELES: The death toll from the wildfires ravaging the Los Angeles area has risen to 16 as firefighters struggled to contain the blaze that threatens the city’s most famous landmarks.
New evacuation orders were placed as firefighters raced against time to stop the fires from spreading before potentially strong winds returned.
The fires that began on Tuesday just north of downtown Los Angeles have scorched tens of thousands of acres and more than 12,000 structures.
Firefighters for the first time made progress on Friday afternoon on the Eaton Fire north of Pasadena, which has burned more than 7,000 structures, a term that includes homes, apartment buildings, businesses, outbuildings and vehicles.
No cause has been determined for the largest fires and early estimates indicate the wildfires could be the nation’s costliest ever. A preliminary estimate by AccuWeather put the damage and economic losses so far between $135bn and $150bn.
Meanwhile, evacuation orders throughout the Los Angeles area now cover 153,000 residents, with 57,000 structures at risk.
Another 166,000 residents have been warned that they may have to evacuate, said Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna.
Luna added that his agency has dispatched 40 search-and-rescue team workers to work jointly with other agencies, including the use of cadaver dogs to search for remains of victims and to help reunite families that have been separated.
The fierce Santa Ana winds that fanned the infernos eased on Friday night. But the Palisades Fire on the city’s western edge was heading in a new direction as winds came off the Pacific Ocean and threatened the heavily populated San Fernando Valley foothills. The fire, the most destructive in the history of Los Angeles, has razed whole neighborhoods to the ground, leaving just the smoldering ruins of what had been people’s homes and possessions.
Before the latest flare-up, firefighters had reported progress in subduing the Palisades Fire and the Eaton Fire in the foothills east of the metropolis after it burned out of control for days.
The Palisades Fire was 11 percent contained and the Eaton Fire in the east was 15 percent contained, state agency Cal Fire said.
The two big fires combined had consumed more than 36,000 acres (14,500 hectares), or 56 square miles (145.6sq km) – 2.5 times the land area of Manhattan.
Seven neighboring states, the federal government and Canada have rushed aid to California, bolstering aerial teams dropping water and fire retardant on the flaming hills and crews on the ground attacking fire lines with hand tools and hoses.
Winds predicted to slow
The National Weather Service said that conditions in the Los Angeles area would improve through the weekend, with sustained winds slowing to about 20mph (32km/h), gusting between 35mph and 50mph (56-80-km/h).
“It’s not as gusty, so that should help firefighters,” NWS meteorologist Allison Santorelli said, adding that conditions were still critical with low humidity and dry vegetation.
Officials have declared a public health emergency due to the thick, toxic smoke.
Private forecaster AccuWeather estimated the damage and economic loss at $135bn to $150bn, portending an arduous recovery and soaring homeowners’ insurance costs.
President Joe Biden has declared the fires a major disaster and said the US government would reimburse 100 percent of the recovery for the next six months. (Int’l News Desk)
