SOURCE :- THE AGE NEWS
Key posts
Good morning and welcome to our ongoing coverage of the Los Angeles fires.
Here’s what you need to know.
- As of Saturday morning local time (Sunday morning AEDT), the Palisades Fire is 11 per cent contained, but threatening new territory as the wind direction changes. The Eaton Fire, the second largest, is 15 per cent contained.
- Of the smaller fires, the Kenneth Fire is 80 per cent contained, the Hurst Fire is 76 per cent contained.
- The Lidia and Archer fires are completely contained and no longer listed as critical incidents.
The charred remains of a restaurant on Sunset Boulevard following the Palisades Fire.Credit: Bloomberg
- After a brief break from the winds that gave firefighters a chance to make progress, dry winds will fan the blazes and likely persist through the first half of the coming week, according to the US Storm Prediction Centre.
- At least eleven people have died in the fires, while officials report at least thirteen more are missing.
- Los Angeles Fire Department chief Kristin Crowley unloaded on the failure of the city’s government to deliver the resources needed to fight fires effectively.
- California Governor Gavin Newsom ordered an investigation into the agencies running the city’s water systems to determine why fire hydrants ran dry.
In the meantime, you can read our full overnight wrap here.
Eleven people have so far been killed – five in the Palisades Fire and six in the Eaton Fire, according to the LA County medical examiner’s office.
However, officials said they expected that number to rise as cleanup teams with search dogs go through levelled neighbourhoods.
Even as the fires spread, the grim work of sifting through the devastation continues on Saturday local time, with teams conducting systematic grid searches with cadaver dogs, said Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna. A family assistance centre was being set up in Pasadena, said Luna, who urged residents to abide by curfews.
A firefighter battles the Palisades Fire from a deck in Mandeville Canyon on Saturday local time.Credit: AP
“We have people driving up and around trying to get in just to look. Stay away,” he said.
“We understand that this is extremely stressful and absolutely challenging, but we appreciate the public’s co-operation as we work together to get through this crisis.”
The fires have consumed about 145 square kilometres. More than one hundred thousand people remain under evacuation orders after new evacuations were ordered on Friday evening in an area that includes Encino north of the blaze, and parts of the affluent suburbs of Brentwood and Bel Air east of the Palisades Fire.
With AP
Scores of residents have returned to their smouldering neighbourhoods even as the threat of new fires persists. For some, it was a first look at the staggering reality of what was lost as the region of 13 million people grapples with the gargantuan challenge of rebuilding.
Altadena is one of the neighbourhoods now safe enough to return to after the Eaton Fire roared through.
The Altadena Community Church in the aftermath of the Eaton Fire.Credit: Bloomberg
Bridget Berg was at work when she watched on TV as her house in Altadena erupted in flames. Now, two days later, she has returned with her family. Their feet crunched across the broken bits of what had been their home for 16 years.
Her kids sifted through debris, finding a clay pot and a few keepsakes. Her husband pulled his hand out of rubble near the still-standing fireplace and held up a piece of petrified wood handed down by his grandmother.
“It’s OK. It’s OK,” Berg said as much to herself as others as she took stock of the destruction, remembering the deck and pool from which her family watched fireworks. “It’s not like we just lost our house — everybody lost their house.”
AP
Good morning and welcome to our ongoing coverage of the Los Angeles fires.
Here’s what you need to know.
- As of Saturday morning local time (Sunday morning AEDT), the Palisades Fire is 11 per cent contained, but threatening new territory as the wind direction changes. The Eaton Fire, the second largest, is 15 per cent contained.
- Of the smaller fires, the Kenneth Fire is 80 per cent contained, the Hurst Fire is 76 per cent contained.
- The Lidia and Archer fires are completely contained and no longer listed as critical incidents.
The charred remains of a restaurant on Sunset Boulevard following the Palisades Fire.Credit: Bloomberg
- After a brief break from the winds that gave firefighters a chance to make progress, dry winds will fan the blazes and likely persist through the first half of the coming week, according to the US Storm Prediction Centre.
- At least eleven people have died in the fires, while officials report at least thirteen more are missing.
- Los Angeles Fire Department chief Kristin Crowley unloaded on the failure of the city’s government to deliver the resources needed to fight fires effectively.
- California Governor Gavin Newsom ordered an investigation into the agencies running the city’s water systems to determine why fire hydrants ran dry.
In the meantime, you can read our full overnight wrap here.
