Source : NEW INDIAN EXPRESS NEWS
Overflowing kindness
Volunteers overflowed donation centers and some had to be turned away at locations including the Santa Anita Park horse racing track, where people who lost their homes sifted through stacks of donated shirts, blankets and other household goods.
Altadena resident Jose Luis Godinez said three homes occupied by more than a dozen of his family members were destroyed.
“Everything is gone,” he said, speaking in Spanish. “All my family lived in those three houses and now we have nothing.”
Officials warn against returning
Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna warned residents against venturing back to destroyed homes to sift through rubble for keepsakes.
“We have people driving up and around trying to get in just to look. Stay away,” Luna said, urging people to abide by curfews.
Officials on Saturday warned the ash can contain lead, arsenic, asbestos and other harmful materials.
“If you’re kicking that stuff up, you’re breathing it in,” said Chris Thomas, a spokesman for the unified incident command at the Palisades Fire who warned the material was “toxic.”
Residents will be allowed to return with protective gear after damage teams evaluate their properties, Thomas said.
Leadership accused of skimping
LA Mayor Karen Bass faces a critical test of her leadership during the city’s greatest crisis in decades, but allegations of leadership failures, political blame and investigations have begun. City officials put on a united front on Saturday after reports of a behind-the-scenes row and suggestions that Mayor Bass had sacked her fire chief Kristin Crowley.
An at-times tense joint press conference came after Crowley complained her fire department was short of cash and criticized the lack of water. “When a firefighter comes up to a hydrant, we expect there’s going to be water,” Crowley said.
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday ordered state officials to determine why a 117 million-gallon (440 million-liter) reservoir was out of service and some hydrants had run dry.
The level of devastation is jarring even in a state that regularly confronts massive wildfires. Traum of the state Office of Emergency Services said those impacted by the fires can apply online for immediate government assistance.
President-elect Donald Trump accused California officials of incompetence over their handling of the fires.
“The fires are still raging in L.A. The incompetent pols (politicians) have no idea how to put them out,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform.
“This is one of the worst catastrophes in the history of our Country. They just can’t put out the fires. What’s wrong with them?” he wrote.
(With inputs from AP and AFP)
SOURCE :- NEW INDIAN EXPRESS
