SOURCE :- THE AGE NEWS
The largest of the raging wildfires that have devastated Los Angeles was reported to have shifted direction on Saturday, triggering more evacuation orders and posing a new challenge to exhausted firefighters.
Six simultaneous blazes that have ripped across Los Angeles since Tuesday have killed at least 11 people and damaged or destroyed at least 10,000 buildings. The death toll is expected to mount once firefighters are able to conduct house-to-house searches.
A helicopter drops water on the Palisades Fire in LA’s Mandeville Canyon.Credit: AP
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, prompting another evacuation order as it edged towards the Brentwood neighbourhood and the San Fernando Valley foothills, the Los Angeles Times reported.
“The Palisades fire has got a new significant flare-up on the eastern portion and continues to [the] north-east,” Los Angeles Fire Department Captain Erik Scott told local station KTLA.
The fire has burnt whole neighbourhoods to the ground, leaving nothing but smouldering ruins.
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. On Friday night, the Palisades Fire was 8 per cent contained and the Eaton Fire 3 per cent, state agency Cal Fire said.
The charred remains of a restaurant on Sunset Boulevard following the Palisades Fire.Credit: Bloomberg
The two big fires combined had consumed some 14,100 hectares – or 2½ times the land area of Manhattan in New York.
Some 153,000 people remained under evacuation orders on Saturday, while another 166,800 faced evacuation warnings, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said. A night-time curfew remained in place for all evacuation zones.
Seven neighbouring states, the federal government and Canada have rushed aid to California to bolster firefighting teams both in the air and on the ground.
The National Weather Service said that conditions in the Los Angeles area would improve as sustained winds slowed to about 32km/h, albeit with stronger gusts.
However, Cal Fire said there was a chance of strong winds again on Tuesday.
Homes reduced to ash
Pacific Palisades residents who ventured back to their devastated neighbourhoods were shocked to find brick chimneys looming over charred waste and burnt-out vehicles as acrid smoke lingered in the air.
“This was a house that was loved,” Kelly Foster, 44, said while combing through the rubble where her house once stood.
Foster’s 16-year-old daughter, Ada, said she tried to get inside but “I just became sick. I just couldn’t even… Yeah, it’s hard.”
In Rick McGeagh’s Palisades neighbourhood, only six of 60 homes survived, and all that remained standing at his ranch house was a statue of the Virgin Mary.
“Everything else is ash and rubble,” said McGeagh, 61, a commercial real estate broker who, along with his wife, raised three children in their home.
Hundreds of people had streamed into a parking lot near the Rose Bowl stadium in Pasadena to donate clothing, nappies and bottled water.
Billions in losses
Many Altadena residents said they were worried government resources would go to wealthier areas and that insurers might short-change those who cannot afford to contest claim denials.
Beyond those who lost their homes and businesses, tens of thousands remained without power, and millions of people were exposed to poorer air quality, as the fires lofted traces of metals, plastics and other synthetic materials.
Officials have declared a public health emergency due to the thick, toxic smoke.
Private forecaster AccuWeather estimated the damage and economic loss at $US135 billion to $US150 billion, portending an arduous recovery and soaring homeowners’ insurance costs.
California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara called on insurers on Friday to suspend pending non-renewals and cancellations that home owners received before the fires began and to extend the grace period for payments.
US President Joe Biden has declared the fires a major disaster and said the federal government would reimburse 100 per cent of the recovery for the next six months.
Reuters
