Los Angeles/Pasadena, US, Jan 8 (EFE).- At least two people have died in one of the five fires raging in Los Angeles, with a “high number” of injured people and 80,000 people forced to flee their homes, local authorities said on Wednesday.
“Unfortunately, we have two reported fatalities to civilians, unknown cause at the time, and we do have a number of significant injuries,” Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone told a news conference.
Many of the fires started on Tuesday and are being fuelled by the so-called Santa Ana winds, which are particularly dry and often spark fires in Southern California. These winds are currently blowing at up to 160 kilometers per hour (100 miles per hour) in some areas.
California Governor Gavin Newsom has ordered the deployment of 1,400 firefighting and National Guard personnel. In addition, the Los Angeles Fire Department has mobilized all of its personnel due to the intensity of the fires.
At the press conference, the Los Angeles fire chief said that the authorities were not prepared “for this type of disaster.” “There are not enough firefighters in LA county to address four separate fires of this magnitude,” Marrone said.
The wildfires have forced the evacuation of more than 80,000 people within the last 24 hours, according to local authorities.
Five fires, Eaton being the most intense
The most devastating fire so far is the Eaton Fire, which has hit the city of Pasadena particularly hard, growing from 2,227 acres to 10,600 acres (4,290 hectares) in a matter of hours.
The wildfire has caused the death of two people and a “high number” of injured, with more than 100 destroyed structures, according to Marrone.
On Tuesday, another devastating wildfire in the Palisades neighborhood started around 10:30 am and has burned about 7,220 acres, it is at “0% containment,” Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said at a press conference.
The fire has already destroyed 1,000 structures, including homes, and continues to grow. Images captured by the media depicted flames consuming the roofs of homes and some residents being forced to abandon their vehicles due to the proximity of the fire.
The Hurst fire, the third one, broke out at around 10:30 am on Tuesday and prompted evacuations in Sylmar, a community in the San Fernando Valley. It had grown to about 500 acres by Wednesday.
Los Angeles City Fire Chief Kristin Crowley told a news conference that the Hurst Fire and the Palisades Fire, which the city is battling directly, were stretching the capacity of emergency services “to maximum limits.”
The fourth fire is the Woodley Fire, which started at 06:15 am Wednesday in the Sepulveda Basin, west of Van Nuys, and has consumed 30 acres.
The fifth, the Tyler Fire in Coachella, is the smallest at 11 acres and is already 50% contained.
The political response to the fires
United States President-elect Donald Trump used the fires to lash out on his Truth Social account against California Governor Newsom, a Democratic icon who could run for president in 2028.
Trump used a derogatory nickname to refer to Newsom and renewed old criticisms of the governor for opposing a plan to send more water to the Central Valley, the state’s agricultural region, for fear it would affect endangered species.
“He wanted to protect an essentially worthless fish called a smelt, by giving it less water (it didn’t work!), but didn’t care about the people of California. Now the ultimate price is being paid,” posted Trump on the social platform Truth Social.
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden, who is in California, is due to visit a fire station in Santa Monica on Wednesday to get an update from firefighters on the Palisades Fire, the most destructive.
The White House has also ordered the deployment of federal ground and air assets, including four air tankers and 10 firefighting helicopters, to assist local authorities. EFE
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