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At least five people have been killed and many others severely injured as several fast-moving wildfires have torn across the Los Angeles County area, leaving thousands of firefighters attempting to extinguish the blaze.
Officials said Thursday that while progress had been made on the Sunset, Woodley, Hurst, and Sunswept Fires, more “extreme fire behavior” and wind gusts up to 60mph are continuing to challenge firefighting efforts.
“Significant fire growth remains likely with ongoing or new fires,” forecasters warned.
The Palisades Fire, one of the most destructive natural disasters the city has seen, is still not contained. The fire has burned more than 17,200 acres, while the Altadena and Pasadena-based Eaton fire has scorched some 10,600 acres.
The causes of all of the wildfires are under active investigation, but thousands of buildings and businesses have been destroyed.
Nearly 180,000 residents of the cunty are under evacuation orders and nearly 200,000 are under evacuation warnings.
Even more California customers were left without power on Thursday, with nearly 420,000 outages reported by tracker PowerOutage.us.
Sheriff Robert Luna said that deputies were touring the affected areas.”
“Some of ‘em looked like a bomb was dropped in ‘em,” he said.
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Los Angeles wildfires may be the costliest in U.S. history: Report
The Los Angeles wildfires may to be the costliest in the nation’s history, analysts told The Wall Street Journal on Thursday.
Total economic losses from the fires are close to $50 billion, double the estimate of a day earlier, JPMorgan analyst Jimmy Bhullar told the publication.
Insured loss estimates could increase “if the fires are not controlled,” he said.
Although, that sum is less than preliminary damage and economic loss estimates from media forecaster AccuWeather.
LA officials condemn looters ‘preying’ on residents as wildfires devastate California
Pasadena warns about Eaton Fire debris in drinking water
More than 100 crews are deployed to restore power
There are currently 118 crews deployed to restore power in Los Angeles County.
“If you see a wire down, please call 911 and we will send crews immediately to make the area safe,” Janisse Quiñones, CEO and chief engineer of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, said Thursday.
“Some customers may experience some longer outages because some power equipment has been damaged or “compromised” by the fires,” she added.
Death toll from the fires is expected to rise
Cadaver dogs and search crews are beginning to search the rubble, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said Thursday.
“Right now, frankly, we don’t know yet,” he said.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass assures budget cuts ‘really did not affect this disaster’
Months before the devastating Palisades Fire swept the Los Angeles neighborhood of Pacific Palisades, the city reportedly cut $17.5 million from the fire department’s budget this fiscal year, according to ABC 7.
The station said the total budget for the Los Angeles County Fire Department was $819.64 million. In the previous year, it was $837.2 million.
“If you go back and look at reductions, none would have impacted the situation they were dealing with over the last few days,” Mayor Karen Bass told reporters on Thursday.
Source: independent.co.uk
