Five people have died, many others have been seriously injured and tens of thousands have been displaced, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said, as wildfires rage across Southern California.
"Don't forget that the situation is still very unstable and the fire has not been controlled at all. I sincerely hope we don't find any more (dead), but I don't think the toll will really stay the same," the county sheriff warned.
Five wildfires in the Los Angeles area destroyed homes and businesses, swept through cities and highways creating a scene of utter devastation. Gusty winds in the area are fueling the flames and hampering firefighting efforts. The wildfires burning along the coast between Malibu and Santa Monica have already destroyed more than 15.800 acres.
According to the latest information, another fire broke out in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles near Runyon Canyon, and an evacuation order has already been issued. Authorities ordered residents of the historic Hollywood district to evacuate their homes because of a new fire in its hills, a few hundred meters from Hollywood Boulevard.
Los Angeles Fire Chief Christine Crowley announced a new fire — in addition to the five her crews are battling — has broken out in low-lying vegetation in the Hollywood Hills.
"Immediate threat to life. Residents are ordered to evacuate immediately. Public access to the area is prohibited," the Los Angeles City Fire Department said, citing a map that includes areas of the famed neighborhood, the heart of the film industry.
Six fires are now burning in Los Angeles
According to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, five fires are now burning in Los Angeles:
The Pacific Palisades fire is the largest fire in the county right now, burning more than 15.832 acres, fire officials said. Most of the fire is in the Pacific Palisades, located between Santa Monica and Malibu. It has destroyed at least 1.000 buildings, according to Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marone.
The Eaton fire has burned about 10.600 acres, according to Cal Fire. Five people died as a result of the Eaton fire. About 200 to 500 buildings have been damaged or lost as a result of this fire, said Pasadena Fire Chief Chad Augustine.
The Woodley fire started Wednesday and has burned at least 30 acres.
The Hurst fire, which started Tuesday night, has burned more than 505 acres.
The Lidia Fire started on Wednesday afternoon and quickly spread to 80 acres. The fire, which is 30 percent contained, is burning near Acton, a small residential community about 50 miles from Pacific Palisades.
The fire in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles near Runyon Canyon.
More than 150.000 people are under evacuation orders, according to CNN.
That number is double what officials estimated Wednesday morning. They said at least 70.000 people were ordered to evacuate. Specifically, evacuation orders were issued: Eaton Fire: 107.272, Palisades Fire: 44.820, and Hurst Fire: 3.362.
Over 1,5 million power outages
More than 1,5 million homes and businesses were without power as of Wednesday afternoon, nearly all of Southern California, according to PowerOutage.us.
Water shortage in Pacific Palisades
While there is plenty of water in Southern California's reservoirs to fight the fires, the logistics of getting enough water to the Pacific Palisades — and to the extent that firefighters need to control those flames — is insufficient, according to water officials.
Pacific Palisades is at the end of the municipal water system line where the water flow is naturally lower, a local water official said – the size of the water pipe decreases the farther it is from a main line. Three huge water tanks, each with a capacity of 1 million gallons, are intended to supplement the water flowing into the faucets and maintain the pressure.
But given the huge amount of water needed to fight the fires, these reservoirs were emptied sporadically overnight Tuesday into Wednesday morning. This caused the water pressure in the taps to drop.
"The consumption of water has been faster than we can supply," Janisse Quiñones, chief executive of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, told reporters Wednesday morning. Water officials "worked with the fire department to try to refill the tanks," he added.
No other locations experienced water supply problems, said Michelle Figueroa, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Water Department. "The issue is unique to the Palisades because of the demand from firefighting efforts."
Insufficient staff
The Los Angeles County Fire Department, understaffed to fight all the fires, "was prepared for one or two big fires, but not four, or five," the fire chief said. Strong winds fueled the fires and temporarily grounded firefighting aircraft.
"It's so disappointing"
"Although the winds have decreased in intensity, they are still making it difficult for firefighters to fight the fire," said California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Battalion Chief Brent Pascua.
"It seems to die down and then all of a sudden it flares up, with these gusts of 60, 70 miles an hour, it changes everything again," he said. "It's so unpredictable, it moves so fast, it's so frustrating."
Pascua encouraged people to move away when necessary, saying deaths could rise "if people don't heed the advice to leave".
Clinics closed at UCLA Health due to fires
UCLA Health, which operates an extensive system of clinics and hospitals in Southern California, has treated at least 21 patients for injuries related to the fire. One patient is in critical condition, UCLA Health spokesman David Sampson told CNN. He did not give details about the injuries.
Dozens of the health system's clinics are closed until further notice due to fire hazards and utility outages, including all clinics in Calabasas and Encino. Facilities in Pacific Palisades, Malibu, Pasadena and Alhambra have also closed.
Kamala Harris' Los Angeles home has been evacuated
Vice President Kamala Harris' home in Los Angeles is among those ordered to be evacuated due to massive fires.
“The Vice President's neighborhood in Los Angeles has been ordered to evacuate. No one was home at the time. She and her husband are praying for the safety of their colleagues in California, the heroic first responders and Secret Service personnel,” Harris' spokesman Ernesto Apreza said in a statement posted on social media.
"The Vice President and President continue to closely monitor the fires, remain in contact with state and local officials, and have offered any federal assistance needed to help respond to and recover from this terrible disaster," he concluded.
Kamala Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff own a home in the Brentwood neighborhood and have stayed there several times over the past four years. They are likely to return to Los Angeles after leaving office.
Famous among thousands fleeing their homes because of the fires
Among those who see the flames heading menacingly towards their homes are several Hollywood stars.
Actor Mark Hamill, who played Luke Skywalker in Star Wars, said he left Malibu and asked people in the area to "stay safe." He said on social media that there were small fires on both sides of the road while he fled.
Reality star Heidi Montag and her husband Spencer Pratt saw their home engulfed in flames. The couple were members of the main cast of the reality TV show The Hills.
Actor Eugene Levy of American Pie and the TV show Schitt's Creek evacuated his home on Tuesday, telling the Los Angeles Times that while he was stuck in traffic: "The smoke looked pretty black and heavy."
Hollywood's favorite star Tom Hanks and his famous actress wife acquired a large mansion in Pacific Palisades in 2010 for $26 million. The property sits on 1,5 acres of land and features four bedrooms, five bathrooms, a large swimming pool and its own theater. However, the flames appear to have come dangerously close to the area. Chet Hanks, Tom Hanks' son, wrote on Instagram: "The neighborhood I grew up in is on fire."
Ben Affleck, who returned home from work on Tuesday night, appeared shocked to see the flames. The 52-year-old actor looked uneasy as he approached the home where he now lives following his divorce from Jennifer Lopez.
Actor James Woods, who had roles in the films Casino and Once Upon a Time in America, posted a series of videos of the flames near his home.
"I'm standing in my driveway, getting ready to evacuate," the Golden Globe winner said in a short video on X, adding that firefighting planes were flying overhead and dropping water. He later wrote: "It tests your soul, you lose everything in an instant, I must say."
Actor Steve Guttenberg, who lives in the Palisades neighborhood and starred in the 1987 comedy Three Men and a Baby, urged people who abandoned their cars to leave their keys behind so they could move to make way for fire trucks .
The announcement of the Oscar nominations has been postponed
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has suspended the announcement of Oscar nominations and extended the voting period to give Academy members — many of whom live in Los Angeles and have been affected or displaced during the fires — more time to vote.
The nominations were due to be announced on January 17th, but are now expected to be announced on January 19th.
"We want to express our deepest condolences to those affected by the devastating wildfires in Southern California," Academy CEO Bill Kramer wrote in a letter to Academy members. "Many of our members and colleagues in the industry live and work in the Los Angeles area, and we think of them."
Film premieres were also canceled, including the British singer Robbie Williams biopic Better Man, and the Screen Actors Guild Awards canceled an in-person nominations announcement scheduled for Wednesday morning.
Source: skai.gr
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