Firefighters gain hand on LA blazes as death toll climbs

LOS ANGELES (CN) — Firefighters have begun containing the unprecedented wildfires that destroyed thousands of homes in Los Angeles during the last four days while the death toll from the blazes climbed to 10.

The largest of the fires in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood. at the foot of the Santa Monica Mountains overlooking the Pacific Ocean, has scorched 20,438 acres and was 8% contained as of Friday afternoon, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

East of downtown LA, the Eaton Fire, which has destroyed part of the community of Altadena at the edge of the San Gabriel Mountains, has burned 13,690 acres and is 3% contained, according to Cal Fire.

More than 10,000 structures, including homes and businesses, have been damaged or destroyed in the firestorms that erupted Tuesday as the strongest Santa Ana winds in over decade, blowing west from the inland desert region to the ocean, fanned the flames that tore through the dry vegetation in the canyons and into the neighborhoods.

As many as 150,000 residents were still under mandatory evacuation orders, LA County Sheriff Robert Luna said at a media briefing Friday. An overnight curfew has gone into effect for the evacuated areas to prevent looting.

Governor Gavin Newsom on Thursday deployed the National Guard to assist local firefighters and law enforcement in safeguarding the evacuation zones.

The National Weather Service said that the Red Flag warnings, indicating critical fire weather conditions, that have been in place since the start of week for LA County will likely be lifted Friday evening as the offshore winds are diminishing.

As the immediate danger from the fires begins to abate, attention is starting to focus on the Herculean tasks of rebuilding the devastated neighborhoods where in street after street only smoldering debris is left of people’s homes.

President Joe Biden on Wednesday declared a major disaster for the area, thereby making federal funds available to compensate the city and county for their firefighting costs and help residents who lost their homes.

LA Mayor Karen Bass vowed that no government bureaucracy and red tape will be allowed to slow rebuilding the effort.

“With so many homes and businesses lost, we are already putting plans in place to make sure that we aggressively rebuild,” Bass said at the media briefing. “This will be an enormous undertaking, but we will be ready for it because we will not rely on the old way of doing things.”

County officials profusely apologized for the emergency alerts that rattled residents already on edge received on their phones to evacuate even when they live nowhere near the fires.

“There is an extreme amount of frustration, anger, fear with regard to the erroneous messages that have been sent out through the wireless emergency system across LA County,” Kevin McGowan, director of the county’s Office of Emergency Management told reporters. “I can’t express how sorry I am for this experience.”

The alerts, which had only been intended only for residents who were in danger from the spreading fires, weren’t the result of human error, according McGowan, and investigators were looking into the root cause of the problem.

LA County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said the Eaton Fire had been prevented from reaching the peak of historic Mount Wilson, the highest point of the San Gabriel Mountains and the site of the Mount Wilson Observatory as well as a large number of antennas to relay radio and TV broadcasts in the LA region.

No buildings on top of the mountain had been destroyed, Marrone said.

Another major wildfire that erupted Thursday afternoon near the West Hills community in the western San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles was quickly prevented from becoming another major disaster with the help helicopters and aircraft that dropped fire retardant and water to douse the flames on the hillsides surrounding opulent mansions.

The Kenneth Fire burned 1,000 acres and was 35% contained Friday afternoon. The evacuation order for the neighborhood was lifted.

The LA County fires are likely to become the costliest fire disaster in U.S. history. Insured losses from the multiple blazes could be as high as $20 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday, citing JPMorgan analyst Jimmy Bhullar. Total economic losses could be as much as $50 billion, the Journal said.

The Palisades Fire destroyed historic buildings and multiple structures at two California state parks Tuesday night, including Will Rogers’ historic ranch house and buildings at Will Rogers State Historic Park. The fire also destroyed parts of Topanga State Park, including the historic Topanga Ranch Motel once owned by William Randolph Hearst.

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