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LAST UPDATE | 9 Jan
FIREFIGHTERS HAVE BEGUN to slow the spread of deadly and devastating fires in the Los Angeles area after the ferocious winds that drove the fast-moving flames diminished, but the largest blazes still burned out of control.
Crews were able to knock down a major threat that broke out on Wednesday evening in the Hollywood Hills, close to the heart of the entertainment industry, and by morning had lifted an evacuation order for the area.
“While we are still facing significant threats, I am hopeful that the tide is turning,” LA County supervisor Kathryn Barger said during a news conference.
The devastating wildfires have claimed at least five lives while more than 130,000 people have been evacuated from their homes.
Powerful winds levelled at least 1,500 structures – many of them multi-million dollar homes and fire crews have struggled to keep up with the deavasting inferno.
While major wind gusts still pose a danger, the weather forecast could provide an opportunity for firefighters to make progress in reining in the blazes.
BREAKING: Eaton fire quickly approaching Mount Wilson towards “critical communication infrastructure” impacting millions @NBCLA pic.twitter.com/kRm5UKAu3v
— Jacob Wheeler (@JWheelertv) January 9, 2025
One forecast has estimated that the total damage caused by the fires so far could reach over $50 billion (€48.5 billion) as at least five separate blazes have begun in the heart of Hollywood.
Water dropped from aircraft helped fire crews quickly seize control of the fires in the Hollywood Hills and Studio City, LA mayor Karen Bass said.
Much of the widespread destruction around the city occurred after those aircraft were grounded due to high winds.
Flare-ups overnight illuminated the Santa Monica Mountains above Pacific Palisades.
The toll from the fires is still being calculated. LA fire chief Kristin Crowley said the Palisades Fire along the coast burned thousands of structures.
“It is safe to say that the Palisades fire is one of the most destructive natural disasters in the history of Los Angeles,” she said.
The number of dead also is expected to rise now that search dogs and crews are beginning to comb the rubble, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said.
Flames from the Sunset Fire in the Hollywood Hills put densely populated neighbourhoods on edge on Wednesday night.
Only a mile away, the streets around the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the TCL Chinese Theatre and Madame Tussauds were bustling, and onlookers used their phones to record video of the blazing hills.
Los Angeles Fire Department captain Erik Scott said firefighters were able to keep the blaze in check because “we hit it hard and fast and Mother Nature was a little nicer to us today”.
Earlier today, as officials provided an update on the fires, the new blaze broke out in the Hollywood Hills and evacuation orders were also extended to Santa Monica.
More than half a dozen schools in the area were either damaged or destroyed, including Palisades Charter High School, which has been featured in many Hollywood productions, including the 1976 horror movie Carrie and the TV series Teen Wolf, officials said. The University of California, Los Angeles has cancelled classes for the week.
More than 1,500 structures, mostly homes, have been destroyed, and more than 130,000 people are under evacuation orders in the metropolitan area, from the Pacific Coast inland to Pasadena, a number that continues to shift as new fires erupt.
Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass said firefighters from across California and elsewhere had arrived to help along with air operations that were dousing flames.
She warned they still faced “erratic winds”, although not of hurricane force like Tuesday evening, when much of the destruction occurred.
“The winds continue to be of a historic nature… this is absolutely an unprecedented, historic firestorm,” said Bass.
In Pasadena, Fire Chief Chad Augustin said between 200 and 500 structures have been damaged or lost from the Eaton Fire that started on Tuesday night.
He said the city’s water system was stretched and was further hampered by power outages but even without those issues, firefighters would not have been able to stop the fire as embers blown by the intense winds ignited block after block.
“We were not stopping that fire last night,” he said. “Those erratic wind gusts were throwing embers for multiple miles ahead of the fire.”
On the Pacific Coast west of downtown Los Angeles, a major fire levelled entire blocks, reducing grocery stores and banks to rubble in the Pacific Palisades, a hillside area along the coast dotted with celebrity homes and memorialised by the Beach Boys in their 1960s hit Surfin’ USA.
More than 1,000 structures were destroyed in the Palisades fire, the most destructive in the modern history of Los Angeles. Many people were hurt, including first responders, LA County fire chief Anthony Marrone said.
Biden was scheduled to leave for Italy on Thursday, after eulogising former president Jimmy Carter at a memorial service in Washington, for the three-day trip to meet with Pope Francis and Italian President Sergio Mattarella and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
The trip was meant as a coda to the second Catholic US president’s time in the White House and a final opportunity to showcase the strength of American alliances before he leaves office on 20 January.
The announcement of the trip’s cancellation comes just hours after Biden left Los Angeles after meeting his first great-grandchild, who was born in a city hospital on Wednesday.
He received a briefing from local fire officials before returning to Washington, as smoke and ash from blazes raging in the area clouded the daytime sky.
“This is the most widespread, devastating fire in California’s history,” Biden said as he convened a special meeting of senior administration officials at the White House.
He signed a federal emergency declaration after arriving at a Santa Monica fire station for a briefing with Governor Gavin Newsom, who dispatched National Guard troops to help.
We’re prepared to do anything and everything, as long as it takes, to contain the Southern California fires and help reconstruct. But we know it'll be a hell of a long way.
— President Biden (@POTUS) January 9, 2025
The federal government is here to stay as long as you need us. pic.twitter.com/roLsYjKOki
While flying back to Washington on Wednesday, Biden approved a federal major disaster declaration for Los Angeles County, allowing for federal funding to be made available for temporary housing and home repairs as well as low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses.
It also provides additional financial assistance to state and local governments to cover the costs of fighting and cleaning up after the fires.
The flames marched toward highly populated and affluent neighbourhoods, including Calabasas and Santa Monica, home to California’s rich and famous.
Mandy Moore, Cary Elwes and Paris Hilton are among the stars who said Wednesday they had lost homes.
Billy Crystal and his wife Janice lost their home of 45 years in the Palisades Fire.
“We raised our children and grandchildren here. Every inch of our house was filled with love. Beautiful memories that can’t be taken away,” the Crystals wrote in the statement.
In Palisades Village, the public library, two major grocery stores, a pair of banks and several boutiques were destroyed.
California’s wildfire season is beginning earlier and ending later due to rising temperatures and decreased rainfall tied to climate change, according to recent data.
Rains that usually end fire season are often delayed, meaning fires can burn through the winter months, according to the Western Fire Chiefs Association.
Dry winds, including the notorious Santa Anas, have contributed to warmer-than-average temperatures in Southern California, which has not seen more than 0.1 inches (0.25 centimetres) of rain since early May.
The winds increased to 80mph on Wednesday, according to reports received by the National Weather Service.
Forecasters predicted wind gusts of 35-55mph which could rise higher in the mountains and foothills. Fire conditions could last through Friday.
Several Hollywood studios suspended production, and Universal Studios closed its theme park between Pasadena and Pacific Palisades.
The Palisades Fire is by far the city’s most destructive in modern history, topping the Sayre fire in 2008 that destroyed more than 600 structures, according to statistics kept by the Wildfire Alliance, a partnership between the city’s fire department and MySafe:LA.
Power company Southern California Edison shut off service to thousands because of safety concerns related to high winds and fire risks.
More than 1.5 million customers could face shut offs depending on weather conditions, the utility company said.
With additional reporting from Andrew Walsh
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