Ten people have perished in the fires in Southern California
Economic Impact of the Florida Hurricane Epicenter on the Loss of 25,000 Jobs, according to AccuWeather, an Economic Data Provider
AccuWeather, a commercial company that provides data on weather and its impact, increased its estimate of the region’s economic loss to between 135 billion and $150 billion.
The winds began to abate on Wednesday and Thursday. They were projected to reach around 15 to 20 miles per hour Thursday before hitting 30 to 40 mph on Friday according to the National Weather Service. Firefighters that were helpless against virtually unstoppable wind-driven blazes have been able to return to their normal tactics.
The NFL has moved a game scheduled for Monday between the Vikings and Rams from Inglewood, Calif., to Glendale, Ariz. Earlier, the NBA postponed a game between the Los Angeles Lakers and Charlotte Hornets to an unannounced date.
The Los Angeles County Fire Department has Solved Two Fires in the Last 24 Hours and a Large Number of them have Been Resolved
The Palisade Fire that has burned almost 20,000 acres was not contained on Thursday. Celebrities like Billy Crystal and Paris Hilton were among the many people who had lost their homes. The fire department in Pasadena was able to slow the growth of the Eaton Fire. The Sunset Fire that started in the Hollywood Hills on Wednesday was quickly hemmed in, and two others are partially contained.
A combination of long-standing rain and strong Santa Ana winds caused massive fires to erupt in the Los Angeles metropolitan area on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the Lidia fire near Acton reached more than 75% containment. Over one-third of the Hurst fire near Sylmar and the Kenneth fire in West Hills have been contained.
The critical test on Friday will be whether the containment lines can withstand strong wind gusts, which the National Weather Service says may reach up to 60 mph. A red flag warning remains in place until 6 p.m. PST.
The California firefighters have shifted from defense to offense. Rather than just saving individual buildings, they are now trying to stop the overall advance of the flames.
Californians are in disbelief over the magnitude of destruction. Jinghuan Liu Tervalon, who lost her Altadena home to the Eaton fire, told NPR she only expected to evacuate for just a day and did not know her home’s fire insurance coverage.
A single arsonist arrested in Los Alamos, Calif., continues under the Palisades Fire-Induced evacuation zone
She said that she keeps waking up at night with a question, “How did I not anticipate this?” “If I could go back in time, I would have packed a lot more stuff from the house.”
A curfew from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. for areas under Palisades and Eaton fire evacuation zones will continue to be in effect until further notice, in response to concerns of burglaries and looting in evacuated areas.
A person was arrested Thursday after reports of suspected arson near the Kenneth fire. There was not enough probable cause, but the individual is being held on a probation violation, Dominic Choi, LA Police Department assistant chief, said Friday. The investigation is still going on, he said.
California firefighters have begun to see some progress against the wildfires that are raging for a fourth day. At the same time, those gains continue to be threatened as powerful, dry winds ignite and intensify flames, and LA officials said they were trying to find out why emergency alerts were sent in error to millions of residents.
“Tuesday and Wednesday our priority was saving lives and protecting as much property as possible,” says LA Fire Department spokesperson Margaret Stewart. We are able to have a powerful assault now that we are at full capacity.
Firefighters and bulldozers have been cutting fuel on the ground in order to make the air fight the fires go away. At times earlier in the week, planes had to be grounded because of the severity of the wind.
The key factor has been the winds of up to 99 miles per hour. From the northeast to the southwest they are fanning the flames and throwing fire crackers in front of the main fire. The movement of air caused by canyons in the same direction has created a blowtorch that spread the Palisades Fire. The flames have been uncontrollable.
“These pressurized winds literally explode out of these canyons,” says Janet Upton, former deputy director of Cal Fire. “All you can do is work to get anything with a heartbeat out of the way.”
LA Wildfires: Firefighters make progress on LA fires, and alert system is changed (Photograph by Lauren Gruel)
Lauren Gruel is the owner of a fish house with her husband. My husband and I put out a call to action on our social media and it kind of got blown up in the best possible way. We’re so thankful that people have trusted us to bring the donated items to the right place.
Images coming out of the region show the devastating effects of the climate calamity. But they also depict the community banding together in the face of tragedy.
At the Pan Pacific Park Recreation Center near central LA, donations overflowed so much that the center started to turn them away. In Huntington Beach, a small seafood restaurant also began housing donations for people affected by the fires. The owners told NPR a seemingly endless stream of volunteers have also appeared.
Two elementary schools were lost and a high school was damaged in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood. There were damage to five campuses in the Pasadena Unified School District. Some districts are still assessing the damage.
According to the Sheriff’s Department, at least 153,000 people in the LA area have had to leave their homes.
Wildfires in Los Angeles and Ventura counties are expected to worsen over the next few days, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office
The fires were started by strong winds and dry conditions. LA Sheriff Robert Luna said on Saturday that the blazes were being investigated. The governor of California ordered an investigation into why the local fire hydrants went dry.
On Friday, a new small blaze erupted in Granada Hills in the San Fernando Valley region. The fire was quickly put down, consuming about 19 acres.
As fires rage on, LA County officials changed the alert and notification system to partner with the state’s alert center while they investigate the root cause behind the false evacuated alert sent to 10 million Angelenos earlier this week.
According to the National Weather Service, gusts of wind are expected this weekend and possibly through Wednesday. Forecasters say the worsening conditions will keep wildfires an ongoing threat and potentially cause power outages in Los Angeles and Ventura counties.
