HOLLYWOOD: Wildfires threatened to engulf parts of Hollywood yesterday as a growing number of blazes raged across Los Angeles, forcing tens of thousands of people to flee their homes and claiming at least five lives.
Over 100,000 people have been told to flee at least five separate blazes, including in the heart of historic Hollywood, just a few hundred metres from the storied theatres of Hollywood Boulevard.
Fighters in helicopters dumped water on the Hollywood Hills blaze where an evacuation order was issued for a number of streets in the historic district.
The sudden eruption created gridlock on Hollywood’s streets, hampering efforts by people who live in the area — a mixture of ritzy homes and rent-controlled apartments — to leave.
Fast-moving flames fanned by powerful winds have levelled 1,500 structures, many of them multimillion dollar homes in a rolling tragedy that the US media describe as the worst in the city’s history.
Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said his crews were struggling with the scale and speed of the unfolding disasters.
New fires appeared to be spotting as embers were thrown up to four kilometres including one that razed a large property late Wednesday in the densely populated Studio City area.
Adam Vangerpen of Los Angeles County Fire Department said crews were fighting to stop this new fire from spreading.
Millions of Angelenos have watched in horror as a series of blazes have erupted around America’s second biggest city, sparking panic and fear.
Winds with gusts up to 160 kilometres an hour spread the fire around the ritzy Pacific Palisades neighbourhood with lightning speed. At least 16,000 acres burned there, with 1,000 homes and businesses razed.
A separate 10,600-acre fire was burning around Altadena, north of the city, where flames tore through suburban streets. Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said five people were known to have perished, with more deaths feared.
Among those who died was 66-year-old Victor Shaw, whose sister told local broadcaster KTLA he had ignored pleas to leave as the fire swept through his Altendena area neighbourhood because he wanted to stay and protect their home.
Shaw’s body was found by a friend some time later on the driveway of his razed home, a garden hose in his hand. Ride-hailing companies Uber and Lyft are offering evacuating residents free rides to shelter locations. Pasadena fire chief Chad Augustin said up to 500 buildings had been lost to the flames in that area.
He hailed the bravery of first responders. “Our death count today would be significantly higher without their heroic actions,” Augustin told reporters.
US President Joe Biden cancelled a trip to Italy this week to focus on the federal response to the fires. His incoming successor Donald Trump blamed the California governor Gavin Newsom for the devastation, calling on him to resign. “This is all his fault,” Trump said on his Truth social platform.
Having destroyed perhaps hundreds of multimillion-dollar homes, the Pacific Palisades fire looked set to be one of the costliest blazes on record. AccuWeather said it estimated up to $57 billion of losses. Wildfires are part of life in the US West and play a vital role in nature.
But scientists say humancaused climate change is altering weather patterns. Southern California had two decades of drought that were followed by two exceptionally wet years, which sparked furious vegetative growth — leaving the region packed with fuel and primed to burn — and then has had no significant rain for eight months. – AFP
