Wildfires that ravaged some of the most picturesque neighbourhoods in the Los Angeles area continued to grow Wednesday as fire crews battled three major out-of-control blazes that killed at least five people.
Winds were easing and firefighters from across the state were relieving exhausted crews, but the danger was far from over. As officials provided an update on the fires, a new blaze broke out in the Hollywood Hills, and evacuation orders were also extended to Santa Monica.
More than 1,000 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.
A thick smoke wafted over many parts of Los Angeles. At least seven schools in the area were either damaged or destroyed, officials said.
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,” though not of hurricane force like Tuesday evening, when much of the destruction occurred.
In Pasadena, Fire Chief Chad Augustin said between 200 and 500 structures have been damaged or lost from the Eaton Fire that started Tuesday night when hurricane-force winds whipped up flames.
He said the 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 ignited block after block as they flew through the air.
“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 in the Pacific Palisades leveled entire blocks, reducing grocery stores and banks to rubble. More than 1,000 structures were destroyed in the Palisades fire, the most destructive in the