What We Know About California’s Wildfires
California (Quds News Network)- Multiple wildfires were consuming acre after acre, and building after building, in the Los Angeles area on Wednesday, displacing more than 100,000 people and ravaging entire neighborhoods as strong winds and a dwindling water supply stymied firefighters’ efforts to stop the destruction.
The disaster began on Tuesday afternoon, when a powerful windstorm fanned the flames of a fire in the scenic Pacific Palisades neighborhood, quickly forcing thousands to flee.
The emergency intensified overnight as firefighters struggled to contain the flames in the extreme winds during what one official described as among the “most devastating and terrifying nights” in city history.
By morning, authorities had dispatched crews from across California to aid in tackling at least four blazes besieging the region, and Oregon reported it would send firefighters as well.
At least two people have been killed and more than 1,000 buildings incinerated in the western megalopolis, officials said. Trees along roadsides burned like giant torches. Smoky skies turned the day into dusk. In some areas, the skies glowed an apocalyptic orange.
The LA county fire chief, Anthony Marrone, said on Wednesday morning there were not enough fire personnel to handle the fires. “There are not enough firefighters in LA county to address four separate fires of this magnitude,” Marrone said.
The county was prepared for “one or two brushfires, but not four, especially given these sustained winds and low humidities”, he said.
One of the blazes, the Palisades fire, has been deemed the most destructive in the modern history of Los Angeles and preliminary estimates of damages and economic losses from the disasters exceeded $50bn.
The fires are also straining the region’s water resources. Firefighters battling the blazes have struggled with reduced water pressure and fire hydrants that have run dry in some areas due to the increased demand on water systems, the city’s water and power department reported. Officials have urged residents to conserve water for firefighters.
The governor of California, Gavin Newsom, has declared a state of emergency. Before daybreak on Wednesday morning, he released a statement saying the state had deployed more than 1,400 firefighting personnel “to combat these unprecedented fires in LA”.
More than 400,000 homes and businesses in Los Angeles county were without power on Wednesday, data from PowerOutage.us showed.
The Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles where Vice President Kamala Harris lives has been evacuated, but she and her husband, Doug Emhoff, were not home at the time, a Harris spokesman wrote on social media. The vice president is in Washington today and received a briefing on the response to the fires.
President-elect Donald J. Trump blamed California’s Democratic governor on Wednesday for the failure to contain fires engulfing parts of the Los Angeles area, accusing the state’s government of letting environmental policies run amok. In a post on his social media site, Trump mocked Newsom, calling him “incompetent” and claiming that the governor had blocked an infusion of water to Southern California because of concern about the impact on a threatened fish.
Videos shared by people online showed flames licking homes through the canyons, thrashing trees blowing in the wind and plumes of black smoke billowing into the sky.
An apocalyptic sunrise in Los Angeles, California, as smoke from wildfires blankets the sky.
"There is so much smoke that it is blocking the sun."
— ADAM (@AdameMedia) January 8, 2025
I just left the hellscape formerly know as Pacific Palisades where I’ve lived for 26 years. I’m mad at what I saw. Our politicians have failed us. Unprepared, unimaginative, understaffed, now overwhelmed. Heads must roll for this disaster. I personally saw 100+ homes fully… pic.twitter.com/8txvSJEZXd
— Wes Nichols (@wesnichols) January 8, 2025
