Since Tuesday, January 7, at least five wildfires including Palisades, Eaton, Sunset, Hurst, and Lidia, have taken ablaze, decimating more than 45 square miles in Los Angeles and turning several miles along the Malibu coast unrecognizable. Close to 180,000 people are currently under evacuation orders, and so far 10 people have been killed.
Palisades was the first of the five to erupt on Tuesday and is the largest and most destructive fire recorded in LA state history, covering more than 19,978 acres. It is reportedly 6% contained. Eaton hit the northern part of LA and is the second biggest, covering some over 13,000 acres, and 0% contained. Thankfully, the rest of the three have all taken less than 1,000 acres, with the Hurst Fire taking at least 771 acres and being 37% contained, Lidia Fire at least 348 acres and 60% contained, and the Kenneth Fire at least 960 acres and 0% contained. The Sunset wildfire, which stretched over 60 acres, has been 100% contained as of Thursday evening.
The flames have scorched a number schools, homes, and businesses along the famous Sunset Boulevard, wiping out entire neighborhoods altogether and even taking the homes of major celebrities like Leighton Meester, Adam Brody (who attended the Golden Globes just days ago), Paris Hilton and more.
Insurance companies worry that this will be the costliest wildfire destruction in US history, with insurance losses expected to reach $8 billion due to the high value of the homes in the area.
According to the New York Times, what made matters worse was that just hours into the fight to contain the infernos, LA fire hydrants ran completely dry. Even hours later on Wednesday afternoon there was still zero water. Countless homes in the Highlands burned, joining more than 5,000 structures that had already been destroyed by the Palisades fire. As of right now, that number has increased to as many as 10,000 structures, with no end yet in sight. Over 60,000 still remain in danger due to high-speed winds.
In NYT’s latest article, officials claimed that the storage tanks that hold water for high-elevation areas like the Highlands and the pumping systems that support them “could not keep pace with the demand as the fire raced from one neighborhood to another,” which is what caused the dry-up.
Furthermore, since the power has been cut traffic jams have built up as residents attempt to escape with all the belongings they can muster. It got so bad that people even abandoned their cars to go on foot while carrying as many belongings and valuables with them as possible. The abandoned cars were then bulldozed to make way for firefighting crews.
In addition, several schools including UCLA have been forced to close until things get back under control. Katie Beaver, a student attending UCLA currently, stated that the “air quality was bad enough that you could see it,” so she had to evacuate to a “friends house in Newport.”
Sadly, due to the mass destruction, many animals have been showing up in people’s yards and in neighborhoods near the Palisades fire after fleeing from their natural habitats. In order to aid these poor creatures, the California Board of Forestry and Fire Protection advised that residents leave a safe path for the wildlife to get through and to leave buckets of food and/or water outside as they are scared, tired, and probably lost their homes. This is just another devastating consequence of the intense flames.
Local fire officials have pointed to high winds and drought as the cause of the infernos as dry crops and grass could have facilitated the flames and made it easier for them to spread so quickly, but authorities are still not fully certain. Although conditions will remain prone to ignition with no rain forecast for at least the next week, there is still some hope as the weather outlook has been downgraded from extremely critical to just critical over the past few days.
