Fire-wrecked Los Angeles gets a break as winds drop
Fire-wrecked Los Angeles got a break Wednesday as dangerous winds dropped, giving hope to weary firefighters still battling to snuff out deadly blazes. More than a week after fires fanned by hurricane-force gusts began a destructive march that has left two dozen people dead and large areas of the city in ruins, forecasters said the […]
Fire-wrecked Los Angeles got a break Wednesday as dangerous winds dropped, giving hope to weary firefighters still battling to snuff out deadly blazes.
More than a week after fires fanned by hurricane-force gusts began a destructive march that has left two dozen people dead and large areas of the city in ruins, forecasters said the end was in sight – at least for now.
Onshore breezes were set to bring much-needed moisture over the coming days, forecasters at the National Weather Service told AFP.
There will be “a big improvement for tonight and tomorrow, though there’ll still be some lingering areas of concern,” Ryan Kittell of the National Weather Service told AFP, though he warned there was another possibly perilous drying system in the offing early next week.
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The Eaton Fire and the Palisades Fire, which together have scorched more than 40,000 acres (16,000 hectares) were still smouldering Wednesday.
Battalions of firefighters from across the United States, as well as from Mexico, were working to tamp down hotspots that could still flare, Los Angeles City fire chief Kristin Crowley told reporters.
“Infrared flights last night indicated there are still numerous hot spots burning within the fire footprint, and very close attention was paid to address any flare-ups swiftly as to prevent any fire spread outside of the perimeter,” she said.
With tens of thousands of people still displaced by the fires, life was far from normal in America’s second-biggest city.
But children whose schools were damaged or are still affected by evacuation orders were welcomed into other institutions.
The confirmed death toll from the fires stood at 24, with the Los Angeles County Coroner investigating another possible body.
But the number of fatalities could still rise, as cadaver dogs continue a painstaking search of hundreds of buildings.
More than 12,000 structures have been razed, including multi-million dollar homes in the Pacific Palisades neighbourhood.
Estimates of the eventual cost of the tragedy have now risen to as high as $275 billion, a figure that would make it one of the most expensive in US history.