Los Angeles in Flames, Over 100,000 People Evacuated

Los Angeles County has been on fire for two days. The municipality declared a state of emergency as the fires that have swept through various areas of the U.S. metropolitan area, including Eaton, Palisades, Altadena, Pasadena, San Fernando Valley, Sylmar, Tamarack, have also reached a point of threatening the Hollywood Hills and one of the most iconic places in the California metropolis, the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

5 casualties were confirmed, at least 130 thousand people were evacuated, 2 thousand buildings were destroyed or damaged, and almost 10 thousand were declared endangered, 6 thousand hectares of land were burned, 350 thousand homes were left without electricity, and the damage is still being assessed. The economic impact, according to initial estimates, is largely in excess of $50 billion.

The causes of the fires are still being determined, and unfortunately, even though the winds that helped spread the flames are subsiding, the fires are “0% contained, with the exception of the Hearst fire, which is 10% contained,” explains the Los Angeles Times. “What we have seen in the last 24 hours is unprecedented. I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell. Firefighters from all over California, Arizona, and Oregon converged on Los Angeles County to help put out the fires.

“What has happened is astounding,” President Joe Biden said. “We are prepared to do whatever it takes and for as long as it takes to contain these fires.” Biden himself canceled a trip to Italy planned for these days because of the emergency.