Death toll in Los Angeles wildfires rises to 10, officials report
The confirmed death toll in the Los Angeles wildfires doubled Thursday night — from five fatalities to 10.
The office of the Los Angeles County medical examiner announced it was investigating 10 fire-related deaths as of 9 p.m. Thursday. No information was available on the identity of the deceased or the location of the deaths.
Ten people have died, more than 9,000 structures have been damaged or destroyed, and at least 130,000 residents are under evacuation orders. Experts say L.A. is not out of danger yet and that these fires have the potential to be the costliest wildfire disaster in American history.
The medical examiner warned that it could take weeks in some cases to identify those killed due to the challenges of accessing bodies in dangerous fire conditions and of identifying burned corpses.
“Please also keep in mind, traditional means of identification such as fingerprinting and visual identification may not be available and will add more time for naming these decedents,” stated the medical examiner.
Earlier in the day, officials confirmed five deaths: four in the 13,690-acre Eaton fire in Altadena and one in the 19,978-acre Palisades fire. The Palisades fire victim was reported at the 15300 block of Friends Street, said Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell.
It could take anywhere from days to weeks to identify the remains of people killed in the Eaton and Palisades fires, L.A. County’s medical examiner said Thursday.
“We are deeply saddened to learn that we have lost a member of the Malibu community during the Palisades fire,” Malibu Mayor Doug Stewart said in a statement. “Although the individual has not yet been identified, this tragic news weighs heavily on our hearts. On behalf of the City of Malibu, I want to express my deepest condolences to the loved ones of this person. Our community grieves with you in this moment of unimaginable loss.”
L.A. County Sheriff Robert Luna said it was going to take time to get an accurate and complete death count.
“We’re still working in a very fluid and active environment, meaning that there are still spot fires going on in areas and there’s gas leaks,” he said. “So when people are asking us for numbers of fatalities, we want to give them to you, but we have to wait until it’s safe for our personnel to be able to go in there and do this right.”
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