More deaths expected as damage toll from Southern California wildfires soars
Los Angeles fire officials said Thursday that thousands of homes appear to have been damaged or destroyed in the firestorm in Pacific Palisades, an estimate that would significantly heighten the scale of the disaster.
Officials are still calculating losses, but said preliminary estimates are grim. On Wednesday, they said more than 1,000 homes had been lost to the Palisades fire and roughly 1,000 more to the Eaton fire.
“The Palisades fire is one of the most destructive natural disasters in the history of Los Angeles,” said Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley.
At least five people have died in Altadena, where the Eaton fire exploded Tuesday night, giving residents little time to flee. But officials say the death toll is likely higher.
Firefighters Thursday were continuing to fight the Palisades fire, which has burned more than 17,200 acres, and the Eaton fire, which has charred about 10,600 acres.
Growth of the Eaton fire has been “significantly stopped,” L.A. County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said during a news conference Thursday morning. But officials say crews are still struggling with the Palisades fire with firefighters facing 60 mph winds overnight. Officials say they hope calming winds through the day will help crews boost containment.
The Palisades fire, Eaton fire and Sunset fire, which broke out Wednesday night in the Hollywood Hills, have no containment. The Hurst fire, burning in Sylmar, has charred 855 acres and is 10% contained as of Thursday morning.
While winds have diminished, much of Los Angeles County remains under a red flag warning, with forecasters warning of critical fire weather through Friday night. Out-of-state resources are continuing to roll into fire zones on Thursday.
“This is absolutely an unprecedented, historic firestorm,” Mayor Karen Bass said. “But we are all hands on deck.”
Los Angeles County Sheriff officials are working to get a count of the fatalities in the fires, but have been limited because of the dangerous conditions in the fire zones. Homicide detectives are investigating deaths at several locations including some in the Malibu area, said Nicole Nishida, communications director for the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department.
“Information is still very preliminary, but there have been multiple deaths in the fire areas,” Nishida said.
Amid the challenges of the past several days Los Angeles caught a break Wednesday, with firefighters able to limit the Sunset fire, which broke out near Runyon Canyon above Hollywood. Crews were also able to keep a house fire in Studio City from spreading.
Unlike during the catastrophic conditions on Tuesday night, when wind gusts of up to 100 mph were recorded, on Wednesday night, aircraft were able to make water drops on the Sunset fire, which broke out shortly before 6 p.m. Wednesday. Officials initially ordered a mandatory evacuation of a swath of Hollywood north of Hollywood Boulevard but lifted the evacuation orders Thursday morning. The Sunset fire has burned 60 acres, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire).
Officials urged people to still be vigilant. Thousands of residents across Los Angeles County remain evacuated.
L.A. County Sheriff Robert Luna said at least 20 people have been arrested on suspicion of looting homes in evacuation zones.
“We’re not going to tolerate that kind of activity,” Luna said.
Wind speeds weakened across the Los Angeles region Thursday morning, with isolated gusts reaching 35 mph in the Malibu area and 58 mph in the San Gabriel Mountains, said Mike Wofford, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard.
But, the reprieve is expected to be brief. Winds are anticipated to strengthen Thursday night.
“We’ll get a little bump up in winds as we get another little push of offshore flow,” Wofford said. “Nothing like we saw [Wednesday] with the gusts of 80 to 100 mph winds, but certainly enough to present some issues for the fires. ... It’s kind of like a day on, day off sort of thing. At least until the middle of next week we’re going to be in that pattern.”
Five people have died, but officials say the death toll is likely to be higher. More than 2,000 structures have burned and at least 130,000 residents are under evacuation orders. Experts say L.A. is not out of danger yet and these fires have the potential to be the costliest wildfire disaster in American history.
Late Wednesday, the National Weather Service downgraded the fire weather outlook for the region from “extremely critical” to “critical.” Wofford said Los Angeles residents should be prepared for a succession of sustained high wind events that could intensify fire risk. Humidity levels remain low and no rain is in the forecast in the coming days.
“This has the potential to be, at least collectively, the costliest wildfire disaster in American history,” UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain said Wednesday. “Even just the Palisades fire on its own may become so.”
Times staff writer Jenny Jarvie contributed to this report.
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