Firefighters are launching an all-out assault to stop the largest of the deadly wildfires threatening Los Angeles from spreading to one of the city’s most exclusive neighborhoods.
Aerial crews poured water and fire retardant on burning hillsides to try to contain the Palisade fire, which has expanded another 1,000 acres and now threatens Brentwood.
Officials were on the defensive amid growing anger over dry hydrants as firefighters struggled to contain the fast-moving blaze.
Winds are expected to strengthen again overnight, fanning the remaining flames further. At least 16 people died.
getty imagesOn Saturday evening, the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office announced that 11 of the deaths were from the Eaton fire and five were from the Palisade fire.
But the National Weather Service warned that the gusts that initially sparked the wildfires would increase again through Saturday and Sunday.
Seven neighboring states, the federal government, Canada and Mexico have poured resources into California.
“LA County has endured yet another night of unimaginable horror and heartbreak,” Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath said Saturday morning.
Firefighters have made some progress on the worst of the blazes, the Palisade Fire. The fire has burned nearly 23,000 acres and is 11% contained.
But the fire spread into the Mandeville Canyon area, sparking evacuation orders for Brentwood, the luxury residence of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Disney CEO Bob Iger and NBA star LeBron James.
Also in the evacuation zone is the Getty Center, a hilltop museum housing more than 125,000 works of art, including masterpieces by Van Gogh, Rembrandt, Rubens, Monet and Degas. The building remains undamaged to this day.
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The second largest fire, the Eaton Fire, has destroyed more than 14,000 acres and is 15% contained. Firefighters largely extinguished two smaller fires, the Kenneth Fire and the Hurst Fire.
The cause of the fire has not yet been revealed. The two largest combined destroyed an area more than twice the size of Manhattan.
About 153,000 residents have been ordered to evacuate, and another 166,000 have been warned they may need to evacuate.
The political repercussions have begun.
Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat who has been rumored to run for the White House, ordered an investigation Friday into why a major reservoir went offline and some fire hydrants ran dry.
Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley complained about the shortage.
“When firefighters approach a hydrant, they expect there to be water,” she said.
Chief Crowley also attacked city leadership for cutting the department’s budget and eliminating mechanic positions, which he said left more than 100 pieces of fire equipment out of service.
The Los Angeles Department of Water Resources said all fire hydrants in Pacific Palisades and LA’s Westside communities were “fully operational” before the devastating wildfires. CNN is reporting.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who has been criticized for being in Ghana attending the inauguration of the African country’s president when the fire broke out in Los Angeles on Tuesday, hinted at tensions with Chief Crowley.
“Let me make one thing clear: the fire chief and I are focused on putting out this fire and saving lives, and any differences we may have will be resolved privately,” Bass said at a news conference.
More than 70,000 people have signed a Change.org petition calling for the mayor’s immediate resignation.
A sunset-to-sunrise curfew is being strictly enforced in evacuated areas as fears of looting grow, officials said.
Newsom announced Saturday that he would double the number of troops on the ground to 1,680 troops to “keep our communities safe.”
About two dozen people were arrested, including for robbery, looting and curfew violations.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said cadaver dogs were helping a 40-person search and rescue team search the devastated neighborhood.
The death toll is expected to increase as house searches are carried out.
The fire was so intense that the car’s wheel alloy melted into a puddle of liquid metal.
Real estate agent Rick McGeagh told Reuters that only six out of 60 homes in his Pacific Palisades neighborhood survived.
All that remained in his house was a statue of the Virgin Mary.
“Everything else is ash and rubble,” said the 61-year-old father of three.
