Los Angeles firefighters holding the line despite extreme winds

LOS ANGELES - Firefighters on Jan 14 held the line against two massive wildfires that have ravaged parts of Los Angeles for the past week, even as desert winds and a parched landscape presented extremely hazardous conditions.

Some 8,500 firefighters from at least seven states and two foreign countries prevented the fires from growing for a second straight day as they gained slightly more control of the perimeter of the blazes, which nonetheless have consumed an area the size of Washington, DC.

A fleet of aircraft dropped water and retardant into the rugged hills while ground crews with hand tools and hoses have worked around the clock since the fires broke out on Jan 7, with the aircraft occasionally grounded by high winds.

The Palisades Fire on the west edge of town held steady at around 9,600ha burned, and containment increased 3 percentage points to 17 per cent – a measurement of how much of the perimeter was under control.

The Eaton Fire in the foothills east of the city stood at 5,700ha with containment up 2 points to 35 per cent.

Southern California has lacked any appreciable rain since April, turning brush into tinder. Relative humidity has dipped into the single digits for much of the past week, when Santa Ana winds originating from the deserts have whipped over hilltops and rushed through canyons, sending embers flying up to 3km ahead of the fire.

Red flag conditions were expected to last through Jan 15, after winds peaked overnight with gusts surpassing 80kmh, the National Weather Service said. Winds were weaker than expected during the day on Jan 14 but forecast to peak around 3am local time on Jan 15, with gusts in the mountains possibly reaching 112kmh, the weather service said.

California Governor Gavin Newsom said 11 new fires broke out in Southern California overnight and were quickly extinguished because firefighters and equipment were positioned ahead of time. But three other fires were still burning, including one each in neighbouring Ventura and Riverside counties that started on Jan 13 and 14, Cal Fire said.

The death toll held steady at 24, as did the estimate of 12,000 structures damaged or destroyed, still portending a Herculean rebuilding effort ahead.

Entire neighbourhoods have been levelled, leaving smouldering ash and rubble. In many homes, only a chimney is left standing.

“It’s one thing to see it on television. It’s another thing to see it from the air. The massive, massive destruction is unimaginable until you actually see it,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass told a press conference after taking an aerial tour.

A few thousand more people were allowed back home but 88,000 remained under evacuation orders with another 84,000 under evacuation warning - large-scale displacements unprecedented in the metropolitan area’s history.

John Adolph, 48, who lost his home in Altadena to the Eaton Fire, was grateful to be safe but uncertain of what lies ahead. He said he went back to see what he could salvage as the fire raged.

“There were burning grocery stores, gas stations, exploding cars that went pop with glass flying ... Walls of flames two stories tall, tornadoes of flame. I was stupid with a side of crazy to try,” he said.

Urban search and rescue teams worked from an Altadena grocery store parking lot, tracking progress on whiteboards and handing out assignments from inside a trailer.

“We’re doing a systematic search. The winds really don’t have a whole lot of effect on our search and rescue operations,” said Mr Jorge Villanueva, a regional task force leader with the California Office of Emergency Services.

His team of 50 firefighters and sheriff’s deputies conducted house-by-house searches, looking for any lingering fires and hazards such as lithium-ion batteries connected to solar panels.

Priceless art deemed safe

The Palisades Fire also approached the priceless art collection at the J. Paul Getty Museum, which houses paintings by Van Gogh, Rembrandt, Monet and Degas.

But the collection remained safely inside the Getty Center’s fortress of travertine stone, fire-protected steel and reinforced concrete. “It would be extremely foolish to try and remove artwork” from its safe harbour, Getty Trust president Katherine E. Fleming said.

In Washington, a battle over emergency aid broke out between Republicans and Democrats over what is already the costliest wildfire in terms of insured losses.

Private forecaster AccuWeather estimates total damage and economic loss between US$250 billion (S$342 billion) and US$275 billion, which would make it the costliest natural disaster in US history, surpassing Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Democrats in Congress opposed the suggestion by House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, that conditions be placed on aid. Mr Johnson also said any wildfire disaster assistance funding should be “paid for”, meaning the cost should be covered to prevent adding to the budget deficit, possibly by cutting other programmes.

That is a departure from many previous natural disasters, and Democratic Representative Ted Lieu of California called Johnson’s position “outrageous”.

“We should not be leveraging the pain and suffering of our fellow Americans to try to force new policy changes,” Mr Lieu said. REUTERS