It is the most destructive wildfire in the LA's history. More than 1,00,000 people have been ordered to evacuate as the wind-whipped wildfires surge uncontained
At least five people have died and thousands displaced as series of wildfires spread across Los Angeles county in Southern California. Wildfires began in Pacific Palisades, a residential neighbourhood, on Tuesday. Two fires broke out shortly after that, namely, the Eaton fire and the Hurst fire. At least six separate fires had been reported by Wednesday afternoon.
The latest among these is the Sunset fire which has ravaged the Hollywood hills near Runyon Canyon. The Palisades fire has spread uncontained to 15,800 acres, destroying 1,000 structures at least. The Eaton fire has been raging through Angeles National Forest, Altadena and Pasadena, spreading across 10,600 acres.
While Hurst fire impacted over 700 acres, the Woodley fire had been controlled at approximately 30 acres. The Lidia Fire near Acton has burned over 340 acres.
On Wednesday, roughly 1,500 firefighters were deployed to douse the Eaton and Palisades fires.
It is considered to be the most destructive in the county's history. More than 1,00,000 people have been ordered to evacuate as the wind-whipped wildfires surge uncontained.
Nearly a million customers of electricity providers in the county were reported to be without power, as per PowerOutage.us.
The cause of these fires is under investigation. However, winter-time wildfires are not new in the US state California due to the Santa Ana winds in the region, which is known to dry out vegetation and make them more susceptible to fire.
These are dry, warm and strong winds common in Southern California during winters and are formed when high pressure over the Great Basin, a large region in the western US, forces air to flow towards the coast.
The intense Santa Ana winds have caused some of the worst wildfires in the region. The Franklin fire in December 2024 raged through more than 4,000 acres of the Malibu area, damaging almost 50 homes, and could only be completely controlled after nine days.
Dry vegetation, shifting winds and extremely low humidity have induced the rapid growth in recent fires.
The National Weather Service had issued a red flag warning for extreme fire conditions earlier. It warned that the wind gusts could reach 100 mph in some areas this week, prompting ‘extreme fire behaviour’ wherever blazes ignite.