A wildfire that tore through Malibu mansions and working-class suburban homes in southern California has killed two people and more than doubled in size.
Independent.ie Newsdesk Twitter Email
November 10 2018 7:28 PM
A wildfire that tore through Malibu mansions and working-class suburban homes in southern California has killed two people and more than doubled in size.
Officials took advantage of temporarily calm conditions to assess damage from the blaze that has burned 109 square miles north and west of Los Angeles.
Firefighters were searching burned-out neighbourhoods after two blazes that have already destroyed 150 homes.
Los Angeles County sheriff’s chief John Benedict said two people have been found dead but provided no details on the deaths.
Wildfires burning across California have now killed 11 people, including nine found dead in a massive fire in northern California that destroyed the town of Paradise.
In the south, a smoky haze still hung in blue skies, with the vicious winds that drove the flames in their first two days gone and expected to stay away until Sunday. Firefighters scrambled in the narrow window of calm to try to block the two wildfires that have blazed a path of destruction toward the sea.
In less than two days, the Hill and Woolsey fires had prompted evacuation orders for more than 250,000 people, including the entire city of Malibu, which is home to some of Hollywood’s biggest celebrities.
The lull on Saturday could give firefighters a chance to control the edges of the blazes and to swap fire crews, replacing firefighters who had worked for two days without rest, Los Angeles County Fire Chief Daryl Osby said.
But with the winds returning, it is likely more homes would be lost, Mr Osby warned.
« There’s not going to be any relief in this firefight, » he said.
By late Friday night, the smaller Hill fire’s advance had halted, but the Woolsey fire kept surging. The two fires erupted on Thursday as warnings of extreme fire danger covered much of the state because of dry weather and blowing winds.
In northern California, a wildfire killed some in their cars as they tried to flee the racing flames. The state’s most destructive fire in at least a century has burned down more than 6,700 buildings, almost all of them homes.
President Donald Trump issued an emergency declaration providing federal funding to help firefighters battling the wildfires across California.
In the south, flames raged from Thousand Oaks south through the north-western San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles and appeared to be heading towards the Pacific Ocean.
Thousand Oaks already was reeling from a shooting at a country music bar that killed a dozen people this week when it was besieged by fire. It raged on both sides of the city and shut down part of the main freeway into town.
« It’s devastating. It’s like ‘welcome to hell,' » resident Cynthia Ball said about the dual disasters outside a centre serving as a shelter for evacuees. « I don’t even know what to say. It’s like we’re all walking around kind of in a trance. »
Three-quarters of the city of 130,000 was under evacuation orders – and that probably included people affected by the shooting, Mayor Andy Fox said.
The entire coastal enclave of Malibu also was ordered to flee, with Lady Gaga, Kim Kardashian West and Guillermo del Toro among the celebrities forced to abandon their homes.
The Woolsey blaze also destroyed the home of Dr Strange director Scott Derrickson and the historic Paramount Ranch where HBO’s Westworld and many other shows have been filmed.
The flames spread so fast that firefighters could not be everywhere at once and residents took matters into their own hands.
People tried to save a mansion by hurling buckets of water from a swimming pool on to burning brush over a fence.
Firefighters pleaded with people to heed mandatory evacuation orders. Ventura County Fire Chief Mark Lorenzen said some firefighters were « literally pulling people out of burning homes ».
« Even though the wind has died down, stay on guard, » he urged. « We’re in the seventh year of a drought. Our weather conditions out there, and our fuel conditions are absolutely right for fire… when we ask you to leave, please leave early. »
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