Los Angeles Fires Expand As Winds Forecast To Pick Up

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On Saturday, the largest fire in Los Angeles spread to previously uninhabited neighborhoods, causing new evacuations and dwindling hopes that the disaster would be contained.

At least 11 people have died in the city as a result of multiple fires that have destroyed thousands of homes since Tuesday, according to US President Joe Biden, calling it a “war scene.”

Evacuation orders were issued in squabish neighborhoods along its eastern flank, including the famous Getty Center art museum, despite massive firefighting efforts.

READ ALSO: Anger, Resentment Rise In Los Angeles Over Fire Response

After a brief pause, the wind was forecast to pick up again on Saturday, increasing the chance of new fires as embers are blown into dry brush.

As Los Angeles residents grapple with the ruin and rising local resentment over officials’ preparedness and response, they have increasingly demanded who is to blame for the disaster.

Smoke billows from the Palisades fire as seen from Saddle Peak Road, near Fernwood, Topanga, a community in western Los Angeles County, California in January 10, 2024.. (Photo by AGUSTIN PAULLIER / AFP)

Residents like Nicole Perri, whose Pacific Palisades home was destroyed, claimed to have been let down by authorities.

“I don’t think the officials were prepared at all”, said James Brown, a 65-year-old retired lawyer across the city in Altadena.

Governor Gavin Newsom of California ordered a “full independent review” on Friday, calling it “deeply troubling” given the lack of water supplies at the time of the initial fires.

“We need answers to how that happened”, he wrote in an open letter.

As reports of looting grew, a sunset-to-sunrise curfew was imposed in evacuated areas.

In Los Angeles, where some residents have set up street patrols and kept armed guard over their own homes, about 20 arrests have already been made.

To strengthen law enforcement, the National Guard has been deployed.

– 12, 000 buildings gone –

Flowers are left on the sand by burned-out beachfront homes destroyed by the Palisades Fire along Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, California, on January 10, 2025.. (Photo by VALERIE MACON / AFP)

Five separate fires have so far burned more than 37, 000 acres (15, 000 hectares), &nbsp, destroying around 12, 000 buildings, California’s fire agency reported.

The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s office confirmed an additional fatality on Friday, increasing the total death toll to 11, though the figure is anticipated to rise.

“It reminded me of more of a war scene, where you had certain targets that were bombarded”, said Biden, as he received a briefing at the White House.

For the fourth day in a row, firefighters who are battling blazes around the clock had a fleeting window of opportunity on Friday as the weather calmed down.

“Braveheart” actor Mel Gibson was the latest celebrity to reveal his Malibu home had burned down, telling NewsNation the loss was “devastating”.

Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, who left the royal family in 2020 and relocated to California, were seen comforting those who lost homes, along with Paris Hilton, Anthony Hopkins, Billy Crystal, and others.

On Saturday morning, the Palisades fire spread eastward after burning 21,600 acres, only eight percent contained.

Emergency personnel issued a warning that the situation was still very dangerous.

According to Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) administrator Deanne Criswell, the winds “are going to increase again in the coming days.”

The cause of the fires has not yet been determined, according to authorities.

– Blame game –

View of the house Kyle Kucharski and Nicole Perri’s destroyed house in Los Angeles, California’s Pacific Palisades neighborhood on January 10, 2025. &nbsp, (Photo by Cecilia SANCHEZ / AFP)

Biden aimed a thin line at incoming president Donald Trump, who has spread false information about the fires that have since grown even more noxious on social media.

“You’re going to have a lot of demagogues out there trying to take advantage”, the president said.

Newsom, who has been blamed for the disaster by the president-elect, invited Trump to visit Los Angeles and survey the devastation with him.

“We must not politicize human tragedy or spread disinformation from the sidelines”, said Newsom.

Kristin Crowley, the head of Los Angeles’ fire department, claimed that her department was frequently understaffed and staff-less in response to recent service funding cuts.

Although scientists claim that human-caused climate change is altering the weather and altering the blazes’ dynamics, wildfires occur naturally.