Strong winds drive wildfires, evacuations across California’s Los Angeles

As tens of thousands of people fled as a result of wind-whipped wildfires that have torn through the Los Angeles area, using resources to fend off the situation as it gets worse.

A senior living facility staff had to shove dozens of residents in wheelchairs and hospital beds down the street to a car park as the fire that started on Tuesday evening in the foothills northeast of Los Angeles spread so quickly.

Before ambulances, buses, and even construction vans arrived, the residents waited in their bedclothes as embers fell around them.

The Pacific Palisades neighborhood, a hillside neighborhood along the coast lined with famous homes and memorialized by the Beach Boys in their 1960s hit “Surfin’ USA,” was destroyed by a fire that had already started hours earlier.

In the frantic haste to get to safety, roadways became impassable, as scores of people abandoned their vehicles and fled on foot, some toting suitcases.

Emergency vehicles couldn’t pass through traffic jams. After that, a bulldozer was used to create a path and push abandoned cars to the side. Homes and businesses along the famed Pacific Coast Highway were frequently destroyed, according to video along the highway.

A third wildfire started at about 10: 30pm (06: 30 GMT, Wednesday) and quickly prompted evacuations in Sylmar, the northernmost neighbourhood in Los Angeles. The causes of all three fires were under investigation.

Flames were being pushed by winds topping 60mph (about 100km/h) in some places. In mountains and foothills, including those areas where there hasn’t been much rain in months, gusts a top 100 mph (160 km/h) were predicted overnight as the wind speeds increased.

The Los Angeles Fire Department took the unusual step of announcing a call for assistance for on-duty firefighters in response to the situation. The fight was further hampered by the wind because the firefighting aircraft couldn’t fly.

Although the Pacific Palisades wildfire had caused about 30 000 people to be evacuated and more than 13 000 structures to be in danger, officials did not provide an estimate of the damage or destruction that had occurred. Gavin Newsom, the governor, said many homes had burned when he arrived on the scene.

By evening, the flames had spread to neighboring Malibu, and several residents were receiving burn injuries there. According to Los Angeles Fire Department Captain Erik Scott, a firefighter suffered a serious head injury and was taken to the hospital.

As of Tuesday evening, nearly 167, 000 people were without power in Los Angeles County, according to the tracking website PowerOutage. us.

Source: Aljazeera