The confirmed death toll from the Los Angeles wildfires to 10 people as the five simultaneous blazes destroyed more than 10,000 structures, including 9,000 homes.
According to combined media reports, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna is expecting more deaths to be confirmed.
“The obvious question is, do you think it’s going to grow?” Luna said at a media briefing last night. “I am praying it doesn’t but based on the devastation – it looks like an atomic bomb dropped in these areas – I’m not expecting good news.”
More than 360,000 people are under mandatory evacuation orders as roughly 33,000 acres burned in a catastrophe that has been burning since Tuesday morning.
“The Palisades fire is one of the most destructive natural disasters in the history of Los Angeles,” said Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley.
None of the five fires burning across the region are near containment, and the situation could be exacerbated with a forecast for more severe winds.
“We’re continuing to see 50-, 60-, 70-, 80-mph offshore wind gusts blowing down from the mountains,” said Jon Schneyer, director of catastrophe response for CoreLogic. “I don’t imagine containment is going to occur anytime in the next two or three days. We might get a little bit, but to get up to 60%, 70% containment will probably be several days until the wind shifts to more of an onshore wind pattern.”
Schneyer added the ongoing crisis was “the worst wildfire event we’ve had to reckon with since the 2018 period. The last five, six, seven years has been relatively low impact. This could be an event that brings us back to the 2015-2018 time period.”
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass’ leadership during the crisis created a controversy. Bass, a Democrat who was in Ghana to attend the inauguration of that nation’s president when the wildfires began, declined to respond directly to questions the city’s readiness in handling the catastrophe.
“We have to save lives and we have to save homes,” she said during a Thursday press conference. “Rest assured that when that is done, when we are safe, when lives have been saved and homes have been saved, we will absolutely do an evaluation to look at what worked, what didn’t work, and to correct or to hold accountable anybody, department, individual, etc. But my focus right now is on the lives and on the homes.”
When asked about reports that Bass approved significant cuts to the Los Angeles Fire Department’s budget, she curtly replied that the reduced funding did not impact the firefighting efforts, adding, “I’m not here to talk about our budget.”
President Biden said Thursday that the federal government will cover 100% of the disaster response for 180 days, up from the 75% it traditionally covers.
“I told the governor and local officials, spare no expense to do what they need to do and contain these fires,” said Biden.
The Malibu residence of the president’s son Hunter Biden was destroyed in the wildfires, with Daily Mail reporting the $15,800-a-month Malibu rental home was destroyed by the wildfires. Also destroyed was the $16,000-a-month neighboring property rented by Biden’s Secret Service protection detail. It is unclear where Biden and his wife, Melissa Cohen, are now residing.
The Biden residence is among multiple properties belonging to prominent individuals lost to the fires. The Pacific Palisades home where “Friends” star Matthew Perry died – the property was acquired by a real estate developer for $8.55 million less than three months ago. The homes of entertainers Billy Crystal, Mandy Moore and Paris Hilton were also destroyed, along with buildings at the Will Rogers State Historic Park including Will Rogers’ historic ranch house.
Photo: The Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center being destroyed by fire, courtesy of Hen Mazzig / X.
