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California wildfires: All we know so far in 5 points
Many of the towering fires began on Tuesday and were fueled by powerful Santa Ana winds.
Fierce wildfires have engulfed various parts of the Los Angeles area, with some even exploding to an area beyond 10,000 acres. Fast-moving flames have destroyed homes and businesses as residents fled smoke-filled canyons and picturesque neighborhoods that are home to many celebrities.
Many of the towering fires began on Tuesday and were fueled by powerful Santa Ana winds, which gusted more than 70 mph (112 kph) in some spots. The winds continued to speed up the fires on Wednesday. The conditions are said to be too dangerous for aircraft to attack the fires from the sky, according to the fire officials. With CalFire unable to use aircrafts to put out fire, it has hampered their efforts.
California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency and said that the state has deployed more than 1,400 firefighting personnel to battle the blazes. In a rare, urgent plea, the Los Angeles Fire Department asked all off-duty firefighters in the city to help. The Governor has also called on the state National Guard troops to help out in the firefighting efforts.
Here's what to know about the fires:
The Palisades Fire
The Palisades Fire started around 10:30 AM on Tuesday. Since then, it has burned about 4.5 square miles (11.6 square kilometers), according to a report by the Associated Press.
The fire has caused flaming embers to fall onto trees and rooftops in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood. Evacuation orders were issued and residents rushing to escape created a traffic jam, blocking emergency vehicles from getting through. Crews used a bulldozer to push the abandoned cars off to the side.
Other fires
The Eaton Fire started about 6:30 PM on Tuesday north of Pasadena in the Altadena area. According to the fire officials, it had exploded in size to 16.6 square miles (43 square kilometers) by late Wednesday morning. At a senior center, employees pushed dozens of residents in wheelchairs and hospital beds to a parking lot to escape.
The Hurst Fire started at about 10:30 PM on Tuesday and prompted evacuations in Sylmar, a San Fernando Valley community in the northernmost neighborhood in Los Angeles. That fire had grown to nearly a square mile (2.6 square kilometers) by early Wednesday.
Evacuations
About 37,000 residents were under evacuation orders from the Palisades fire, according to CNN. More than 13,000 structures were under threat, authorities said. The Eaton fire prompted more than 50,000 evacuation orders, Angeles National Forest officials said.
Many of the evacuations were in the Pacific Palisades area, but others were in parts of Santa Monica and Altadena.
Power outages
About 400,000 customers were without power in southern California, with about 260,000 of them in Los Angeles County, according to PowerOutage.us, which tracks outages nationwide.
The forecast
Santa Ana winds increased late Tuesday and in the early morning hours Wednesday, and more strong winds were in the forecast. Winds could top 100 mph (160 kph) in mountains and foothills — including in areas that haven’t seen substantial rain in months, the National Weather Service said.
Ongoing red flag warnings highlight extremely critical fire weather conditions from a combination of strong wind gusts in some of the highest terrain Wednesday morning and exceptionally dry relative humidity levels, according to Peter Mullinax, a meteorologist with the weather service’s office in College Park, Maryland.
