California fire: Death toll rises to 10, officials say

Latest data from Poweroutages.us., show that more than 300,000 homes and businesses in southern California have no electricity amid the raging wildfires.

The former jailer of Uttar Pradesh's Baghpat District jail was booked after a female prison officer alleged that he tried to rape her, PTI reported citing officials.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency teams are working towards helping families affected in the deadly Los Angeles wildfire, FEMA chief Deanna Criswell was cited by CNN.

FEMA has not examined the damage yet, but there could be at least hundreds of homes destroyed or significantly damaged in the blaze, Criswell added.

Wildfires are raging across Los Angeles as firefighters struggle to put out the blazes three days after it began. The fires have gotten worse due to strong winds ripping through the mountains and foothills.

Maxar Technologies released satellite images of the disaster, showing the extent of the damage the fires have caused in California.

See pics here

Terrifying rings of flames continued to engulf California's Los Angeles after a new blaze erupted in the hills overlooking the Hollywood Boulevard and its Walk of Fame.

The crescent of flames squeezing Los Angeles - including a huge fire between Santa Monica and Malibu on the city's western flank and a conflagration in the east near Pasadena - was so expansive that it was visible from space as a huge pincer, Reuters reported.

The water supply for the fire hydrants, which earlier ran dry during the battle with the blazing wildfires across Los Angeles, has improved, CNN reported citing the incident commander for the Palisades Fire.

California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection's Jim Hudson said, “It was a challenge early. No reports overnight of any issues with water (and) water pressure," adding that they have worked out some mitigations for that, "and the water system is starting to stabilise".

CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam has said that while the speed of the winds have lowered in Los Angeles, there are chances of intense guts in the Californian city throughout Thursday.

“There was some relaxation in the Santa Ana winds, but we do anticipate that to pick up in intensity through the course of the day," Dam added.

Airbnb, under its "major disruptive events" policy, is offering reservation cancellations without penalties, giving full refunds to guests in the wildfire-hit areas in California's Los Angeles.

According to a New York Times report, guests who have been prompted to cut short their trip because of the fires might also be eligible for partial refunds.

Amid the raging California wildfires, President Joe Biden cancelled the final foreign trip of his presidency hours before he was set to leave for Rome and the Vatican.

Biden chose to remain in Washington and monitor the response and relief operations in California.

Brent Pascua, battalion chief of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, as cited by CNN, said that firefighters battling the Palisades fire have gotten a break from the previous day's high winds amid hurricane-like conditions.

"It was just trying to fight this fire like in a hurricane with fire all around you," Pascua said, describing the current situation of low winds as a "welcome sight".

“What this fire so desperately needed was a break in these winds so that we can actually get some containment now on this fire," he added.

Bollywood actor-dancer Nora Fatehi, who was in Los Angeles, said that she and her team were asked to evacuate the city amid the ongoing wildfires in the Californian city.

“I’m in LA, and the wildfires are crazy. I’ve never seen anything like this. This is insane. We just got an evacuation order like five minutes ago, so I quickly packed all my stuff, and I’m evacuating out of here, out of this area,” she said in an Instagram story.

Fatehi has now flown out of LA.

As per the data from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, a total of 55 wildfires have been reported so far.

California Governor Gavin Newsom had met with President Joe Biden, who was also in Los Angeles this week, requesting him for federal disaster aid. Biden had immediately approved it.

“No politics. No hand-wringing. No kissing of the feet,” Newsom told reporters, adding that, "The president of the United States said, ‘Yes. What else do you need?’”

Several Los Angeles county schools have reported closures due to the ongoing wildfires and subsequent weather conditions. The LA Office of Education released a list of all the closed schools:

• Alhambra Unified School District
• Arcadia Unified School District
• Beverly Hills Unified School District
• Burbank Unified School District (closed through Jan. 10)
• Duarte Unified School District
• Garvey School District
• Glendale Unified School District (closed through Jan. 10)
• Glendora Unified School District
• La Canada Unified (closed through Jan. 10)
• LAUSD: All schools are closed on Jan. 9th. View LAUSD updates on their website
• Monrovia Unified School District
• Pasadena Unified School District (closed through Jan. 10)
• San Gabriel Unified School District
• Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District
• South Pasadena Unified School District
• Temple City Unified School District

Amid the fast-moving wildfires ripping through Southern California, companies like Uber and Lyft are offering free rides to affected residents to shelter locations.

“We’re teaming up with local authorities and first responders to make sure everyone who needs help evacuating gets a ride,” Camiel Irving, Uber’s Vice President of Operations, was quoted as saying by local TV station KTLA.

Residents rushing to shelters can redeem a 'free Uber ride' up to $40 with the promo code "WILDFIRE25" in the app's Wallet section before requesting a ride.

The wind speed, which for now have lowered down, is likely to pick up speed throughout the day with gusts of up to 40mph forecast across Los Angeles, a BBC report said.

The meteorologist in charge of the National Weather Service in Los Angeles, Ariel Cohen, told CNN that the onset of prolonged dry conditions has played a major role in the ongoing wildfires in California.

He said that the "brush grew from all that precipitation".

The Eaton fire, has spread across 10,600 acres of land, according to CAL Fire.

And despite firefighters continuously battling the blaze, the wildfire in Eaton remains entirely uncontained.

Santa Monica issued emergency order with a curfew from sunset to sunrise in areas where evacuation orders have been imposed.

“The Palisades Fire is currently impacting neighborhoods in the northern part of Santa Monica with approximately 2,472 households under a mandatory evacuation order within the city of Santa Monica and 8,338 under a voluntary evacuation warning,” Mayor Lana Negrete said in a release posted on the city’s website, CNN cited.

“This emergency order further assists our first responders and further protects residents as we weather this regional crisis and, ultimately, begin and support recovery efforts," it added.

According to a LA Times report, the famous strip in West Hollywood, Sunset Boulevard, is in shambles as the wildfire devastation swept through Palisades.

A store director of the Erewhon supermarket chain told the media outlet that Palisades is "done". "This is complete devastation," he added.

Actors Leighton Meester and Adam Brody have reportedly lost their home to the California wildfires, figuring among the several other Hollywood stars who have either lost their home or are dangerously close to the wildfire zone.

Ariel Cohen, meteorologist in charge of the National Weather Service Los Angeles, told CNN that the winds are gusting at a lower rate now across LA. However, he said that the red flag warnings across the neighbourhoods continue to remain in place.

“Just because we’re not seeing the same strength of winds as we saw last night, I urge everyone to remain at a high state of vigilance, as we still have these fires growing and we still have the winds to create the rapid spread,” he said.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection's data showed that 26,978 acres have been burnt down by the wind-whipped wildfires across Los Angeles.

Of these, the Palisades fire have burned 17,234 acres, Eaton fire has taken down 10,600 acres and Hurst fire has burnt 855 acres of land.

UCLA epidemiology professor Anne Rimoin told CNN that the wildfires in southern California could have serious health hazards.

"This fine particulate matter can go long distances and penetrate deep into the lungs and become a real problem," she said, adding that "it can even enter the bloodstream".

As of Wednesday evening, more than 4,56,000 people were without power in southern California, according to the tracking website PowerOutage.us.

Southern California Edison, the power company that is said to be servicing 15 million people across southern, central and coastal California has shut off electricity to more than 1,70,000 local houses and businesses, in a bid to prevent.