Jan. 8 (UPI) — Five people are confirmed dead Wednesday and at least a thousand structures have been destroyed by four southern California wildfires in Los Angeles County as windstorms up to hurricane strength continue to fan the deadly flames.
The Palisades fire was burning in both east and west directions in the Los Angeles area and grew to 5,000 acres as the estimated 1,000 structures were destroyed, according to authorities.
At least two people were reported dead early Wednesday, and later in the day authorities reported five people as having died in the Eaton fire. Countless more have been injuries but the numbers are unclear.
At least three schools in Los Angeles County have suffered major damage, according to CNN.
Los Angeles Fire Department Captain Erik Scott said Wednesday morning, “We’re going to have more winds today and tomorrow. Likely the biggest growth that we are seeing is to the west and our biggest priority is life and structure defense.”
At times, those winds hit 100 mph.
More than a thousand firefighters were working that fire, which was 0% contained Wednesday.
The Eaton Fire in Los Angeles County had also burned 10,600 acres as of Wednesday, according to CalFire.
The Hurst Fire had burned 505 acres.
Roughly 37,000 residents were under evacuation orders and approximately 15,000 homes in Pacific Palisades and Malibu areas are under fire threat, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna.
Another 20,000 residents and about 6,500 structures were under evacuation warnings.
Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony C. Marrone said Wednesday they were prepared for one or two major fires, but not four.
Marrone said there are not enough firefighters to handle them.
“We’re doing the very best we can,” he said. “But no, we don’t have enough fire personnel in LA County, between all of the fires, to handle this.”
President Joe Biden was getting a CalFire briefing on the Los Angeles blazes Wednesday at a local fire station in Santa Monica.
The president was in the Los Angeles area on a previously scheduled trip.
All the fires are being pushed along by dry conditions along with the powerful winds that persisted overnight.
Los Angeles City Councilwoman Traci Park, whose district covers the Pacific Palisades, told NBC News. “I really want to commend the neighbors in the area for their swift response and compliance with local orders. This was a fire that grew and moved very, very quickly with wind conditions as well as all the dry conditions, it’s been at least eight months since we’ve had rain in this area.”
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection predicted the powerful wind gusts would last through Thursday.
“Extreme fire behavior, including short and long-range spotting, continues to challenge firefighting efforts for the Palisades Fire,” CalFire said in a statement.
The Eaton Fire, which started Tuesday evening in the Eaton Canyon area near Altadena, quickly burned more than 1,000 acres by midnight. By 6 a.m., PST, Wednesday, it had burned another 1,200 acres, forcing the closure of Pasadena schools.
The Hurst Fire started in Los Angeles’ Sylmar neighborhood, also late Tuesday, and burned hundreds of acres with the help of the windstorm.
The Woodley Fire is the most recent of the southern California wildfires. It has burned 75 acres in the San Fernando Valley.
A combined total of over 80,000 residents have evacuated from the Pacific Palisades, Pasadena and Sylmar areas of Los Angeles, fleeing “life-threatening and destructive winds.”
“It is hurricane-force winds, and you can imagine trying to fight fire in those winds,” Capt. Sheila Kelliher, with the Los Angeles Fire Department, told CBS News. “It is really incredibly challenging and volatile and unpredictable. Get out when those warnings come.”
Weather forecasters said on Tuesday that the windstorm had sustained winds of up to 80 mph and gusts up to 100 mph in some areas, creating a huge obstacle for firefighters trying to contain the blaze.
