Raging wildfires surrounding Los Angeles have spread to the Hollywood Hills after other fires in the area killed at least five people, destroyed hundreds of homes and stretched firefighting resources and water supplies to the limit.
More than 100,000 people were ordered to leave as dry, hurricane-force winds hindered firefighting efforts and spread the fires, which have burned parched terrain almost unimpeded since they began on Tuesday.
“This firestorm is the big one,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass told a news conference on Wednesday.
A new, fast-moving fire broke out in the Hollywood Hills on Wednesday evening, Fire Chief Kristin Crowley told reporters, forcing more evacuations and raising to six the number of wildfires burning in Los Angeles County.
Four of them were uncontained, according to state officials, including a pair of major conflagrations on the eastern and western flanks of the city.
In between, the so-called Sunset Fire in Hollywood Hills scorched 20 hectares on Wednesday, Cal Fire said.
Helicopter crews doused the flames with water drops, appearing to impede its rapid advance.
The LA Fire Department issued an evacuation order for people in an area within Hollywood Boulevard to the south, Mulholland Drive to the north, the 101 Freeway to the east and Laurel Canyon Boulevard to the west – all iconic addresses for people in the entertainment industry.
Within that area is the Dolby Theatre, where the Oscars are held.
Next week’s Oscar nominations announcement was already postponed by two days because of the fire, organisers said.
Though relatively small compared with the others, the Sunset Fire burned just above Hollywood Boulevard and its Walk of Fame.
On the west side of Los Angeles, the Palisades Fire consumed more than 6400ha and hundreds of structures between Santa Monica and Malibu, racing down Topanga Canyon until reaching the Pacific Ocean on Tuesday.
Aerial video by KTLA television showed block after block of smouldering homes in Pacific Palisades, the smoky grid occasionally punctuated by the orange blaze of another home still on fire.
To the east, in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, the Eaton Fire claimed another 4289ha, another 1000 structures, and killed at least five people, officials said.
Private forecaster AccuWeather estimated initial damage and economic loss at more than $US50 billion ($A81 billion).
“We’re facing a historic natural disaster, and I think that can’t be stated strong enough,” Kevin McGowan, director of emergency management for Los Angeles County, told a news conference.
Even though forecasters said winds would subside briefly on Wednesday night, so-called red flag conditions were expected to remain until Friday.
Nearly 300,000 homes and businesses remained without power in Los Angeles County, according to PowerOutage.us.
The scale and spread of the blazes stretched exhausted firefighting crews beyond their capacity. Firefighters from six other states were being rushed to California, while an additional 250 engine companies with 1000 personnel were being moved from northern California to southern California, Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone told reporters.
Water shortages caused some hydrants to run dry in upscale Pacific Palisades, officials said.
“We pushed the system to the extreme. We’re fighting a wildfire with urban water systems,” Janisse Quinones, chief executive of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, told a news conference.
The fires struck at an especially vulnerable time for southern California, which has not seen significant rain for months, and amid the powerful Santa Ana winds, which brought dry desert air from the east towards the coastal mountains.
The fires are erupting well outside of the traditional wildfire season, marking the latest in weather extremes that scientists say will increase as global temperatures continue to climb.
President Joe Biden, who declared the fires a major disaster, joined California Governor Gavin Newsom at a Santa Monica fire station to get a briefing on firefighting efforts.
In his final days as president before handing off to President-elect Donald Trump on January 20, Biden cancelled a trip to Italy in order to focus on directing the federal response to the fires, the White House said.
Source: AAP
