WPBN: More than 100,000 people were ordered to leave their homes in southern California on Wednesday as windstorms fanned the flames of a wildfire, and five people were reported dead.
At least 1,000 structures have been destroyed by five wildfires in Los Angeles County, southern California, as the region continues to be buffeted by high winds that increase the likelihood of the fires spreading.
The Pacific Palisades, Eaton, Hurst, Woodley, and Lidia are the locations of those fires.
An estimated 1,000 structures were destroyed in the Palisades fire, which was consuming more than 15,800 acres in the Los Angeles area and spreading both east and west, according to NBC News.
The Eaton fire, which has grown to 10,600 acres in size as of late Wednesday afternoon, was reported to have killed at least two individuals in the early hours of the day and five more later in the day, according to authorities.
By late Wednesday afternoon, at least 505 acres had burnt in the Hurst fire, at least 30 acres in the Woodley fire, and at least 80 acres in the Lidia fire.
The exact number of injuries is unknown, but there have been countless more. Major damage has also been sustained by at least three Los Angeles County schools.
“We’re going to have more winds today and tomorrow,” stated Captain Erik Scott of the Los Angeles Fire Department on Wednesday morning. Our top priority is life and structure defense, and the west is probably where we are seeing the most increase.
In southern California, the winds, which occasionally reached 100 mph, helped more than 300,000 customers lose power.
On Wednesday afternoon, the fire, which had not been extinguished, was being worked by over 1,000 firefighters.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna estimates that 15,000 homes in the Pacific Palisades and Malibu neighborhoods are at risk of fire.
Anthony C. Marrone, the fire chief for Los Angeles County, stated on Wednesday that they were ready for one or two large fires, but not five.
There aren’t enough firefighters to deal with them, according to Marrone. Together with the strong winds that continued overnight, dry conditions are pushing all of the fires forward.
Properties outside of the fire-danger zones are being impacted by the fires, which were sparked by a combination of dry weather and strong winds.
The strong wind gusts were expected to continue into Thursday, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
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“Extreme fire behavior, including short and long-range spotting, continues to challenge firefighting efforts for the Palisades Fire,” CalFire stated in a statement.
By midnight, the Eaton Fire, which began Tuesday night in the Eaton Canyon region close to Altadena, had swiftly spread to over 1,000 acres. By late Wednesday afternoon, it had quickly engulfed around 10,600 acres and compelled Pasadena schools to close.
The windstorm aided the Hurst Fire, which began late Tuesday in the Sylmar district of Los Angeles and spread to burn hundreds of acres.
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The most recent wildfires in southern California are the Woodley and Lidia fires.
In the Pacific Palisades, Pasadena, and Sylmar neighborhoods of Los Angeles, more than 80,000 people have fled due to “life-threatening and destructive winds.”
“It is hurricane-force winds, and you can imagine trying to fight fire in those winds,” Los Angeles Fire Department Capt. Sheila Kelliher told CBS News. It is extremely difficult, unstable, and unpredictable. When those warnings are given, leave.
With steady winds of up to 80 mph and gusts of up to 100 mph in some places, the windstorm presented a significant challenge for firefighters attempting to confine the fire, according to weather experts on Tuesday.
