Thousands flee as wildfires burn out of control

LOS ANGELES (AP):

Multiple massive wildfires tore across the Los Angeles area with devastating force on Wednesday, destroying more than 1,000 structures and killing at least two people as desperate residents escaped through flames, ferocious winds and towering clouds of smoke.

Three major blazes were burning in the metropolitan area, from the Pacific Coast inland to Pasadena, home of the famed Rose Parade. With thousands of firefighters already attacking the flames, the Los Angeles Fire Department put out a plea for off-duty firefighters to help[; weather conditions were too windy for firefighting aircraft to fly, further hampering the fight.

In addition to the two deaths, Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said many others were hurt in the fires, which threatened at least 28,000 structures.

Images of the devastation showed luxurious homes that had collapsed in a whirlwind of flaming embers. The tops of palm trees whipped against a glowing red sky.

“This morning, we woke up to a dark cloud over all of Los Angeles. But it is darkest for those who are most intimately impacted by these fires. It has been an immensely painful 24 hours,” LA County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath said.

At least 70,000 people were ordered to evacuate – a number that kept changing because evacuation orders were continually being issued, officials said. The flames marched towards highly populated and affluent neighbourhoods home to California’s rich and famous. Hollywood stars, including Mark Hamill, Mandy Moore and James Woods, were among those forced to flee.

The home of Vice-President Kamala Harris was included in an evacuation zone, although no one was there, according to a spokesperson.

“We are prioritising life over everything else,” Sheriff Robert Luna said.

Jennie Girardo, a 39-year-old producer and director from Pasadena, said she was alarmed when her neighbour came to check on her.

“When I opened my door, it smelled like I was living inside of a fireplace,” she said. “Then I also started to see the ash. And I’ve never seen that in my life. Like raining ash.”

Flames that broke out Tuesday evening near a nature preserve in the foothills northeast of LA spread so rapidly that staff at a senior living centre had to push dozens of residents in wheelchairs and hospital beds down the street to a parking lot. They waited in their bedclothes as embers fell around them until ambulances, buses and construction vans arrived to take them to safety.

Another blaze that started hours earlier ripped through the city’s Pacific Palisades neighbourhood, a hillside area along the coast dotted with celebrity homes and memorialised by the Beach Boys in their 1960s hit Surfin’ USA. In the race to get to safety, roadways became impassable when scores of people abandoned their vehicles and fled on foot, some toting suitcases.

Sheriece Wallace was unaware there was a fire burning around her until her sister called at the moment a helicopter made a water drop over her house.

“I was like, ‘It’s raining,’” Wallace said. “She’s like, ‘No, it’s not raining. Your neighbourhood is on fire. You need to get out.’”

A traffic jam prevented emergency vehicles from getting through, and a bulldozer was brought in to push the abandoned cars to the side and create a path. Video along the Pacific Coast Highway showed widespread destruction of homes and businesses along the famed roadway.

Pacific Palisades resident Kelsey Trainor said the only road in and out of her neighbourhood was blocked. Ash fell all around while fires burned on both sides of the road.

“People were getting out of the cars with their dogs and babies and bags,” Trainor said. “They were crying and screaming.”