By Jorge Garcia, Rollo Ross and Maria Alejandra Cardona
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -A full-scale firefighting effort stretched into Saturday in the upscale Los Angeles neighborhood of Pacific Palisades, as the wildfire there expanded into an additional 1,000 acres overnight with residents warned of potential worsening weather conditions over the next 72 hours that could further stoke the blaze.
Cal Fire official Todd Hopkins told reporters at a press conference that while 11% of the Palisades Fire was now contained, it has burned over 22,000 acres (8,900 hectares).
Hopkins said the Palisades Fire had spread into the Mandeville Canyon neighborhood. It also threatened to jump into Brentwood, an upscale neighborhood where celebrities live and play.
Meanwhile, evacuation orders throughout the Los Angeles area now cover 153,000 residents, putting 57,000 structures at risk. Another 166,000 residents have been warned that they may have to evacuate, said Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna.
Luna added that his agency has dispatched 40 search and rescue team workers to work jointly with other agencies, including the use of cadaver dogs to search for remains of victims and to help reunite families that have been separated.
“LA County had another night of unimaginable terror and heartbreak,” said Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath.
Six simultaneous blazes that have ripped across Los Angeles County neighborhoods since Tuesday have killed at least 11 people, and damaged or destroyed 10,000 structures. At least 13 people are estimated to be missing so far.
The toll is expected to mount when firefighters are able to conduct house-to-house searches.
The fierce Santa Ana winds that fanned the infernos eased on Friday night. But the Palisades Fire on the city’s western edge was heading in a new direction as winds came off the Pacific Ocean and threatened the heavily populated San Fernando Valley foothills.
The fire, the most destructive in the history of Los Angeles, has razed whole neighborhoods to the ground, leaving just the smoldering ruins of what had been people’s homes and possessions.
Before the latest flare-up, firefighters had reported progress in subduing the Palisades Fire and the Eaton (NYSE:) Fire in the foothills east of the metropolis after it burned out of control for days. On Saturday, the Palisades Fire was 11% contained and the Eaton Fire in the east was 15% contained, state agency Cal Fire said.
The two big fires combined had consumed over 36,000 acres (14,500 hectares), or 56 square miles – 2-1/2 times the land area of Manhattan.
Seven neighboring states, the federal government and Canada have rushed aid to California, bolstering aerial teams dropping water and fire retardant on the flaming hills and crews on the ground attacking fire lines with hand tools and hoses.
The National Weather Service said that conditions in the Los Angeles area would improve through the weekend, with sustained winds slowing to about 20 mph (32 kph), gusting between 35 mph and 50 mph.
“It’s not as gusty, so that should help firefighters,” NWS meteorologist Allison Santorelli said, adding that conditions were still critical with low humidity and dry vegetation.
Officials have declared a public health emergency due to the thick, toxic smoke.
HOMES REDUCED TO ASH
Pacific Palisades residents who ventured back to their devastated neighborhoods on Friday were shocked to find brick chimneys looming over charred waste and burnt-out vehicles as acrid smoke lingered in the air.
“This was a house that was loved,” Kelly Foster, 44, said while combing through the rubble where her house once stood.
Foster’s 16-year-old daughter, Ada, said she tried to get inside but “I just became sick. I just couldn’t even…Yeah, it’s hard.”
In Rick McGeagh’s Palisades neighborhood, only six of 60 homes survived, and all that remained standing at his ranch house was a statue of the Virgin Mary.
“Everything else is ash and rubble,” said McGeagh, 61, a commercial real estate broker who, along with his wife, raised three children at their home.
On Friday morning, hundreds of people streamed into a parking lot near the Rose Bowl stadium in Pasadena for donated clothing, diapers and bottled water.
Denise Doss, 63, said she was anxious to return to her destroyed home in Altadena to see if anything was salvageable, but officials stopped her due to safety concerns.
“At least to say goodbye until we can rebuild. I will let God lead me,” Doss said.
BILLIONS IN LOSSES
Many Altadena residents said they were worried government resources would go to wealthier areas and that insurers might short-change those who cannot afford to contest denials of fire claims.
Beyond those who lost their homes, tens of thousands remained without power, and millions of people were exposed to poorer air quality, as the fires lofted traces of metals, plastics and other synthetic materials.
Private forecaster AccuWeather estimated the damage and economic loss at $135 billion to $150 billion, portending an arduous recovery and soaring homeowners’ insurance costs.
California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara called on insurers on Friday to suspend pending non-renewals and cancellations that homeowners received before the fires began and to extend the grace period for payments.
President Joe Biden has declared the fires a major disaster and said the U.S. government would reimburse 100% of the recovery for the next six months.
Law enforcement officials were warning residents to adhere to curfews, amid arrests with charges of burglary, looting and the possession of concealed firearms.
“You go out there and you violate this curfew, you are going to spend time in jail,” Luna warned.
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