US President Joe Biden on Wednesday approved a federal emergency declaration for California wildfires, which will release money and resources to fight the fires. The President warned that restoration of the area would take time.
The Los Angeles County Fire Department faced four deadly wildfires that killed at least two people, burned more than 1,000 buildings and forced thousands of people from their homes.
“The L.A. County Fire Department was prepared for one or two major fires, but not four, especially given these sustained winds and low humidity,” L.A. County Fire Chief Anthony C. Marone said Wednesday.
He said more than 2,000 hectares of land has been burnt and the fire is spreading.
“We don’t have any percentage of prevention,” Marrone said.
Officials have warned residents to heed evacuation orders and leave when instructed.
Two thousand National Guard members have been deployed to assist local firefighters.
In Pacific Palisades, hurricane-force winds carried the fire from home to home. In the same area, firefighters said hydrants had dried up.
“There was tremendous demand for our system in the Palisades. We pushed the system to the limit,” Janice Quinones, chief executive and chief engineer of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, said Wednesday.
The call for water was “four times the normal demand… for 15 hours continuously”, he added.
Later on Wednesday, the support plane that had been grounded by high winds took off again, dropping water and fire retardant on the fire.
More than 400,000 homes and businesses across Los Angeles are without power, according to PowerOutage.US.
Washington is supporting California’s firefighting efforts with four U.S. Forest Service large air tankers and an additional tanker on the way. The federal government also helped firefighting efforts with 10 helicopters. Meanwhile, dozens of forest service fire engines are ready to deploy.
Some information in this report has come from the Associated Press.