Red Flag warnings advising of extreme wildfire danger expired across the Los Angeles area late on Wednesday, but forecasters warned that dry and windy conditions will persist on Thursday, and that the threat of blazes remained.
The National Weather Service added that the respite for fire-ravaged Los Angeles will be short, with high chances for renewed Red Flag warnings – when ideal fire conditions of high winds and low humidity dominate – starting again on Sunday.
Some 6.5 million people remained under a critical fire threat, after the fires consumed an area nearly the size of Washington DC, resulting in at least 25 deaths so far, authorities said.
Firefighters on Wednesday confronted persistently strong and dry winds fuelling two giant wildfires that have terrified Los Angeles for eight days, testing the resolve of a city upended by the worst disaster in its history.
Officials urged residents to remain vigilant and be prepared to evacuate at a moment’s notice with peak wind gusts forecast to last through Thursday afternoon.
“We want to reiterate the particularly dangerous situation today. Get ready now and be prepared to leave,” County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath told a press conference on Wednesday.
Forecasted winds of up to 112km/h (70mph) did not materialise on Wednesday. Still, firefighters reported winds of 48 to 64km/h combined with low humidity in a region that has failed to receive any appreciable rain in nine months, meaning fire threats remain.
The fires have damaged or destroyed more than 12,000 homes and other structures, and forced as many as 200,000 people from their homes. Some 82,400 people were under evacuation orders and another 90,400 faced evacuation warnings as of Wednesday, County Sheriff Robert Luna said.
Entire neighbourhoods have been levelled, leaving smouldering ash and rubble. Many homes only have a chimney stack left standing.
Some 8,500 firefighters from the western United States, Canada and Mexico have kept the growth of the fires in check for three days.
The Palisades Fire on the west edge of the city held steady at 9,596 hectares (96 sq km) burned, and containment nudged up to 19 per cent – a measurement of how much of the perimeter was under control. The Eaton Fire in the foothills east of the city stood at 5,712 hectares with containment at 45 per cent.
A fleet of air tankers and helicopters dropped water and fire retardant into the rugged hills while ground crews with hand tools and hoses worked to contain the fires.
Aerial firefighters – or fire bombers – operate without precision equipment or autopilot, just a pilot’s view through the windscreen and his experience.
“I call it ‘feeling the force’,” said pilot Diego Calderoni, from a New Mexico-based contractor, referring to a mystical energy in the Star Wars films.
Hundreds of visiting firefighters and emergency workers are staying outside the Rose Bowl football stadium, a base camp where colleagues build camaraderie in between shifts of 24 hours on followed by 24 hours off.
“You’re all in it for the same mission,” said Martin Macias of the St Helena Fire Department in Northern California. “We all got into this as service, to make somebody’s day better at the worst time.”
A new fire broke out on Wednesday in San Bernardino County east of Los Angeles, burning 12 hectares, Cal Fire reported. Two other fires in Southern California were largely under control.
Some Angelenos have been attempting to return to a semblance of normalcy.
Students and teachers displaced by wildfire from Palisades Charter Elementary School found a new home on Wednesday at the nearby Brentwood Elementary Science Magnet, where they were welcomed with open arms.
“For children who lost homes and also lost their school, it’s absolutely devastating. And the way that I can help and the way that I can give back is to make sure that those children have a place to go. And even though we lost the physical building, we still have our community,” Palisades Charter Elementary Principal Juliet Herman said.
While the fires rage on, critics have questioned whether the city properly prepared for fire danger in the face of National Weather Service warnings about hazardous weather, even though firefighters were on alert and able to deploy assets beforehand.
Fire Chief Kristin Crowley fielded queries on Wednesday about a Los Angeles Times report that fire officials had opted against ordering 1,000 firefighters to remain on duty for a second shift last Tuesday as fires were beginning to grow out of control.
The Times cited critics who said the outgoing shift should have been kept on duty and that as many as 25 additional fire engines should have been moved into hillsides.
Crowley defended her department’s preparation, saying it was impossible to know exactly where fires might break out and that some firefighters needed to remain in place to field ordinary emergency calls anywhere in the city.
“We did everything in our capability to surge where we could,” Crowley said.
The Times quoted Deputy Chief Richard Fields, who was in charge of staffing and equipment decisions ahead of the fire, as saying the scrutiny was welcome but that critics were too easily second-guessing decisions after the fact.
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