California | Los Angeles under threat of fire and strong winds

(Los Angeles) An impressive fire prompted evacuations Tuesday in the hills overlooking Los Angeles, which is experiencing violent winds capable of quickly spreading the flames and posing a “mortal danger,” local authorities announced.

The fire broke out late in the morning in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood, which borders the Santa Monica Mountains, northwest of the city.

According to several witnesses, some homes have already burned in this upscale area, populated with multi-million dollar villas built in the middle of steep canyons.

At the start of the afternoon, the fire already covered more than 300 hectares on the outskirts of Los Angeles, according to local firefighters. An AFP photographer saw fire fighters trying to push back the flames devouring a house.

“I’ve seen it on TV before, and I never thought the wind could have such an effect on the fire,” Gary told local station KTLA. This resident of the neighborhood said he saw “embers dragged 100 meters” in the air.

“There was smoke in the distance, and I was assured it wouldn’t come over the hill. (…) Five minutes later, she was coming down the hill. Everyone panicked and went home to evacuate their homes,” he explained.

Many residents evacuated hastily, with just a few belongings and their pets. This caused large traffic jams in the area and some even abandoned their cars to escape, according to images from local media.

The fire caused a huge cloud of smoke, visible from the entire megacity. The neighboring town of Malibu, which already suffered a large fire in December, has closed its schools.

“Evacuate the Palisades area now,” the city of Los Angeles ordered on X.

“Mortal danger”

The fire broke out while Los Angeles was being swept by particularly violent gusts: hot Santa Ana winds, typical of the Californian winter, were expected to blow up to 160 km/h, according to the US Weather Services (NWS). ).

Enough to spread the flames very quickly and greatly complicate the task of the firefighters, who could find themselves deprived of aerial means in the coming hours.

” ATTENTION ! ! ! A DESTRUCTIVE and LETHALLY DANGER windstorm is expected Tuesday afternoon through Wednesday morning across much of the Los Angeles area, the NWS on X warned.

“It’s going to be a tough night” in the region because winds will peak after sunset, warned Daniel Swain, an extreme events specialist at UCLA University.

“This is expected to be the strongest wind event in this region since 2011,” he added. But the risk of fire is, according to him, “much higher” than at the time.

Because after two very rainy years which reinvigorated the vegetation, southern California is experiencing “the driest start to winter on record”. In other words, anything that has grown back abundantly now acts as fuel for the fire.

Scientists regularly point out that climate change is increasing the frequency of extreme weather events.

Many firefighters had been deployed upstream and are fighting “aggressively” against the fire, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass assured on social networks.

“Area residents are urged to heed evacuation warnings and follow the instructions of public safety officials,” the Democrat added.

These strong winds disrupted President Joe Biden’s visit to California on Tuesday to announce the creation of two “national monuments”, large protected areas in the south of the state.