US: Los Angeles Fires Burn Through City as Death Toll Expected to Rise

Over the past two days, fast-moving wildfires, fanned by hurricane-force winds, have rampaged through communities, forcing nearly 180,000 people to evacuate and killing at least 10 people.

The Eaton fire near Pasadena has burned over 5,000 structures, a term that includes homes, apartment buildings, businesses, outbuildings and vehicles. To the west, in Pacific Palisades, the largest of the fires burning in the LA area has destroyed over 5,300 structures. Between the Eaton and Palisades fires, more than 10,000 structures have burned.

The Los Angeles sheriff warned that the death toll is likely to rise as teams search the burned areas, which cover more than 30,000 acres.

Authorities’ work has been hindered by the conditions inside the fire zones, a spokesperson with the sheriff’s department told the Los Angeles Times, but detectives are investigating multiple deaths.

As authorities try to determine the effects of the devastating fires, the blazes continued to burn across Los Angeles. A new brush fire, the Kenneth fire, started on Thursday afternoon in the San Fernando Valley – just a few miles from where fire evacuees were sheltering at a high school – and prompted evacuation orders in the community of Calabasas.

Although the strong winds eased slightly on Thursday, they were expected to strengthen in the evening and into Friday, causing further panic in a city that has been hit by what officials have described as among the worst disasters in its history.