Crews were combing through the rubble in Los Angeles with cadaver dogs in search of additional victims from the still burning fire siege that has forced tens of thousands to flee and reduced entire neighborhoods to ash.
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 county 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 been hit by what officials have described as among the worst disasters in its history.
Firefighters mop up from an overnight blaze in the Hollywood Hills. Photograph: Carlin Stiehl/Reuters “We’re facing a historic natural disaster. And I think that can’t be stated strong enough,” Kevin McGowan, the director of emergency management for Los Angeles county, told a press conference.
The fires in southern California began on Tuesday afternoon with intense winds in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood, one of the city’s most desirable addresses and home to a series of A-list movie stars.
Aaron Samson, 48, was in Pacific Palisades at the home of his father-in-law, who he was caring for as he recovered from a medical procedure. They had to get a ride out from a neighbor as the pair had no car and couldn’t find other transportation. But after just a half an hour, the flames began closing in on them as they sat in traffic. Police ordered them to flee on foot as the fire raged and the tops of palm trees burned.
They walked for about 15 minutes before someone saw them struggling, stopped and told them to get in his vehicle.
That evening, the Eaton fire ignited to the east in the hillside suburbs of Altadena, tearing through house after house. Thousands evacuated across the city and the flames intensified overnight, with firefighters struggling to control them during what one official described as among the “most devastating and terrifying nights” in the city’s history.
Firefighters said the destruction was unlike any they had seen in their decades-long careers, and officials described the scenes as “apocalyptic”. Robert Luna, the LA county sheriff, said some areas “look like a bomb was dropped on them”. He asked for patience as officials try to determine the death toll.
“Right now, frankly, we don’t know yet,” he said. County officials on Thursday evening said seven people had died in the fires.
Authorities have not publicly identified any of the people who died, but family members have begun coming forward. Victor Shaw, 66, died in the Eaton fire after he stayed to try to protect the home his family had lived in for more than half a century, his loved ones told KTLA. A family friend said they came upon his body the next morning. He was lying on the ground still clutching a garden hose.
The daughter of Anthony Mitchell, an amputee, said the 67-year-old and his son, Justin, who has cerebral palsy, were waiting for an ambulance to come for them and did not make it out.
Hajime White said authorities told the family Mitchell was found by the side of his son’s bed in Altadena. The Washington Post reported that the family believes Mitchell was trying to save his son.
“He was not going to leave his son behind. No matter what,” White said.
Rodney Nickerson died in his bed in his Altadena home. The 82-year-old had lived through numerous fires and felt that he would be OK waiting it out at home, his daughter, Kimiko Nickerson, told KTLA.
Nickerson bought the home in 1968 with a $5 downpayment and raised his family there, his daughter said.
Sherri Solinger, who lives in the area, said had “lived through the 1994 earthquake, and this feels just as apocalyptic”. She called the neighborhood “the best community in Los Angeles”, where racially diverse, working-class residents were helping to protect each other’s homes.
Neighbors took turns hosing down houses with water to protect them from stray sparks and embers. On Thursday, their focus had shifted to dealing with fallen trees and branches. Her next-door neighbor, Fidel Rodriguez, appeared with a saw in his hand, ready to help Solinger deal with the branches in her yard.
In Pacific Palisades, one firefighter estimated only about one out of every five homes had been spared in the charred canyons left by the sprawling fire. The homes of many high-profile celebrities were incinerated completely, including those of actors Anthony Hopkins, Billy Crystal and Eugene Levy.
The fires have strained the region’s water resources. As firefighters battled the blazes, they struggled with reduced water pressure and fire hydrants that ran dry in some areas due to the increased demand. But crews would not have been able to stop the unprecedented blazes regardless, officials said.
“Those erratic wind gusts were throwing embers for multiple miles ahead of the fire,” Chad Augustin, the Pasadena fire chief, said.
On Thursday morning, all evacuation orders for the Sunset fire in the Hollywood Hills area had been lifted, and officials expressed cautious optimism that the fire in that area was “under control”, though the danger had not yet abated.
Firefighters take a break as they mop up from an overnight blaze in the Hollywood Hills. Photograph: Carlin Stiehl/Reuters Critical fire weather conditions were expected to continue on Thursday across portions of southern California, the National Weather Service said, with red flag warnings in effect until Friday evening in much of Los Angeles and Ventura counties due to strong offshore winds and low humidity.
“This firestorm is the big one,” the mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass, told a press conference after cutting short an official trip to Ghana to return to the city.
Of the fires raging in Los Angeles, the Palisades fire on the west side of Los Angeles had consumed the most territory – nearly 20,000 acres and thousands of structures in the hills between Santa Monica and Malibu. Aerial video by KTLA television showed block after block of smouldering homes in Pacific Palisades, the smoky grid occasionally punctuated by the orange blaze of another home still on fire.
Hailey Ott and her mom, Cindi Ott, hold hands as they walk to look at their damaged home in Altadena on Thursday. Photograph: Fred Greaves/Reuters Though relatively small, the Sunset fire burned just above Hollywood Boulevard and its Walk of Fame, while to the east, in the foothills of the San Gabriel mountains, the Eaton fire claimed another 13,690 acres, nearly 5,000 structures, and killed at least five people, officials said. Two deaths have been attributed to the Palisades fire.
The Hurst fire in the Sylmar neighborhood of Los Angeles had burned 671 acres as of Thursday afternoon and was 10% contained. And the Lidia fire in Acton had burned 348 acres and was 60% contained. A structural fire had also destroyed at least two homes and spread to brush in Studio City before being extinguished by more than 50 firefighters.
The areas in which the fires sparked have a history of fire and are prone to burn. But human-caused climate breakdown is supercharging extreme weather across the world, causing more frequent and more deadly disasters, from heatwaves to floods to wildfires.
The region has been experiencing warmer than average temperatures in January, in part owing to recent blasts of dry air, including the notorious Santa Ana winds. Southern California has not recorded more than 0.1in (2.5mm) of rain since early May.
Lois Beckett, Reuters and the Associated Press contributed reporting