Thousands of Los Angeles residents have been forced to evacuate the area due to numerous wildfires and destructive winds on Wednesday.
There are currently four wildfires—which extend from the Pacific Coast to Pasadena—that have already destroyed over 1,000 structures. They’ve also grown to cover over 11,800 acres with zero containment, according to authorities.
Due to windy conditions, firefighting aircraft have been unable to aid in the fight. The Los Angeles Fire Department has requested the help of off-duty firefighters, Associated Press reported. So far, there have been two fatalities. This morning, we woke up to a dark cloud over all of Los Angeles. But it is darkest for those who are most intimately impacted by these fires,” said LA County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath. “It has been an immensely painful 24 hours.”Residents are being forced to flee their homes, and entire neighborhoods have been consumed by the fires.
“I’ve heard from people all over town—churches have burned, all the schools have burned, the markets, the gas stations,” Sue Kohl, president of the Pacific Palisades Community Council, told CNN. “So honestly it’s not as if people can think about, ‘Oh, I’ll rebuild and get back in.’ People are kind of questioning rebuilding and what to go back to because it’s just so incredibly devastating.”
Kohl also noted that the worst part of these particular fires is the severe wind that accompanies them.
“In this case, what they are dealing with now, the biggest enemy are these huge 50- to 80-mile-an-hour winds,” she explained. “No matter how many firemen you have, no matter how many people are battling these fires, there’s nothing you can do about that.”
The Weather Channel recently shared an update noting that winds have actually reached up to 100 miles per hour with extremely dry conditions. You can see footage of the destruction below.
