The winds have eased in the Los Angeles region which has now been faced with devastating fires for four consecutive days. However, the situation is far from being under control: five of the main outbreaks are still active while an updated death toll and damage report indicates that the dead “are at least 11”, reports CNN. More than 10 thousand buildings were completely destroyed, with over 14 thousand hectares going up in smoke. A war scenario, as the outgoing president Joe Biden himself bitterly had to note. And while CNN cameras delve into the ashes of the chic neighborhoods of the metropolis, reporting the dramatic testimonies of those who no longer have a home and don’t even know where to spend the night, the rescuers proceed at a rapid pace with their rescue efforts. The situation “is still very dangerous”, warned Deanne Criswell of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema).
The winds decreased on Friday but according to the weather report released in the evening they will strengthen again as early as the weekend. In this situation, those responsible for the rescue efforts, speaking to CNN, warned that the true death toll will not be clear “until it is safe to go to the neighbourhoods”. More than 100,000 residents have been ordered to evacuate and dozens more have been warned to “be ready,” the LA County sheriff said. As people in wealthy neighborhoods like Pacific Palisaded and Altadena seek refuge, looting has increased in areas affected by the disaster has imposed a curfew, in force from 6pm to 6am. It was even necessary to deploy troops against the looters and dozens of people were arrested.
Even the actor Mel Gibson – reports France Presse – was among those who saw his home destroyed by the fury of the flames. The scale of the disaster and the failure to stop the fires have also, understandably, fueled controversy. The governor of California, Gavin Newsom, a rising star of the Democratic party, called for “a full and independent investigation” into the city’s water services, calling the lack of water and the loss of pressure at the fire hydrants in the first moments “deeply worrying”: “We need answers to find out what happened,” he wrote in an open letter. On the other hand, fire chief Kristin Crowley told Kttv, a Fox News-linked station, that they were “still understaffed, short on resources and funding.” And so the Californian authorities have invited citizens to save water so as not to further empty the tanks that are feeding the fire hydrants.
In an already tense and difficult situation, other “disservices” are also sparking criticism: a system “hitch” has so far prevented residents who were victims of fires from applying online to obtain the insurance reimbursements that FEMA normally guarantees. As if that wasn’t enough, several evacuation notices were sent “by mistake” to people who were not yet at risk. Alerts that sowed panic and further doubts about the efficiency of the warning systems. Finally, President-elect Donald Trump ended up in the crosshairs of criticism, even before his inauguration, who, according to CNN, spread false information on his social network Truth, claiming that California was running out of water due to the environmental policies of the Democrats who «they diverted rainwater to protect the ‘delta smelt’», an endangered fish.
The US portal Accuweather has instead attempted the difficult (and necessarily still provisional) calculation of the damages: those in Los Angeles could turn out to be the most expensive fires ever recorded in the USA with total losses estimated between 135 and 150 billion dollars.