{"id":122051,"date":"2025-01-09T22:44:41","date_gmt":"2025-01-09T22:44:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/california-wildfires-live-updates-la-fires-cause-extensive-damage-as-some-communities-look-like-a-bomb-was-dropped-the-independent\/"},"modified":"2025-01-09T22:44:41","modified_gmt":"2025-01-09T22:44:41","slug":"california-wildfires-live-updates-la-fires-cause-extensive-damage-as-some-communities-look-like-a-bomb-was-dropped-the-independent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/california-wildfires-live-updates-la-fires-cause-extensive-damage-as-some-communities-look-like-a-bomb-was-dropped-the-independent\/","title":{"rendered":"California wildfires live updates: LA fires cause extensive damage as some communities look \u2018like a bomb was dropped\u2019 – The Independent"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Death toll continues to climb as more than 7,500 firefighting personnel are deployed across California, with two of the most ferocious fires at zero percent containment
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At least five people have been killed and countless others injured as fast-moving wildfires have torn<\/a> across Los Angeles, leaving thousands of firefighters <\/a>attempting to extinguish the blaze.
Officials said Thursday that while progress had been made on the Sunset, Woodley, Hurst and Sunswept Fires, more \u201cextreme fire behavior\u201d and wind gusts up to 60mph<\/a> are continuing to challenge firefighting efforts.
Los Angeles Sheriff Robert Luna said<\/a> fire-ravaged neighborhoods in west L.A. \u201clook like a bomb was dropped in them.\u201d
The Palisades Fire, one of the most destructive natural disasters the city has seen<\/a>, is still not contained. The fire has burned at least 17,234 acres, while the Altadena and Pasadena-based Eaton fire has scorched some 10,600 acres.
The causes of all of the wildfires are under active investigation, but thousands of buildings and businesses have been destroyed.
Nearly 180,000 residents of the county are under evacuation orders and close to 200,000 are under evacuation warnings. Even more California customers were left without power Thursday, with nearly 420,000 outages reported by tracker PowerOutage.us<\/a>.
A Los Angeles resident confronted California Governor Gavin Newsom on Thursday, demanding answers about why certain L.A. fire hydrants weren\u2019t working and what officials would do differently to prevent future tragedies.
The exchange quickly grew heated, as the governor explained he was attempting to reach President Biden on the phone, while the woman insisted she be present for the call.
Watch the whole exchange below, via Sky News.
As fires continue to run rampant around L.A., officials have said they\u2019ve at times had issues accessing enough water from hydrants to put out the blazes.
The issues have prompted some on the right to erroneously allege that California\u2019s leadership has emptied the state\u2019s reservoirs.
The actual cause of the shortage, President Biden said on Thursday, was that utility companies shut off power in certain areas to avoid power lines sparking new fires.
The lack of electricity then impacted water pumping systems.
Just four days ago, West Hollywood\u2019s Sunset Tower was playing host to film stars and producers as they celebrated the Golden Globes.
Now, as fires ravage Los Angeles, A-listers and local residents alike are taking refuge in the art deco tower.
Some guests have seen brief visits turn into indefinite stays, while others have dropped into the hotel for an hour or two to escape the chaos outside, Vanity Fair reports<\/a>.
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot<\/em> more pets, and that makes me happy because unfortunately, there was an article in The New York Times<\/em> today about how people are leaving their pets behind in the fires,\u201d owner Jeff Klein told the magazine. \u201cSo I\u2019m happy to know that at least at the Sunset Tower, they\u2019re bringing their pets. It\u2019s also nice\u2014I think a pet will comfort you as well. But yes, it\u2019s almost like Noah\u2019s Ark in a way.\u201d
Watch live as Joe Biden<\/a> addresses the nation as wildfires continue to rip<\/a> through the Los Angeles<\/a> County area on Thursday, 9 January.
Today, the White House<\/a> said the president will convene senior White House and Administration officials for a briefing on the full Federal response he has directed to the wildfires.<\/a>
The Federal Emergency Management Agency announced that federal disaster assistance is available to the state of California to supplement recovery efforts in the areas affected by wildfires and straight-line winds from 7 January and continuing.
Watch live as Joe Biden addresses the nation as wildfires continue to rip through the Los Angeles County area on Thursday, 9 January.
The fires around Los Angeles have had particular heath impacts on the roughly 45,000 homeless people who live in the city of Los Angeles.
Living outside, and often lacking reliable transportation, puts this community at heightened risks from breathing in noxious smoke.
\u201cPeople have said it feels like you\u2019re breathing in lead and you can see what you\u2019re breathing in,\u201d advocate Carla Orendorff, who works with mutual aid groups supporting homeless people, told<\/a> The Guardian<\/em>.
\u201cOur hearts are with the Los Angeles community and all those affected by the devastating fires,\u201d the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance told The Independent<\/em> in an emailed statement.
\u201cWe are in close contact with our colleagues at the Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens but as of now, they have not requested our assistance. We remain prepared and ready to support them at any point.\u201d
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex offered a list of ways to help those affected by the fires
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
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Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged inDeath toll continues to climb as more than 7,500 firefighting personnel are deployed across California, with two of the most ferocious fires at zero percent containment […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":122052,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-122051","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122051"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122051\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/122052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}