LA wildfires threaten new areas as winds intensify

Neighbourhoods razed as destruction spreads amid warning weather could worsen

Efforts to contain fires around Los Angeles continued on Saturday as wildfires expanded further amid warnings that weather could worsen over the next 72 hours.

California Fire official Todd Hopkins said that while 11 per cent of the Palisades Fire was now contained, it has burnt over 8,900 hectares.

Mr Hopkins said the Palisades Fire had spread into the Mandeville Canyon neighbourhood. It also threatened to affect Brentwood, an upscale neighbourhood.

Evacuation orders throughout the Los Angeles area now cover 153,000 residents, putting 57,000 structures at risk. Another 166,000 residents have been warned that they may have to evacuate, said Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna.

Winds were picking up again after a brief lull and were expected to persist well into next week.

“These winds, combined with dry air and dry vegetation, will keep the fire threat in Los Angeles County high,” said Los Angeles County fire chief Anthony Marrone.

More than 600 National Guards members had been activated and 500 troops from the Marine Corps base at Camp Pendleton were preparing to assist with firefighting and recovery efforts, Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said.

The National Guard unit include 200 military police for security operations and 10 helicopters for firefighting and search and rescue operations, she added. Los Angeles authorities have reported multiple lotting and burglary arrests.

The five blazes have burnt thousands of structures across more than 14,500 hectares, with 8,000 hectares destroyed in the Palisades Fire alone.

The Pacific Palisades is one of the most expensive neighbourhoods in the US, home to Hollywood A-listers and multimillion-dollar mansions. The damage could make the fires California's costliest disaster.

Firefighters are racing against time as “critical” dry conditions and wind gusts are forecasted to increase today and next week. A National Weather Service bulletin said “significant fire growth” remained likely “with ongoing or new fires”.

On Thursday, US President Joe Biden said the federal government would cover firefighting costs for the first 180 days of the current crisis.

The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs “expressed its sincere condolences and solidarity” with the US over the number of victims and the destruction. The country sent its “wishes for a speedy recovery” to the injured and those affected.

A night-time curfew has been imposed in areas hit by the fires, County Sheriff Robert Luna said.

“You cannot be in these affected areas. If you are, you are subject to arrest,” he said referring to concerns about looting and burglaries. “We're doing it to protect the structures, the houses that people have left because we ordered them to leave.”

The California National Guard has been deployed to help with law enforcement.

The Palisades Fire, stretching across an area larger than Manhattan and where the median home price approaches $4 million, has damaged or destroyed more than 5,000 structures.

People returned to some neighbourhoods, such as Malibu, where coveted oceanfront plots hosted skeletal frames of buildings and mansions.

Paris Hilton wrote that her home in Malibu where her family had “built so many precious memories” was lost.

JP Morgan doubled its forecast of insured losses to more than $20 billion. Wells Fargo also expects similar losses and said the total economic hit from the disaster could be more than $60 billion.

The total damage and economic losses – which account for uninsured destruction and indirect economic impacts such as lost wages and supply-chain disruptions – are estimated at $135 billion to $150 billion, according to AccuWeather.

Such a figure would rival the $148 billion cost of the 23 worst wildfires since 1980 combined, according to the US National Centres for Environmental Information.