Devastating wildfires that swept through Los Angeles starting Tuesday continued to rage on Thursday, with five people dead and nearly 2,000 structures destroyed.
More than 100,000 people were ordered to evacuate as dry, hurricane-force winds hindered firefighting operations and spread the flames.
At least six separate wildfires were burning in Los Angeles County. Three of them were totally out of control, including a pair of huge conflagrations on the city's eastern and western flanks and the smaller Sunset Fire raging in Hollywood Hills just above Hollywood Boulevard and its Walk of Fame.
▲ A beach house is engulfed by the flames of the Palisades Fire along the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, California, on Wednesday. Zoe Meyer/AFP
On the west side of Los Angeles, the Palisades Fire consumed 6,406 hectares and hundreds of structures.
Aerial video footage by KTLA television showed block after block of smoldering homes in Pacific Palisades, the smoky grid occasionally punctuated by the orange blaze of another home still on fire.
To the east, the Eaton Fire claimed another 4,289 hectares, destroyed another 1,000 structures and killed at least five people, officials said.
The powerful Santa Ana winds, which reached speeds of 112 kilometers per hour, have made fighting the fires difficult both on the ground and from the air.
The coastal neighborhood of Pacific Palisades, which sits above the storied Pacific Coast Highway, was particularly hard hit.
Numerous fire hydrants in Pacific Palisades had little to no water flowing out, the Los Angeles Times reported. "The hydrants are down," said one firefighter in radio communications.
"I just left the hellscape formerly known as Pacific Palisades, where I've lived for 26 years," entrepreneur Wes Nichols wrote on X. "I'm mad at what I saw. Our politicians have failed us. Unprepared, unimaginative, understaffed, now overwhelmed."
Private forecaster AccuWeather estimated the initial damage and economic loss at more than $50 billion.
The Chinese Consulate General in Los Angeles issued an emergency alert on Wednesday, urging Chinese nationals to be on high alert and to pay attention to personal and property safety.
A California resident living in a wildfire-prone area described the situation to China Daily as a man-made disaster.
"If the dead trees in the forests were cleared regularly each year, there would be no wildfires," the resident said. "However, a group of environmental activists opposes these cleanups. The forests in Nevada and California are connected, so why don't we see wildfires in Nevada every year?"
Nearly 300,000 homes and businesses lost power in Los Angeles County, down from nearly 1 million earlier on Wednesday, according to PowerOutage.us. Schools were canceled throughout the county at least through Thursday.
Prompting anger
The fires also prompted some anger and political backbiting.
"The fires in Los Angeles may go down, in dollar amount, as the worst in the History of our Country," President-elect Donald Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. "In many circles, they're doubting whether insurance companies will even have enough money to pay for this catastrophe."
Fitness expert Jillian Michaels wrote to her 1.5 million followers on X: "California has been prone to fires. And yes I believe … changes to our environment play a part — but the gross mismanagement of forestry and water in California has greatly exacerbated this issue.
"1. New reservoirs weren't completed. 2. A large portion of the state's water is routed to big ag (agriculture) for almonds — thanks to hefty campaign contributions. 3.Millions of gallons of freshwater are dumped into the Pacific to protect smelt fish instead of prioritizing humans. Enough of this madness."
Reporter: Heng Weili
Rena Li and agencies contributed to this story.
