LOS ANGELES: Los Angeles officials told most evacuees from the wildfires on Thursday to stay away from their homes for at least another week as emergency responders remove toxic waste from incinerated neighbourhoods and cut off electricity and gas lines posing a hazard amid the ruins.
Landslides further endangered the devastated hillsides, where leveled structures no longer hold the earth in place and water from fire hoses and broken pipes has saturated the ground, adding more stress and heartache to people suffering the worst natural disaster in Los Angeles history.
With wildfires burning for a 10th day, firefighters expressed relief over withstanding recent red flag conditions of high desert winds and low humidity without either of the two monster fires growing.
But the National Weather Service warned that the respite of ocean breezes and cloud cover will be short, as hazardous fire weather was forecast to return on Sunday.
Frustrated evacuees are eager to return home to assess the damage and salvage any keepsakes or medicine, but officials said it was too dangerous or too taxing on first responders who were still dealing with the immediate disaster, which has killed at least 27 people.
Frank McGrath, 46, was at a disaster center in Pasadena on Thursday. He, his wife, Bridget, and their 9-year-old daughter lost their home in the Eaton fire and are now living with Bridget’s mother nearby.
McGrath, a film and television editor, said he is eager to get back in and search the rubble for any family heirlooms that survived. But he knows he likely lost the quilts from his grandmother and his late mother’s paintings.
“Is my wedding ring somewhere buried?” he said. “There are clearly some hazardous materials in there. We want to get in, but we understand why it’s limited.”
Even for people whose homes survived the fires, like Melanie Alonso, 28, a behavioral therapist who lives in Altadena, the toxic ash created by the blazes and insurance company instructions not to begin a clean up until the company examines the house means she cannot return home.
“It’s like there is an ashtray up your nose,” Alonso, who was back on her street on Thursday, said of the inside of her home covered in ash. “Insurance is like don’t start cleaning your house,” she added. “We were supposed to be back after a day, then a week …”
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Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said that “you can see the emotional toll that this disaster has taken on people, as I spoke to people who had lost their homes or who were not sure the status of their homes or missing pets. The toll you can see mounting on them.”
The Palisades fire on the west side of Los Angeles has consumed 23,713 acres (96 sq km) and was 27% contained, meaning firefighters had control of that percentage of the perimeter.
The Eaton fire, which has burned 14,117 acres (57 sq km) in the foothills east of town, was 55% contained, Cal Fire said.
Together the two fires have charred 59 sq miles (152 sq km) - an area larger than Paris or nearly three times the size of Manhattan. A series of smaller wildfires in southern California have been brought completely or mostly under control.
At least 12,000 structures - many of them homes - have been leveled or damaged, leaving 82,400 people still under evacuation orders and another 90,400 under evacuation warnings.
Some people defied evacuation orders and died.
Others found it impossible to abandon distressed neighbors and fought the flames with buckets.
John Carr said he stayed in his home in Pacific Palisades to protect it because rebuilding would be too expensive.
As the fire began to encroach on his backyard, Carr said he sprang into action, jumping fences to tackle spot fires from all directions using his hose, not only on the flames but also himself.
“I was awake all night, all day. I got a little bit of sleep after things calmed down a little bit, after all the houses all burned down. I did probably hurt a rib jumping a fence over there,” Carr said.
“Some things in life are worth fighting for, you know.”
Los Angeles County officials said some people in evacuation zones would be let home sooner than a week but for others it may take even longer, as officials attempted to recover and identify charred human remains.
Damaged or destroyed homes are loaded with hazardous materials, which must be removed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency before local agencies can haul away debris and restore severed utilities.
The massive amounts of debris and toxic material will have damaged or clogged the region’s flood control system, which will need to be clear before badly needed rains return after what so far has been nine months of dry weather, said Mark Pestrella, director of Los Angeles County Public Works.
Police had experimented with escorting people to their homes for brief visits but found it obstructed streets needed for firetrucks and consumed the time of too many officers, Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell said.
Beyond the immediate cleanup, state and local officials are preparing for a massive reconstruction effort by suspending regulations that might cause delay.
Private forecaster AccuWeather projects damage and losses at more than $250 billion, which would make the Los Angeles fires the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history.
The devastation has also complicated the city’s preparation to host major sporting events such as part of the 2026 World Cup, the 2027 Super Bowl and the 2028 Olympic Games.
Experts say a relocation of the Olympics would be unlikely.