California inferno rages out-of-control as arson investigation launched | BBC News

massive wildfires continue to burn out of control around Los Angeles with more high winds forecast into tomorrow almost 18 180,000 people have been ordered to leave their homes so far and this is what the Flames are leaving behind entire neighborhoods completely destroyed everything gone only the charred remains of trees have been left standing the first fire to erupt was on Tuesday in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood it spread rapidly look at how fast it moved in just 5 hours it now covers more than 177,000 acres of land that Blaze alone is now one of the most

destructive natural disasters in the history of La there are still five fires Al light around the city two of them the Palisades and heurst fires are still 0% contained they're out of control you can see from this time lapse of the Palisades fire just how quickly it spread fanned by Hurricane force winds and this is another neighborhood Al TOA this satellite imagery shows the homes and buildings Street after Street completely engulfed five people are known to have died but the LA Sheriff says that number will rise well let's go straight to our correspondent Emma vardy

who is in La Emma well fire crews are now into their third day of fighting fires on many fronts and authorities are beginning to look into what started them arson investigators we're told are now part of this but authorities haven't drawn any firm conclusions uh just yet today the fire's growth has been slowed down but still many parts of this city will never look the same again still they burn the most catastrophic fires Los Angeles has ever seen overnight the Hollywood Hills resembling a disaster movie a huge cresant of flame in engulfing an iconic community

of California more than 130,000 people have been told to evacuate their homes here just one of many properties engulfed turned to a shell at least five major fires have been burning across Los Angeles County the scale and spread has stretched firefighting Crews on the ground and in the air 16,000 acres and Counting consumed by The Inferno one street filmed by a local resident moments before he left I thought maybe I would be able to get some extra stuff that we didn't take and uh come to see that the whole street is just gone it's like

a war zone and we had so many memories in here um that cannot be replaced I had these great old pictures of my grandfather from World War II both grandfathers and I was going to get them framed and now they're gone and they're lost and I had so so many things that are just lost forever it just uh I know we're safe but I don't I don't understand the scale of This Disaster is clear to see this is Pacific Palisades block after block a blanket of Destruction more than a thousand buildings burned in this community

alone Emergency Services unable to save them we had everything like the sentimental things like my mom passed away we I had only a few things of hers left my wedding dress our wedding album we left everything our albums our we have just whatever we're wearing we're wearing the same thing for the last two days there fueled by Hurrican force winds these fires have struck at a vulnerable time La hasn't seen any significant rainfall for months abandoned neighborhoods are now falling prey to crime in the midst of the emergency we've all seen individuals who are targeting

vulnerable communities by burglarizing and looting homes this is simply unacceptable as Dawn came in the Palisades it revealed the Grim reality of what the fire has left behind there are Miles and Miles of streets like this an utter shock at the devastation here communities just vanished now ghost towns and once dream homes turned to dust no one is immune Mansions now Ash the homes of Jennifer Aniston Adam Sandler and Paris Hilton among those evacuated and this was filmed by the wife of take that star Mar Owen as they escaped Through the flames some are returning

to the ruins to see what remains a scene that will be repeated in this ravaged City over the coming days Emma vardy BBC News Los Angeles President Biden has just described the LA fires as the most devastating in California's history have a look at these before and after images of the destruction that the Flames have left behind this was someone's home in Altera and this is what it looks like now north of there the Pasadena Jewish temple and Center has been completely gutted and this business in the Pacific Palisades where the largest fire is still

burning was not spared either our correspondent John sudworth has been into the Palisades and spoken to some of those people who have been affected late into the night we watch one of America's wealthiest neighborhoods burn the Flames so intense the fire crews are powerless to stop them so if I very quickly take my mask off the air is absolutely thick with smoke the fire Crews here tell as they have a shortage of water and in many instances they're having to stand and watch these properties burn it is a losing battle they're using what little they

have sparingly trying to contain the spread defying the evacuation orders some residents are defending their own homes with all the surrounding properties burning I help Tony and his neighbors scooping water out of the swimming pool and dousing the Flames at their boundary since 1993 I've seen a couple fires but nothing like this I wouldn't see this in my nightmare I never thought I would come through you David was hoping his home might have survived but the whole neighborhood has gone and with it his house too I would have thought I'd be seeing more planes flying

over with water I mean there appears to been just two I mean in California are are there not like 20 or 30 of them that they could have got you already um I I would have thought the firemen would like take a stand on a certain area maybe they did and and I'm just not seeing it but wealth and privilege are no protection from this disaster with the ordinary human defenses rendered futile in the face of its devastating Force John sudworth BBC News Pacific Palisades well almost 180,000 people have been told to evacuate a further

200,000 La residents are under evacuation warnings which means they may have to flee at a moment's notice what happens to all those people who have lost their homes lost everything where do they go well many of them have made their way to evacuation centers like this one in Pasadena John sudworth is at another Center in Westwood near Beverly Hills he joins us now John well Sophie uh this particular evacuation Center has taken more than 200 people sleeping in this building here last night catering provided by the Salvation Army and uh of course for lots of

those people having seen their homes burned there is nowhere else to turn one of those people is Marina Marina is from Ukraine she only arrived in America four months ago as part of a program that has brought thousands of ukrainians to America Marina tell me what happened to you yesterday well it was uh windy morning I left uh from my home to the work and um I I saw the little smoke uh near my hood but I don't think that it was something uh will be big so uh when I came trying to came home

after 5 hours I saw that the the road were closed and too many fire departments and police's car and um um I started to worri it and then I just came back to Santa Monica Pier just to watch what happened there because it's everything were in Smoke and uh I saw the fir flames and know there was so big and then I just saw like uh the place where my house build where's my Wheel situation it's burning and uh there is burning everything like a cars and nature and um houses and mine so uh I

just lost everything because um um I just went to the work like that and I don't have anything documents no no nothing so um it's very terrible terrible story you've only been in America for 4 months you came here escaping the disaster of the war in Ukraine what will happen to you next now actually uh I don't know but uh uh the only why um can I say that I will not give up so I just try to move on and start my life again that's it Marina thank you for talking to us we wish

you all the best in these very difficult circumstances Sophie we've seen all day today volunteer volunteers turning up here bringing food and supplies with a disaster like this of course everybody in this knows somebody who's been affected John thank you well there have been some incredible stories of rescues and bravery as people fled their homes and many neighborhoods now look like this completely deserted for Block after block houses completely destroyed many of the people who have escaped have been talking about the speed with which the fires have been spreading including Aaron Samson who helped his

father in-law get out here is their story we've just been evacuated we've just been evacuated from this good Samaritan's car you got it Dad we're having to walk this is crazy there's a fire right right outside our car we got it no not that way Dad that my father-in-law has Parkinsons he can barely move this was a heroic effort on his part very wobbly here let me try to get home which way do I go out this way Dad to the sidewalk let me guess I went outside I saw smoke and fire near my father-in-law's

house and realized we need to go the problem is we didn't have a car uh by circumstance we had no car in the house I ran up and down the the street where he was Glenn Haven finally found a neighbor who was willing to swing by and pick us up most people had already gone at that point and at that point I I grabbed his medicine that's the only thing I could think to grab turn around down we got this and at that point we jumped in his car this guy Jeff a neighbor we' never

met before but you know salt of the earth saved Our Lives as we're driving down there's fires on both sides of the car we're driving we're suddenly seeing fires you could feel the heat and then the fires were getting closer and closer and at that point just being stuck there surrounded by fire these uh the policemen started running up the street get out of the car get out of the car and started screaming you don't really realize how serious it is you don't think this is a life life-threatening situation Aaron Samson's story there escaping with

his father in the last few moments President Biden has been speaking about the fires this is what he's had to say say to the firefighters First Responders you really are it's not hyperbole 6 you're Heroes you're genuinely Heroes and the worst you know this is the most widespread devastating fire in California's history it's amazing let's join Emma vardy who is in Pacific Palisades and Emma the president there speaking about the worst fires in California's history the fires are still burning but thoughts are also turning to to what happens now how do you start rebuilding building

any of [Music] this people are gradually returning to scenes like this where there is absolutely nothing for them left we've been witnessing the wreckage all around us there's the melted metal of burnt cars just pieces of people's possessions that you can make out on the floor and then every now and again a house has been spared the Flames as miraculously is still standing but in abandoned neighborhoods like this looting has now become an issue police say they've made 20 arrests for looting they've stepped up patrols they're warning people coming back into these areas that they

will clamp down on looting very seriously now there have been reported five deaths so far in these fires uh but we know that investigators are currently examining other human remains that have been found in burnt out properties so that number May well rise and of course while this is all still going on on the ground the questions for political leaders have begun questions over cuts to fire budgets over whether California was prepared enough for a natural disaster like this because it's clear that the road to recovery for La is going to be a very long

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