Cause of devastating LA wildfires revealed

More than 100,000 people have been told evacuate as at least five separate fires burn, including in the heart of historic Hollywood, just a few hundred meters from Hollywood Boulevard.

Part of the iconic Sunset Boulevard lays in ruins after fire ripped through the Pacific Palisades.

Helicopters have dumped water on a blaze in the Hollywood Hills where an evacuation order was issued for a number of streets in the historic district.

Forecasters predict critical fire weather to last through until Friday night (local time).

Paris Hilton and Anna Faris are among celebrities that have lost homes. 

Cause of fires revealed

Last year’s El Nino weather system brought heavy rains that fuelled excessive vegetation growth in the first half of 2024. 

Then in the second half of the year there was drought across southern California, with only 4 mm (0.15 inches) of rain in central LA.

Those dry conditions combined with the strong Santa Ana winds have spread the fires quickly.

The winds blow from inland towards the coast and reach speeds of more than 100mph.

Experts have also pointed to the unusually high temperatures in LA which are currently about 20C. 

“We see these fires spread when it is hot and dry and windy, and right now all of those conditions are in place in southern California,” Kristina Dahl, vice president for science at Climate Central, said.

Officials are yet to state what started the fires but David Acuna, a battalion chief at the Californian Fire Service, said 95% of wildfires in the area are started by humans.

What are the different fires burning?

There are currently five active fires in the Los Angeles area, with three completely uncontained .

They are:

The Palisades fire which is covering 17,234 acres and is 0% contained.

The Eaton fire which is covering 10,600 acres and is 0% contained. 

The Sunset fire which is covering 43 acres and is 0 per cent contained. 

Firefighters have had more success with the Hurst (855 acres) and Lidia (348 acres) fires which are 10% and 40% contained respectively.

Two additional fires broke out on Wednesday but have both been 100% contained.

Residents say firefighters are running out of water and don’t have enough engines. 

“They’re under-resourced here because they’re sending a lot of their troops to the front line,” said Mark McMillan, who is helping to control the fire in his girlfriend’s neighbourhood.

“One of the firefighters told me, if I’m remembering correctly, they sent 500 engines to Topanga. Because that’s where a lot of stuff is happening. And I’m grateful because that’s where I live...

“But here they only have two engines for this whole neighbourhood and they’re out of water. They ran out of water from the lines here, but they also don’t have water in their trucks.

“And so they have been setting up pumps. They go from the pools and the neighbours on either side of this house.”

Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said his crews were struggling with the scale and speed of the unfolding disasters.

“We’re doing the very best we can. But no, we don’t have enough fire personnel in LA County between all the departments to handle this,” he said.

The two main outbreaks, Palisades and Eaton, have already destroyed 1,000 buildings each.

That makes them the two most destructive in the history of Los Angeles County, according to data from the California Fire Department.

The toll so far 

The fires have killed five people, but the city authorities fear they will find more bodies in the charred debris.

Compared to other fires that have ravaged California in recent years, which sometimes extended over several thousand square kilometres, the current outbreaks are small: nearly 120 square kilometres (close to 30 acres).

What sets them apart from previous wildfires is how destructive they have been, despite being located in residential areas.

They have around 2,000 houses or buildings since Tuesday, forcing the evacuation of more than 137,000 Los Angeles residents.

The flames have destroyed a hundred luxury residences costing millions of dollars, which means it the fire could be the costliest ever recorded: damage was estimated at $57 billion (55 billion euros) by AccuWeather.

Disruption 

On Tuesday, US President Joe Biden was in Los Angeles, where he had been expected to announce the creation of two new national monuments.

Strong winds forced the cancellation of that announcement, and several other scheduled events were either cancelled or postponed due to the wildfires.

These included the annual Critics Choice Awards gala, a televised Hollywood ceremony that had been set for the weekend normally attended by many A-list stars.

Next week’s unveiling of the Oscar nominations was also pushed back, to January 19.

Filming of LA-based shows such as “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Hacks” and “Jimmy Kimmel Live” has also been paused, and the Universal Studios theme park has closed.

Biden cancelled his upcoming trip to Italy, which would probably have been his final overseas trip as president, to focus instead on the federal response to the fires

Tragic detail in fire victim’s death

Among those who died was 66-year-old Victor Shaw, whose sister told local broadcaster KTLA he had ignored pleas to leave as the fire swept through his Altendena area neighbourhood because he wanted to stay and protect their home.

“When I went back in and yelled out his name, he didn’t reply back,” Shari Shaw said.

“I had to get out because the embers were so big and flying like a firestorm that I had to save myself.”

Family friend Al Tanner found Victor’s burnt body on the side of the road the next morning — still with the garden hose in his hands.

“It looks like he was trying to save the home that his parents had for almost 55 years,” Tanner told the outlet.

Shari said she “fell to the ground” when she learned the horrible news — and couldn’t bring herself to look at her dead brother.

“They just told me that he was lying on the ground and that he looked serene, as if he was at peace,” she said.