Several residents affected by the historic Los Angeles fires have disobeyed evacuation orders to try to save their homesalthough for many there is very little they can do without assistance from firefighters who have been overwhelmed by the emergency.
At least four uncontrolled fires were counted in Los Angeles County at noon Wednesday, according to the California Department of Fire Protection, known as Cal Fire.
Although mandatory evacuation orders have been issued, several homeowners affected by the incident named Eaton, which extends through the Los Angeles National Forest and affects cities such as Altadena, They fight to prevent their houses from burning.
The fire that started Tuesday afternoon has already claimed at least five lives and authorities have insisted residents and drivers leave the area, with cell phone alerts that do not stop ringing.
But owners like Dolores Zamora have insisted on stay to defend their properties from the flames that jump from building to building boosted by the Santa Ana winds, which reached maximum speeds of 160 kilometers per hour.
“This is historic, we had not seen it before,” says the Mexican immigrant who has lived in this area for more than 50 years.
Zamora’s home has been saved so far, but not that of one of his neighbors. He and other residents have joined together to use water from a swimming pool to put out fire spots in the garden of a person who did evacuate.
“We have to help. We know that the firefighters are not coping. We understand it and it is our duty to do something to save our community,” explains Zamora, who remembers two large fires that affected the area so far this century, but “none as big and fast as this one.”
The close to 10,000 Los Angeles County fire extinguishers have been overcome by the disasters that have spread.
For example, the fire station that corresponds to the area where Zamora lives was consumed by flames in the morning. “There was nowhere to call,” he said sadly.
The fire outbreaks in this city have even spread to the main roads, where buildings that house businesses have been consumed due to the helplessness of the firefighters.
Anthony Marrone, Los Angeles County Fire Chief, admitted this Wednesday that he simply There were not enough staff for an emergency of this size.
“We are doing the best we can. But no, we do not have enough fire personnel in Los Angeles County to handle this,” the chief said, according to information cited by the newspaper. Los Angeles Times.
Residents know this, which is why they have come together to try to turn off gas service, warn of downed power lines, clean up debris and trees downed by the winds, and put out small pockets of fire.
But the efforts are overcome by the relentless flames, a large number of owners just cry in front of their homes while they watch them burn.
“We’ve lost everything,” Michael Lake said, his voice breaking as he tried to make a call that didn’t connect because the fire has affected communications and services in much of the neighborhoods near the mountains.
The Eaton Fire has reduced 4,300 hectares (10,600 acres) to ashes in less than 24 hours. It is the second largest incident affecting the county, followed by the Palisades disaster, which has consumed 4,700 hectares (11,800 acres).
Although at first the authorities spoke of evacuation orders for some 80,000 residents, the number is doubling as the flames advance. CNN estimated that evacuation orders have been extended for about 150,000 residents.
Firefighters are fighting to the flames do not reach the 210 freewaywhich crosses the county from east to west. The good news for firefighters and the community is that the Santa Ana winds are expected to decrease in intensity by Wednesday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service (NWS).
The helplessness of losing everything
“I can’t accept reality”says Hugo Zavala, a 46-year-old man who lost his home last night after it was hit by the Eaton Fire.
Two neighbors sent him photographs this morning of a home that “no longer exists” in Altadena, the upper part of the city of Pasadena, where he has lived for the last four years and where the flames punish with greater virulence.
As soon as he saw the fire approaching his home, property of the California Government, he came out with what he was wearingcarrying only a small black backpack and his phone, and waited for about three hours in the middle of the road for an emergency vehicle to come pick him up.
“I don’t know where I’m going to go tonight,” said Zavala who, in order not to face reality, has volunteered at the Pasadena Convention Center, now converted into a shelter from which to escape the flames, to assist to the neighbors who, like him, they have been left with nothing or they fear losing everything.
Fear, pain and desolation
More than 700 people occupy the Pasadena Convention Centerin the heart of a city of 130,000 inhabitants, waiting to be able to return to their homes or, at least, know the state in which they are.
Although the fire occurred during the evening yesterday, the volume of people began to increase at three in the morning, when the strong winds spread the fire and firefighters began knocking door to door to evacuate.
Since then, people have continued to arrive, some of them with suitcases, supplies, toys and provisions, while others were not lucky enough to be able to take their belongings and had to flee in a matter of minutes.
The city and organizations such as the Red Cross have gone out of their way to provide the victims of the fires with beds, blankets, water, food and masks for their loved ones: people in wheelchairs, with reduced mobility, with pets, very young and old, that coexist in a space with a capacity of 11,100 square meters.
With the radio on to know the status of their neighborhoods in real time and receiving calls from their loved ones, the topic of conversation that permeates the rooms of this center is the same: How is your house?
There are volunteer firefighters assisting in the tasks along with several nurses to reinforce the assistance of people like Mark’s mother, who is resting on a stretcher after being forced to vacate her home at 3 in the morning.
“They knocked on our door warning us to evacuate, I only had time to pack very few things.“, said.
He lives in Altadena and does not know how his house is, but from videos he has been able to see through his friends and alerts from the authorities, it seems that he is out of danger.
Pasadena, a ghost town
A thick layer of smoke and asha falls from an orange and gray sky that covers downtown Pasadenathe lung of a city that, on a normal day, is usually filled in the early hours of the morning with the bustle of people and businesses that remain closed today.
Only a couple of pedestrians and vehicles wander through the main streets of the city. On the sides of the streets and highways, entire fallen branches accumulate due to the strong winds that have been hitting the area with virulence since yesterday.
The highway that connects Pasadena with the north of the city of Los Angeles is usually packed with traffic in the mornings, but today there are hardly any carssome of which have been left abandoned in the middle of the streets.
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