«You look out the window and it seems like hell: the sky is orange, full of smoke, there are objects flying because of the wind and the smell of burning is penetrating. “It’s horrible,” says Martina Valenzuela, a young Chilean who lives in one of the areas most affected by the fires that are devouring southern California.
Since Tuesday night, winds blowing at more than 150 kilometers per hour have prevented control of the three large fires surrounding the city of Los Angeles. There are already more than a thousand destroyed buildings, 70,000 evacuees and two dead. And the situation for now can only get worse.
Fear and desperation is creating chaos in the affected areas. Martina Valenzuela assures that the situation in the city of Los Angeles became “anarchic” on Tuesday night and since then nothing has been under control. «I was coming back from work, near the Palisades, and people were running traffic lights, there were trees falling on cars… it was apocalyptic, like something out of a movie. “It seems like there is no one in charge,” he details.
Valenzuela lives in the Altadena neighborhood, 20 minutes from the fire burning in Palisades, but only a couple of kilometers from the one located in Eaton, within Altadena. “We woke up and there was a new outbreak nearby, we are praying that the wind does not bring the fire to our area,” she explains, terrified by the idea of her home going up in flames.
“You can’t breathe inside the house”
“For now the smoke has already arrived here, we wear a mask even inside the house because breathing without it is an impossible mission.” Regarding evacuating and leaving the city, the young woman prefers not to consider it as a decision she has to make, unlike several of her friends, who have already left Los Angeles. «I don’t want to think about it for now, my mother is very old and if I forced her to abandon all her memories because our home was in danger, my heart would break. “I’m going to hold on and trust that the firefighters will control the situation shortly.”
Martina’s hope contrasts with the authorities’ warnings asking the population to evacuate. “Obeying evacuation orders is the difference between living or dying,” warned Jim McDonnell, the Los Angeles County Sheriff.
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