The devastating fires of Los Angeles in Pictures

In the morning on January 7, the first of the vast Los Angeles fires broke out in a wooded area near Topanga State Park to the northwest of the city. The conditions allowed the fire to spread very quickly: winds of 100 mph, very low humidity, and a landscape primed to burn after months without rainfall together sent the fire tearing through the Pacific Palisades neighborhood, located between Santa Monica and Malibu .

About 40 miles away in the Eaton area of ​​Altadena, a second fire broke out. Along with several other smaller fires, the Pacific Palisades and Eaton fires have since burned more than 30,000 acres of land in Los Angeles County, destroying thousands of buildings and forcing 130,000 people to evacuate their homes.

As of Thursday morning, conditions in the Los Angeles area continued to present a high risk for fires starting and spreading. The fires have engulfed entire neighborhoods, and the flames are now threatening some of the city’s famous landmarks, including its iconic Hollywood sign. Thousands of firefighters worked to try to tame the flames.

Many film premieres, such as those of the Robbie Williams biopic Better ManJennifer Lopez’s vehicle Unstoppableand The wolf manstarring Julia Garner and produced by Ryan Gosling – were canceled due to hazardous conditions. On Thursday, California authorities ordered the evacuation of the Hollywood neighborhood after a fire broke out a few hundred meters from Hollywood Boulevard. The out-of-control situation even led the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to postpone the announcement of Oscar nominations by two days.

US President Joe Biden is receiving real-time information on the situation and has offered “all necessary federal assistance” to put out the fires. “FEMA – the Federal Emergency Management Agency – has approved a fire management grant to support the affected areas and help reimburse the State of California for the immediate costs of fighting the fires,” the president said. said in a statement on Wednesday. The fires stayed declared a major disaster by the president.

Despite the efforts, the largest fires – Eaton and Pacific Palisades – are still zero percent contained as of Thursday, with firefighters running out of water. Although wind speeds have slowed from their highs earlier in the week, the fires are expected to continue to spread and cause more devastation. They are already the most destructive in the history of California.