Los Angeles wildfires in figures: Five blazes and 11 dead

It has ravaged the upscale Pacific Palisades neighbourhood, home to multimillionaires and celebrities.

The second, at 56sq km, is the Eaton Fire in Altadena, an eastern suburb of Los Angeles. The fires are 8% and 3% contained, respectively.

Three much smaller blazes, the Kenneth Fire (4sq km), Hurst Fire (3sq km) and Lidia Fire (1.6sq km), have been partly contained by 50%, 70% and 98%, respectively.

150 square kilometres

The fires have ripped through more than 15,000ha or 150sq km.

Compared to other fires that have hit California in recent years and spread sometimes over several thousand square kilometres, the current blazes are smaller in size.

However, they are particularly deadly and destructive because they are located in residential areas.

11 dead

To date, at least 11 people are known to have died, the Los Angeles County coroner said Thursday.

At least two died in the Palisades Fire and at least five in the Eaton Fire, according to firefighters.

10,000 buildings destroyed

At least 10,000 houses and other structures have already gone up in smoke, including at least 5000 in the Palisades Fire and between 4000 and 5000 in the Eaton Fire, according to Los Angeles County firefighters.

The two fires are already the most destructive in the history of Los Angeles County.

By comparison, the Camp Fire ravaged nearly 19,000 buildings north of Sacramento in November 2018, and the Tubbs Fire destroyed 5600 north of San Francisco in October 2017.

180,000 people evacuated

Around 180,000 people have been ordered to leave their neighbourhoods. Authorities have been pleading with residents to heed the evacuation orders, as some residents stayed behind trying to save their properties.

The legendary neighbourhood of Hollywood, threatened at one point by the Sunset Fire, was also evacuated, but the order was lifted on Thursday morning after the fire in its hills was brought under control.

20 arrests

The neighbourhoods hit by the fires face another danger: looting. Police have arrested at least 20 people for theft in the Los Angeles area since the first fires broke out Tuesday.

A nighttime curfew has been announced and the National Guard has been deployed to patrol affected areas.

US$150 billion in damage

With the destruction of luxury residences, the fires could end up being the costliest on record. Private meteorological firm AccuWeather has estimated the damage at between US$135-$150b. And that could go up.

– Agence France-Presse