Massive fire in Los Angeles forest threatens residential areas

The fire that started in the forests of Los Angeles in the US on Tuesday has now reached the residential areas of the city, which is being described as the biggest disaster in the history of the state. Officials confirmed on Wednesday that at least five people have died in this massive fire. This fire has destroyed 1,500 buildings around America’s second largest city and forced more than 1 lakh people to leave their homes. According to eyewitnesses, it has become almost impossible to control the fire due to strong winds, which is worsening the situation.

This fire in the Pacific Palisades area has turned about 16,000 acres (about 6,500 hectares) of forest into ashes by Wednesday afternoon. A large part of California’s prime real estate properties has been burnt to ashes. Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said he had never seen such a disaster in his career. He said, “We are trying our best, but we do not have enough firefighters to handle this situation.” The horror of the fire is clearly visible in the videos shared on social media.

Firefighters trying to control the fire amid 100 mph winds

Firefighters controlled several fires overnight. But the fire has spread to many other places in the forest. It is being told that strong winds blowing at a speed of 100 mph ignited three major fires in the forest simultaneously. It burned around 16,000 acres of land and many homes, businesses and landmarks in the Palisades and west along the Pacific Coast Highway towards Malibu. At the same time, the Eaton fire destroyed more than 10,000 acres of land and many structures in Altadena and Pasadena. While the Sunset fire, started around 5:45 pm, which burned everything on Hollywood Boulevard and south. 700 acres of land were burned in the area around Sylmar.