Parts of the Los Angeles area have been devastated by raging wildfires that have killed at least five people
Robyn Beck
By AFP - Agence France Presse
'We've lost everything': Despair in the Los Angeles fires
By Sébastien VUAGNAT
Houses reduced to ashes, businesses in flames, and, amid the devastation, downcast residents: the Californian town of Altadena, devastated on Wednesday by a violent fire, looked like an area that had just been bombed.
“This was our house,” William Gonzales told AFP, pointing to smoldering ruins where only embers and a chimney remain.
“We lost practically everything,” he sighed. ”The flames consumed all our dreams.”
Parts of the Los Angeles area have been devastated since Tuesday by violent fires that have killed at least five people.
More than 100,000 people have been told to leave their homes due to the flames and violent winds, which have reached up to 160 kilometers per hour.
In Altadena, behind the mountains north of Los Angeles, firefighters were overwhelmed by the scale of a blaze that has already destroyed around 500 buildings, including many homes.
On Wednesday, the streets were full of ash, with burning buildings everywhere.
AFP met a shopkeeper in his 60s who was crying in front of the ruins of his liquor store.
“That was my whole life,” he sobbed.
Jesus Hernandez, stunned, said he didn't know if his parents would be compensated for their $1.3 million house.
“We hope the insurance can pay most of it, if not, we'll have to stay with friends or someone else,” he said.
The fires spread throughout the Los Angeles area in just over 24 hours, with the most recent one starting in the Hollywood Hills, just a few meters from the famous Hollywood Boulevard.
Violent winds have blown embers up to 4 kilometers away, sparking new fires faster than firefighters can put them out.
The Santa Ana winds that are currently blowing are a classic part of Californian autumns and winters.
But this week, they reached an intensity not seen since 2011, according to meteorologists.
This combined with the ember-dry countryside created the perfect firestorm—and a nightmare for firefighters, who have also been struggling with water supplies.
In the Pacific Palisades fire, hydrants stopped working after huge storage tanks ran dry.
David Stewart said he wasn't prepared to simply surrender his neighborhood to the flames.
“The county shut off our water supply, so we're out there with shovels throwing dirt on the fires,” he told AFP.
“We've saved I think three neighbors' houses so far, but the fires are still moving towards our house.”
He struggled to understand the area in which he had lived all his life.
“This was just a small antique store, a pizzeria. These places have been here forever, as long as I've been alive.”
Jesse Banks, worried, was trying to get in touch with his son, who had fled the flames earlier in the day.
“My son left the house before us on foot, he doesn't have a cell phone or anything, so I'm looking for him now,” he said.
“I've lived in this area for over 20 years and we've seen fires in the mountains, in the hills, and so on, but never anything like this.”
The fight is far from over.
Wind speeds were expected to be moderate, but a Red Flag warning - alerting residents to the high risk of fire - was set to remain in force until Friday evening.
Amid the catastrophe, the warnings of scientists, who regularly remind us that humanity's dependence on fossil fuels is increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme events, are being felt in the flesh.
“Climate change is probably affecting everything,” said store owner Debbie Collins.
“I'm sure it's contributed to this happening. The world is in a very bad situation and we need to do more.”
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