The death toll in the wildfires that are raging in the Los Angeles area rose to at least 24 late Sunday, with officials worried that more bodies will be found by searchers and cadaver dogs in the neighborhoods that have been leveled by the blazes.
Roaring flames continued to ravage the West Coast state of California as the top U.S. emergency official warned that increasing winds could pose new threats in the coming days.
“The winds are potentially getting stronger and dangerous,” Deanne Criswell, the administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, told CNN’s “State of the Union” show. “You never know which way they’re going.”
Local officials expressed fears that as the fires spread, they could endanger more highly populated areas and threaten some of the city’s key landmarks, including the J. Paul Getty Museum, which houses renowned art works, and the University of California, Los Angeles, one of the top public U.S. universities.
California Senator Adam Schiff told CNN that driving through the devastated communities “frankly reminded me of visiting war zones. There are whole neighborhoods that are gone. We haven’t seen this before.”
“The heartbreak is just overwhelming,” he said.
California Governor Gavin Newsom told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that the wildfires could be the worst natural disaster in U.S. history, “in terms of just the costs associated with it, in terms of the scale and scope.”
A preliminary estimate by AccuWeather put the damage and economic losses so far between $135 billion and $150 billion. The damages are so high in part because much of the housing that has burned to the ground is among the costliest in the country.
Watch related report by Veronica Balderas Iglesias:
Newsom called for an independent review of how the fires raged on, with firefighters at times facing a shortage of water to fight the blazes as they quickly spread out of control.
The governor said he is asking the same questions “that people out on the streets are asking, yelling about, ‘What the hell happened? What happened to the water system?’
Newsom said he wants to know whether the water supply was simply overwhelmed, “Or were 99 mile-an-hour winds determinative and there was really no firefight that could've been more meaningful?”
“All of us want to know those answers, and I just don't want to wait because people are asking me. I want to know those facts,” he said. “I want them objectively determined, and let the chips fall where they may. This is not about finger pointing.”
In photos: Scale of devastation from California wildfires
The governor said he is asking the same questions “that people out on the streets are asking, yelling about, ‘What the hell happened? What happened to the water system?’
Newsom on Friday ordered state officials to determine why a 440-million-liter reservoir was out of service and some hydrants had run dry.
Firefighters raced Saturday to get in front of the largest and most destructive blaze burning in Los Angeles as it shifted directions and grew by about 400 hectares. The Santa Ana winds that fueled the blazes are forecast to return.
“We need to be aggressive out there,” California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) Operations Chief Christian Litz told reporters at a Saturday briefing.
The National Weather Service predicted winds picking up Saturday night into Sunday morning in the area and again late Monday through Tuesday morning, with sustained winds up to 48 kph and gusts up to 112 kph.
Four active fires in the Los Angeles region have burned more than 16,000 hectares, with flames destroying more than 12,000 structures. About 150,000 people have been ordered to evacuate their homes, with 700 people taking refuge in nine shelters. The causes of all four blazes remain under investigation.
Officials said two of the fires were 90- and 76% contained but the other two only 11- and 15%. The Palisades fire, the largest and only 11% contained, is threatening to jump over a major highway, Interstate 405, into a more heavily populated area.
Jim Hudson, a Cal Fire incident commander, told reporters that firefighters have three priorities: “Life, your property and permanent control” of the flames.
Firefighting crews from California and nine other states are part of the ongoing response that includes 1,354 fire engines, 84 aircraft and more than 14,000 personnel, including newly arrived firefighters from Mexico.
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press.
