The death toll from the Los Angeles fires continues to rise, now at 25. The city has been gripped by fires for days, in what has been called one of the worst blazes in California history. The damage is enormous : more than 12,000 homes, buildings and vehicles have been destroyed or damaged, and entire neighborhoods have been razed. According to a new report, about 88,000 people are still displaced.
The two main fires burned 9,700 acres in the upscale Pacific Palisades neighborhood and more than 5,700 acres in the city of Altadena , north of Los Angeles. Federal authorities are working to determine the cause, but it will take time to reach a conclusion. For days, search teams, accompanied by dogs, have combed the ruins for victims. By Monday, 1,800 homes had been searched, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said. “The good news is that no more bodies have been found,” he added.
Also worrying are the economic damages, which could be among the most expensive ever. Provisional estimates speak of figures ranging between 250 and 270 billion dollars. Thousands of firefighters have been mobilized for a new outbreak that broke out late Monday evening in Oxnard , 80 kilometers from Los Angeles.
(Unioneonline/vf)