The largest of the raging wildfires that have devastated parts of Los Angeles this week was reported to have shifted direction on Saturday, triggering more evacuation orders and posing a new challenge to exhausted firefighters.
Six simultaneous blazes that have ripped across Los Angeles County neighborhoods since Tuesday have killed at least 11 people and damaged or destroyed 10,000 structures. The toll is expected to mount when firefighters are able to conduct house-to-house searches.
The fierce Santa Ana winds that fanned the infernos eased on Friday night. But the Palisades Fire on the city’s western edge was heading in a new direction, prompting another evacuation order as it edged towards the Brentwood neighborhood and the San Fernando Valley foothills, the Los Angeles Times reported.
“The Palisades fire has got a new significant flare-up on the eastern portion and continues to northeast,” LA Fire Department Captain Erik Scott told local station KTLA, according to a report on the LA Times website.
The fire, the most destructive in the history of Los Angeles, has razed whole neighborhoods to the ground, leaving just the smouldering ruins of what had been people’s homes and possessions.
Before the latest flare-up, firefighters had reported progress in subduing the Palisades Fire and the Eaton Fire in the foothills east of the metropolis after it burned out of control for days. On Friday night, the Palisades Fire was 8% contained and the Eaton Fire 3%, state agency Cal Fire said.
