The Fort Worth Press - Weary LA firefighters brace for 'last' dangerous winds

USD -
AED 3.673017
AFN 73.4977
ALL 95.801445
AMD 396.560156
ANG 1.8026
AOA 911.999741
ARS 1056.375098
AUD 1.591675
AWG 1.8
AZN 1.701353
BAM 1.885381
BBD 2.019473
BDT 121.521184
BGN 1.883125
BHD 0.376914
BIF 2926
BMD 1
BND 1.353545
BOB 6.910979
BRL 5.764898
BSD 1.000145
BTN 86.863098
BWP 13.844129
BYN 3.273148
BYR 19600
BZD 2.009091
CAD 1.429805
CDF 2870.000429
CHF 0.913435
CLF 0.024925
CLP 956.494181
CNY 7.309049
CNH 7.309505
COP 4167.1
CRC 506.193667
CUC 1
CUP 26.5
CVE 106.75028
CZK 24.114398
DJF 177.720512
DKK 7.176095
DOP 62.296279
DZD 135.328992
EGP 50.616699
ERN 15
ETB 126.250334
EUR 0.962065
FJD 2.313799
FKP 0.805029
GBP 0.80298
GEL 2.819788
GGP 0.805029
GHS 15.449894
GIP 0.805029
GMD 71.496828
GNF 8656.00024
GTQ 7.721598
GYD 209.467439
HKD 7.788985
HNL 25.680102
HRK 7.251419
HTG 130.997253
HUF 387.302851
IDR 16382.6
ILS 3.593028
IMP 0.805029
INR 86.981802
IQD 1310
IRR 42087.497941
ISK 141.04029
JEP 0.805029
JMD 157.48783
JOD 0.709503
JPY 154.167991
KES 128.999814
KGS 87.450135
KHR 4010.000027
KMF 474.549753
KPW 899.949487
KRW 1451.999983
KWD 0.30895
KYD 0.833482
KZT 504.44649
LAK 21724.999662
LBP 89599.999907
LKR 297.161035
LRD 197.450263
LSL 18.530106
LTL 2.95274
LVL 0.60489
LYD 4.910233
MAD 9.982501
MDL 18.838659
MGA 4709.999723
MKD 59.231839
MMK 2098.968351
MNT 3459.546067
MOP 8.02383
MRU 40.160147
MUR 46.803992
MVR 15.397323
MWK 1736.999948
MXN 20.542699
MYR 4.467504
MZN 63.90194
NAD 18.529884
NGN 1506.1403
NIO 36.750315
NOK 11.255301
NPR 138.982103
NZD 1.772525
OMR 0.385018
PAB 1.000159
PEN 3.713499
PGK 4.008961
PHP 57.95993
PKR 279.000295
PLN 4.00645
PYG 7870.053502
QAR 3.640497
RON 4.788198
RSD 112.655006
RUB 94.000558
RWF 1401
SAR 3.750596
SBD 8.446964
SCR 14.374883
SDG 601.000073
SEK 10.86642
SGD 1.352325
SHP 0.823587
SLE 22.830447
SLL 20969.523004
SOS 571.500541
SRD 35.204998
STD 20697.981008
SVC 8.751145
SYP 13001.290013
SZL 18.529617
THB 34.009498
TJS 10.92703
TMT 3.5
TND 3.185503
TOP 2.342103
TRY 36.112185
TTD 6.785657
TWD 32.874902
TZS 2590.000028
UAH 41.840652
UGX 3679.56813
UYU 43.341206
UZS 12999.999962
VES 61.269331
VND 25565
VUV 122.958521
WST 2.838658
XAF 632.339133
XAG 0.030968
XAU 0.000344
XCD 2.70255
XDR 0.765797
XOF 635.502952
XPF 115.250058
YER 247.999787
ZAR 18.5164
ZMK 9001.172598
ZMW 27.980354
ZWL 321.999592
  • RBGPF

    1.8700

    66.72

    +2.8%

  • BCC

    -4.6000

    118.72

    -3.87%

  • SCS

    -0.0500

    11.93

    -0.42%

  • CMSC

    -0.1800

    23.28

    -0.77%

  • CMSD

    -0.1800

    23.71

    -0.76%

  • GSK

    0.0600

    36.13

    +0.17%

  • RELX

    0.1100

    51.44

    +0.21%

  • RYCEF

    0.0600

    7.67

    +0.78%

  • RIO

    0.3900

    62.04

    +0.63%

  • JRI

    -0.0200

    12.85

    -0.16%

  • BTI

    0.2200

    42.74

    +0.51%

  • NGG

    -0.9000

    60.58

    -1.49%

  • AZN

    1.7000

    74.43

    +2.28%

  • BCE

    0.3800

    23.26

    +1.63%

  • VOD

    0.0900

    8.59

    +1.05%

  • BP

    0.1300

    34.68

    +0.37%

Weary LA firefighters brace for 'last' dangerous winds
Weary LA firefighters brace for 'last' dangerous winds / Photo: © AFP

Weary LA firefighters brace for 'last' dangerous winds

Exhausted Los Angeles firefighters on Sunday braced for the return of yet more dangerously strong gusts, as California's governor slammed "hurricane-force winds of misinformation" surrounding blazes that have killed 27 people.

Text size:

The two largest fires, which have obliterated almost 40,000 acres (16,000 hectares) and razed entire neighborhoods of the second biggest US city, were for the first time both more than half contained, officials announced.

But the National Weather Service warned that powerful winds and low humidity would again bring "dangerous high-end red flag fire weather conditions" from Monday, with gusts up to 80 miles (130 kilometers) per hour potentially returning.

"This is the last... we hope, of the extreme" wind events, said Governor Gavin Newsom.

It will be "the fourth major wind event just in the last three months -- we only had two in the prior four years," he told MSNBC's "Inside with Jen Psaki."

Officials were accused of being unprepared at the outbreak of fires this month. Now, 135 fire engines and their crews are prepositioned to tackle new outbreaks, along with helicopters and bulldozers, said Newsom.

Firefighters, who since January 7 have been battling flames, digging trenches and uprooting vegetation to create perimeters around fires non-stop, said the largest conflagration, the Palisades Fire, was 52 percent contained.

That fire has killed at least 10 people.

Evacuation orders were lifted this weekend for dozens of neighborhoods in upscale western Los Angeles.

Further east, the Eaton Fire, which killed at least 17 in the Altadena suburbs, is 81 percent contained.

More residents were able to return to their homes there too. Others reunited with missing pets they had feared were dead.

Serena Null told AFP of her joy at finding her cat Domino, after having to leave him behind as flames devoured her family home in Altadena.

The pair were reunited at NGO Pasadena Humane, where Domino -- suffering singed paws, a burnt nose and a high level of stress -- was taken after being rescued.

"I just was so relieved and just so happy that he was here," a tearful Null told AFP.

- No 'magical spigot' -

As Los Angeles learns the true scale of the devastation, political bickering has intensified.

Donald Trump, set to be sworn in as US president on Monday, has sharply criticized California officials.

He falsely claimed that Newsom had blocked the diversion of "excess rain and snow melt from the North." Los Angeles's water supplies are mainly fed via aqueducts and canals originating from entirely separate river basins further east.

"What's not helpful or beneficial... is these wild-eyed fantasies... that somehow there's a magical spigot in northern California that just can be turned on, all of a sudden there will be rain or water flowing everywhere," said Newsom.

Citing conversations with firefighters on the ground during 100 mile-per-hour windstorms that first sparked the fires, Newsom added: "There's not a municipal system in the world that's designed to address a fire of that acuity."

The governor blamed Elon Musk -- the Tesla and SpaceX owner poised to play a key role advising the incoming administration -- "and others" for "hurricane-force winds of mis- and dis-information that can divide a country on a myriad of issues."

President-elect Trump said he hopes to visit the region soon, "probably at the end of the week."

Emergency officials Sunday continued to survey the damage, going house-to-house with dogs in search of human remains, and ramping up the daunting task of clearing endless tons of debris.

The region has experienced its driest start of the year since 1850, according to Newsom. Well into its typical rainy season, Los Angeles has had almost no rain since May.

Although rain is still not expected imminently, Newsom warned of the need to prepare "for potential flooding in the next week or two," as rain, when it comes, pours down hillsides denuded by the fires.

"I prepositioned 2,500 National Guard. We're going to start some sandbagging operations," he said.

"We're dealing with extremes that we have never dealt with in the past" due to changing climate, said the governor.

C.Rojas--TFWP