California is still reeling under raging wildfires as firefighters are racing against time to contain the flames which have been spreading in Los Angeles area due to strong winds. Reports in local media have said that the death toll has risen to 16 and likely to rise as investigators can venture into burnt neighbourhoods only after fires are doused.
The fire at Pacific Palisades is 11 per cent contained, said CNN. The news report however noted that the fire was moving inland towards Brentwood and other communities in the neighbourhood. The campus of University of California, Los Angeles is also under threat but undamaged at least up to now.
The fire in Eaton continues to burn.
Police Arrest Looters
Cases of looting are on the rise and people escape neighbourhoods threatened by fire. Los Angeles police have started a crackdown and have even arrested seven individuals in last two days.
“Looting is an issue, the number of arrests is continuously growing,” he said
“We are catching looters within the zone, but we’re securing the area better and better every single day...“We even made arrests of two individuals who were actually posing as firefighters coming in and out of houses.” he added as quoted by CNN.
Several residents have opted to hire private security guards to secure what is left of their homes.
Gavin Newsom, the Governor of California, has been posting updates from his official handle on X (formerly Twitter). On Sunday, he lauded the efforts of firefighters who were releasing water and fire retardants from planes, itself a risky manoeuvre. He expressed pride that the state has largest fleet of such planes in the US.
US President-Elect Donald Trump has called California wildfires "one of the worst catastrophes' in US history. He lashed out at authorities in his post on TruthSocial and said 'they just can't put out the fires'.
Till now, nearly 200,000 people have been displaced and more than 10,000 structures have been destroyed due to devastating wildfires.
