A series of wildfires raging around Los Angeles has claimed the lives of at least two people and injured dozens more, as firefighters struggle to contain the blazes. Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley warned that the four ongoing fires – Palisades, Eaton, Hurst, and Woodley – are currently 0% contained and are “stretching the capacity of emergency services to their maximum limits”.
The Palisades fire, which erupted on Tuesday, has already destroyed over 1,000 structures, with 37,000 residents ordered to evacuate. A further 32,500 people have been told to flee their homes due to the Eaton Fire.
TRUMP REACTS
In his first comment on the Los Angeles fires, Republican President-elect Donald Trump has strongly criticized California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, over water shortages in the state. Trump accuses Newsom of refusing to enact a measure that would have led to water being pumped from northern California to the drought-affected south. “I will demand that this incompetent governor allow beautiful, clean, fresh water to FLOW INTO CALIFORNIA!”, Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
This is not the first time the two politicians have clashed over wildfires in the state. In 2018 and 2019, Trump threatened to withhold federal funding for California, accusing Newsom of having done a “terrible job of forest management”. Newsom retaliated by accusing Trump of denying climate change.
The wildfires have been fuelled by severe winds and drought conditions, with many parts of Southern California experiencing severe drought. The situation has led to widespread power outages, with nearly 50,000 customers affected. Several burn injuries have been reported, and a 25-year-old firefighter suffered a “serious head injury”
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