Wildfires fueled by hurricane-force winds continue to ravage Los Angeles, destroying everything in their path.
As of now, the fire is still largely under control, but the Palisades fire has already been declared the most destructive fire in LA history. Homes, monuments, businesses, and schools were gutted. Five people have died, and the death toll is expected to rise further.
Authorities say there is no end in sight.
“Blaze News Tonight” Jill Savage and Matthew Peterson interview Blaze News Senior alignment editor Matt Himes from LAabout what he has seen and experienced.
– YouTubewww.youtube.com
On the day the fire started, Matt was on his way home in the morning when he saw a “large plume of black smoke” that was “very close”.
Even though I'm used to wildfires, I knew right away that this was different.
“Then I got a call to pick up my son from the school, which is about a mile away from where I live, and in the parking lot… it was pretty chaotic,” he said, adding, “People were running. “They panicked and grabbed the children.”
He and his son had to fight through the increasing traffic of evacuees to get back to their home and collect a few things before fleeing.
“Palisades was in a lot of disarray, both traffic-wise and organizationally. I don't think they were prepared to deal with this,” he tells Jill and Matthew.
Matt and his family are currently staying with a friend. He doesn't know if his house survived the fire.
Matt doesn't want to politicize the tragedy Los Angeles is experiencing, but he can't ignore the signs — and they all point out that “Los Angeles was really unprepared.” There is.
First, Mayor Karen Bass, aware of the severe weather information and warnings, decided to proceed with a diplomatic visit to Ghana. The bus was 7,000 miles away when the Pacific Palisades went up in flames.
The left does what it always does whenever a natural disaster occurs: blames it on climate change, but it has far more to do with mismanagement of forests, an out-of-control homeless population, and less funding for fire departments. insists Matt.
On top of that,There's no water in these hydrants”
“It has to do with filling the reservoir,” Matt said, adding that there appears to be a shortage of firefighters.
Right now, he says, those doing everything in their power to literally push back the flames are “overwhelmed.”
Additionally, Los Angeles' current fire chief is a woman named Kristin M. Crowley, who has been hailed as “Los Angeles' first female and first LGBTQ fire chief.”
“If you look at her profile on the site, she talks about her priorities, and they're all about diversity, equity, and inclusion,” Matt says. “It seems to me to be the wrong priorities when there are clear inefficiencies that are currently hindering our response to this situation.” He called the situation “catastrophic” and “apocalyptic.” It's called.
For more on the story, watch the episode above.
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