The Palisades Fire is headed for Brentwood, a Los Angeles suburb packed with multimillion-dollar mansions from everyone from Veep Kamala Harris to LeBron James.
The upscale neighborhood, home to numerous Hollywood celebrities including Arnold Schwarzenegger, Harrison Ford and Dr. Dre, is the latest wealthy community to be hit by one of the worst disasters in California history.
The fire, one of several now in its sixth day, has so far burned approximately 24,000 acres, contributed significantly to the total death toll of 16 people, and destroyed more than 5,000 buildings. It destroyed property, much of it homes, and caused untold billions of dollars in damage. Continue along the hilly coastline.
According to the latest official progress report, smokers from Utah, Texas, Nevada, Oregon, Washington and even Mexico are arriving in the area to help the overburdened and under-resourced LAFD. However, only 11% of the fire has been extinguished.
Firefighters got a brief reprieve over the weekend from the Santa Ana winds that fanned the flames, but the winds had slowed significantly from their initial peak of more than 100 mph. But the gusts are expected to pick up speed as the new week begins, threatening progress to overthrow the historic inferno.
As of late Saturday afternoon, more than 150,000 Angelenos were under evacuation orders between the Palisades and Eaton fires, including all of Brentwood.
Meanwhile, Los Angeles city leaders are grappling with a commotion within the city.
LAFD Chief Kristin Crowley has publicly criticized Mayor Karen Bass' incompetent leadership since Tuesday's fire, telling Fox News affiliate KTTV on Friday that her embattled boss is the city's firefighters. He said that he had failed the residents' expectations.
“We're asking for adequate funding to ensure our firefighters can do their jobs so we can serve our communities,” Crowley told the outlet.
“Since day one, we recognized significant gaps in service delivery and the ability of firefighters on the ground to accomplish their mission.”
Crowley was then reportedly called into Mayor Bass's office on Friday afternoon, fueling speculation that the fire chief had been fired, although rumors later emerged that the mayor had mocked reporters' pursuit of him. be.
Bass has come under heavy criticism for the city's alleged slow response to the wildfires, and residents who called for her ouster in a new Change.org petition are furious and spiraling out of control. She is accused of “gross mismanagement” as the fire rages on.
As of Sunday morning, more than 95,000 people I signed the online petition He demanded that she be summoned immediately.
