Sawt Falasteen - Major LA fires '0%' contained as residents survey havoc

Swathes of the city lay eerily deserted due to the fires' destruction and sweeping evacuation orders, with acrid smoke blanketing the sky.

A vast firefighting operation continued for a third day, bolstered by extra water-dropping helicopters thanks to a temporary lull in winds.

Amid the chaos, looting has broken out, with at least 20 arrests made so far, officials said.

The biggest fire, which has ripped through 17,000 acres (6,900 hectares) of the upscale Pacific Palisades neighborhood, is "one of the most destructive natural disasters in the history of Los Angeles," city fire chief Kristin Crowley told a press conference.

Another 10,000-acre fire in Altadena was also at "zero percent containment," although spreading had "significantly stopped" as wind gust reduced, county fire chief Anthony Marrone said.

Judy Chu, the US congresswoman representing the region, visited an evacuation center where 1,000 displaced residents sought shelter, and said Altadena was "just devastated."

"They are numb. They don't know what they will return to once this fire is contained," she told local news KTLA.

Nearly 180,000 people were under evacuation orders, as officials and meteorologists warned that "critical" windy and dry conditions, though abated, were not over.

"The winds continue to be of a historic nature... this is absolutely an unprecedented, historic firestorm," said Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.

A National Weather Service bulletin said "significant fire growth" remained likely "with ongoing or new fires" throughout Thursday and into Friday.

But there was some good news for Hollywood, the historic home of the movie industry, after evacuation orders prompted by the nearby "Sunset Fire" on Wednesday were lifted.

- Multi-million dollar homes -

Fast-moving flames fanned by powerful winds have leveled more than 2,000 structures, many of them multi-million dollar homes, with aerial views on Thursday showing whole neighborhoods burnt to the ground.

Millions of Angelenos have watched in horror as blazes have erupted around America's second biggest city, sparking panic and fear.

Winds with gusts up to 100 miles (160 kilometers) an hour spread the fire around the ritzy Pacific Palisades neighborhood with lightning speed.

Crowley said a preliminary estimate of destroyed structures was "in the thousands."

Around a thousand more buildings have been destroyed in Altadena, north of the city, where flames tore through suburban streets.

Officials pledged to crack down on looters hitting areas deserted due to the fires and evacuations.

A sunset-to-sunrise curfew has been declared in evacuated areas of the coastal city of Santa Monica.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said 20 arrests had been made so far, with that number expected to rise. "It's absolutely unacceptable," he said.

- Lost everything -

Among those who died was 66-year-old Victor Shaw, whose sister said he had ignored pleas to leave as the fire swept through Altadena because he wanted to protect their home.

"When I went back in and yelled out his name, he didn't reply back," Shari Shaw said.

"I had to get out because the embers were so big and flying like a firestorm that I had to save myself."

Shaw's body was found by a friend on the driveway of his razed home, a garden hose in his hand.

William Gonzales got out alive, but his Altadena home was gone.

"We have lost practically everything; the flames have consumed all our dreams," he told AFP.

President Joe Biden, who canceled a trip to Italy this week over the crisis, is due to give public remarks about the fires later Thursday.

His incoming successor Donald Trump meanwhile blamed California governor Gavin Newsom for the devastation and calling on the Democrat to resign. "This is all his fault," Trump said on his Truth social platform.

- Climate crisis -

Wildfires are part of life in the US West and play a vital role in nature.

But scientists say human-caused climate change is causing more severe weather patterns.

Southern California had two decades of drought that were followed by two exceptionally wet years, sparking furious vegetative growth.

That has left the region, which has had no significant rain for eight months, packed with fuel and primed to burn.

U.AlSharif--SF-PST