Sawt Falasteen - Los Angeles fires rage on as residents sift through 'death and destruction'

Swaths of the United States' second-largest city lay eerily deserted due to the fires' destruction and sweeping evacuation orders, with smoke blanketing the sky and its acrid smell pervading almost every building.

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

Amid the chaos, looting broke 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 in which at least five people died was also at "zero-percent containment," although spreading had "significantly stopped" as wind gusts reduced, county fire chief Anthony Marrone said.

Kalen Astoor, a 36-year-old paralegal, was among those returning to the scorched remains of residential streets Thursday morning.

Her mother's home had been spared by the inferno's seemingly random and chaotic destruction. Some neighbors' houses, often side-by-side with those razed to the ground, had similarly survived.

Through the blackened remains of devastated homes, gloomy vistas of the surrounding fire-ravaged mountains could be glimpsed through the smoke.

"The view now is of death and destruction," she told AFP. "I don't know if anyone can come back for a while."

The same fire flared up again near the summit of Mount Wilson, home to a historic observatory and vital communication towers and equipment.

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

- 'Critical' -

Fast-moving flames fanned by powerful winds of up to 100 miles (160 kilometers) an hour since Tuesday have leveled more than 2,000 structures across the city, many of them multi-million dollar homes.

Aerial views on Thursday showed whole neighborhoods burnt to the ground, in scenes watched in horror by millions in Los Angeles and around the world.

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

Nearly 180,000 people across Los Angeles remain under evacuation orders.

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.

In Altadena, neighbors took turns to patrol and protect homes on their streets.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said 20 arrests had been made so far, with that number expected to rise.

Officials and meteorologists warn that "critical" windy and dry conditions, though abated, are 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.

- '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," 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 blamed California governor Gavin Newsom for the devastation and called 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 western United States 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.

E.Qaddoumi--SF-PST