Cal Fire Battalion Chief Brent Pascua said, “With the winds being so calm this morning, I believe we can really make some progress, turn a corner, and start to create some control on these fires ” told the today show On Thursday.
The disaster response has so far been marred by disinformation and controversy. After some fire hydrants ran dry, President-elect Donald Trump baselessly accused California Governor Gavin Newsom of mismanaging the state's water supply to save an endangered fish.
City crews are now able to access three water tanks on the hills near the Palisades Fire to boost pressure. Stewart says this allows the tanks to be filled more quickly so they can continue supplying the hydrant. Each tank could have a capacity of 1 million gallons. “We have full-flow hydrants,” she says.
More firefighters have begun arriving from Utah, Oregon, Arizona, Washington and New Mexico. According to Stewart, several dozen task forces are on their way, each with five fire engines and a command vehicle.
Planes started flying again on Wednesday. Twelve helicopters are filling huge water buckets suspended from cables and drawing seawater through snorkels. Six aircraft are also responding to the fire, including a pair of “super scoop” planes that are flying over the surface of the Pacific to collect water. Helicopters and scoop planes drop water onto blazes, helping firefighters extinguish them.
Meanwhile, other airplanes are dropping fire retardant before the fire, coating the potential fuel with a layer of nonflammable chemicals and slowing its progress. A C-130 cargo plane, which Cal Fire acquired from the Coast Guard and retrofitted this summer, can dump 4,000 gallons of retardant. This gives firefighters time to dig up bare soil and extinguish the fire.
Since the ocean is blocking the Palisades Fire to the south, responders will attempt to prevent it from flaring to the east or west. “The real proliferation is going to happen on the flanks,” says Pimlott.
With only 8-12 percent humidity, red flag warnings for increased fire danger will remain in place through Friday. California is experiencing an unusually dry winter, with 40 percent of the state in drought conditions.
“The fuel remains critically dry,” said James Magana of Cal Fire. Said At the Thursday morning briefing. “You can expect to see significant rates of spread, particularly on those ridgetops or those drainages that are aligned with the wind.”
There is a possibility of reversal of wind direction on Saturday. If firefighters are not prepared, flames can erupt and run north.
Even once they are able to stop the fire within a circle of flames and natural barriers, the task will not be finished. Firefighters must control small fires within that footprint.
“This is an important step,” says Upton, “to clear up these hot spots or anything that could flare up again if the winds get stronger again.”
Moving forward, the city will need to clean up debris, restore utilities and analyze damage caused to the environment before allowing people to return. The valleys have lost soil-holding trees and vegetation, making landslides a threat when rains return.
Los Angeles will face the prospect of rebuilding destroyed communities. It's an opportunity to make them less vulnerable to the next fire, says Max Moritz, a wildfire expert at the University of California Cooperative Extension.
Although in many cases homes are required to be built of fire-resistant materials, California law says nothing about how they must be built. He says that instead of spreading the houses among the trees, it may be easier to protect them from fire and evacuate by grouping them.
“That's part of the hope here, that we can make something better, smarter and safer out of this,” says Moritz.
UPDATE 1-10-2024 1:10 GMT: The number of structures destroyed has been updated.