New fire in Los Angeles forces more evacuations as officials say more than 10,000 buildings have burned

LOS ANGELES — Two of the biggest wildfires ravaging the Los Angeles area have burned not less than 10,000 homes, buildings and other structures, officials said Thursday, urging more people to follow evacuation orders after a brand new blaze broke out and quickly intensified.

The rapidly spreading Kenneth Fire broke out late in the afternoon in the San Fernando Valley, just 2 miles from a college serving as a shelter for evacuated firefighters, and moved into neighboring Ventura County in the evening.

Just hours earlier, officials expressed encouragement after firefighters, aided by calmer winds and help from out-of-state crews, saw the primary signs of successfully battling the blaze in the region devastating fires which have killed seven people to this point.

“We expect the fire to spread quickly due to strong winds,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said, repeating a forecast that called for stronger winds Thursday evening into Friday morning.

The orders were issued after Los Angeles County authorities announced that the Eaton fire near Pasadena on Tuesday evening had consumed more than 5,000 structures, which incorporates homes, apartment buildings, businesses, outbuildings and vehicles. To the west, in Pacific Palisades, the biggest fire in the Los Angeles area destroyed more than 5,300 buildings.

All of the big fires that have broken out in the Los Angeles area this week are situated in a strip about 25 miles (40 km) north of downtown, spreading feeling of fear and sadness in the second largest city in the country.

Dozens of blocks were razed to smoldering rubble in the picturesque Pacific Palisades. Only the outlines of homes and their chimneys remained. In Malibu, only blackened strands of palm trees remain above the rubble where oceanfront homes once stood.

At least five churches, a synagogue, seven schools, two libraries, boutiques, bars, restaurants, banks and grocery stores were destroyed. Similar was the case with Will Rogers Western Ranch House and Topanga Ranch Motel, local monuments dating back to the Twenties. The government has not yet published data on the price of injury or details on the variety of buildings burned.

AccuWeather, a personal company that gives data on weather and its impacts, on Thursday raised its estimate of injury and economic losses to $135 billion to $150 billion.

Firefighters made significant progress Thursday in slowing the spread of major blazes, but stopping them remained far out of reach.

The services also extinguished the fire in the Hollywood Hills with the assistance of water drops from the plane, which enabled the evacuation to be accomplished on Thursday. A fire that broke out late Wednesday near the middle of the entertainment industry got here perilously near igniting the famous outdoor concert hall on the Hollywood Bowl.

The fire department doesn’t yet know the explanation for the fires but is actively investigating.

At the start of the week, hurricane-force winds were blowing blew out the embersigniting the hills of southern California.

The extent of the damage can’t be quantified right now beyond “total devastation and loss,” said Barbara Bruderlin, head of the Malibu Pacific Palisades Chamber of Commerce.

“There are areas where everything is gone, not even a piece of wood remains, there is only dirt,” Bruderlin said.

Of the seven deaths to this point, Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley confirmed that two were involved in the Palisades fire. County officials said five people died in the Eaton fire.

Dogs and cadaver crews are sifting through the debris, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said.

Anthony Mitchell, a 67-year-old amputee, and his son Justin, who suffered from cerebral palsy, waited for an ambulance to reach but never arrived, Mitchell’s daughter, Hajime White, told The Washington Post.

Shari Shaw said KTLA that she tried to get her 66-year-old brother Victor Shaw to evacuate Tuesday night, but he desired to stay and fight the fire. The services found his body with a garden hose in his hand.

On Thursday, rescue crews recovered a body from the rubble of a Malibu beachfront mansion off the scenic Pacific Coast Highway. Among the few items left were a charred washer and dryer.

At least 180,000 people were ordered to evacuate, and the fires burned about 117 square kilometers – concerning the same area as San Francisco. The Palisades fire is already essentially the most destructive in Los Angeles history.

All schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District, the nation’s second largest, will likely be closed Friday as a result of heavy smoke rising over the town and a partial ash fall, and classes won’t resume until conditions improve, officials said.

At least 20 were arrested in reference to the looting and a curfew was imposed in the town of Santa Monica as a result of the lawlessness, officials said. National Guard troops arrived in Los Angeles on Thursday evening. The county sheriff said they will likely be stationed near fire-damaged areas to guard properties, and the curfew will likely be from 6 p.m. to six a.m.

The flames destroyed houses, including: several starsincluding Billy Crystal, Mandy Moore and Paris Hilton.

Jamie Lee Curtis pledged $1 million to create a “support fund” for those affected by the fires, which have hit all economic levels, from the town’s wealthy to the working class.

Fire season in California According to the newest data, it starts earlier and ends later as a result of rising temperatures and fewer rainfall related to climate change.

Dry winds, including the famous Santa Anascontributed to higher-than-average temperatures in Southern California, which has not received more than 2.5 millimeters of rain since early May.

Robert Lara tearfully searched through the stays of his Altadena home on Thursday, hoping to search out a secure containing a set of earrings that after belonged to his great-great-grandmother.

“All our memories, all our sentimental attachments, things that were passed down from generation to generation to generation are now gone,” he said.

Seewer reported from Toledo, Ohio, and Watson reported from San Diego. Associated Press journalists Manuel Valdes, Eugene Garcia and Krysta Fauria, Jaimie Ding in Los Angeles; Ethan Swope in Pasadena, California; Hallie Golden in Seattle; Mark Thiessen in Anchorage, Alaska; Heather Hollingsworth in Mission, Kansas; Jeff Martin in Atlanta; Jan Har in San Francisco; Brian Melley in London; Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire; Sarah Brumfield in Cockeysville, Maryland; and Tammy Webber of Detroit contributed.