California wildfires: Nine dead in most destructive inferno in a century - Celebrities flee Malibu mansions - UPDATES

RT
Fri, 09 Nov 2018 18:14 UTC

© Reuters / Stephen Lam

A structure engulfed by fire in Paradise, California

Raging wildfires across California have forced 157,000 people from their homes, and have led to at least one death in the north of the state, officials say. A blaze is also approaching LA Zoo.

Fanned by high overnight winds, multiple fires have ripped through the state of California in recent days. In Northern California, a blaze visible by satellite consumed the town of Paradise on Thursday and had burned nearly 110 square miles by Friday morning.

The director of the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services told AP that the fire has claimed lives, but that the number of deaths is still unknown. The blaze sent residents fleeing, and currently threatens the city of Chico, home to 90,000 people.

Parts of the city have been evacuated, as firefighters struggle to contain the inferno at the city limits.

Hundreds of miles south, authorities in Los Angeles and Ventura counties have ordered the evacuation of 75,000 homes, as a wildfire bears down on the beach town of Malibu.

Conditions in Oak Park, just north of Malibu, have been described as "surreal" and "horrific." Video from the scene shows firefighters battling to extinguish burning buildings, as the sky glowed orange and filled with smoke.

Near Oak Park, the town of Thousand Oaks - still reeling from a mass shooting on Wednesday night - has also been threatened by the encroaching blaze.

In Los Angeles, a brush fire broke out near Griffith Park on Friday morning, behind the Los Angeles Zoo. Fire engines were not able to reach the fire, and firefighters were forced to hike in on foot and hose down vulnerable areas, while a firefighting helicopter hovered overhead.

Zoo staff have begun to evacuate some animals - starting with the lemurs - but the fire has not spread as fast as the Malibu blaze due to lighter winds.

Animals in the wild have been less lucky. One CBS reporter said she has seen rabbits cowering from the smoke, and running around in confusion.

"There are quite a few of them we've seen, trying to escape the flames and get out, get to safety, because their home, their habitat, is on fire," she said.

Comment: Update 10 November

The Telegraph reports:

Nine people have been burned to death as California's most destructive fire in at least a century engulfed the town of Paradise, while celebrities fled fast-moving fires in the south of the state.

Only a day after it began the so-called "Camp Fire" spread to over 140 square miles in size and levelled the town, which has a population of 30,000. More than 2,000 firefighters were battling the blaze, which destroyed more than 6,700 homes and businesses.

Captain Scott McLean, of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said: "Pretty much the community of Paradise is destroyed. It's that kind of devastation.

"There was really no firefight involved, these firefighters were in the rescue mode all day yesterday."

He said thousands of buildings had been lost in Paradise, about 180 miles northeast of San Francisco.

Jody Jones, the mayor of Paradise, said the hospital, a McDonald's restaurant, and many other businesses had been engulfed.

She said: "I think we lost a high school and at least one of the elementary schools."

Residents evacuated in panic with some crashing their cars.

Mark Bass, a police officer, said the evacuation was "just a wall of fire on each side of us, and we could hardly see the road".

© Peter Dasilva/EPA

A CalFire firefighter attempts to cool down the side of a home in Magalia, California, near Paradise as the wildfire continues to burn out of control.

Officials said all the victims were found in Paradise, including four who died inside their vehicles. Another 35 people had been reported missing and three firefighters had been injured.

With fires burning in both Northern and Southern California 157,000 people have been evacuated, including much of the city of Malibu.

Among the evacuees was Kim Kardashian West, the reality television star, who was forced to flee her Southern California home in Calabasas, near Los Angeles.

Kardashian West posted on social media a video from an aircraft window showing fires raging below.

She shared another video along with the caption: "Pray for Calabasas. Just landed back home and had 1 hour to pack up & evacuate our home. I pray everyone is safe."

She also posted a clip from the ground showing fire fighters driving past.

Smoke from the fire could be seen from the site of a mass shooting in nearby Thousand Oaks that left 12 people dead on Wednesday night.

Caitlyn Jenner's home in Malibu burned down, TMZ reported, although her publicist said that had not been confirmed. The reality TV star had already evacuated.

Actor Charlie Sheen said he had been unable to contact his Hollywood star father Martin Sheen and mother Janet.

He wrote on Twitter:

"I cannot get ahold of my parents, Martin and Janet Sheen. They are in the group, at the staging ground near Zuma Beach.

"If anyone has eyes on them, please let me know that they are safe and sound in the middle of this horrific scenario."

Cher, who said she had lived in Malibu since 1972, tweeted that the wildfire was coming close to her home, although she said she was not on the property.

"Friends' houses have burned. I can't bear the thought of there being no Malibu," the singer posted.

Lady Gaga posted a video on her Instagram account saying she had evacuated her Malibu home on Friday, and showing images of dark billowing smoke overhead.

Other celebrities evacuated included Oscar-winning film director Guillermo del Toro, who tweeted that he had abandoned his vast "Bleak House" museum collection of fantasy and horror memorabilia.

"Bleak House and the collection may be endangered but the gift of life remains," tweeted del Toro, director of Oscar best picture winner The Shape of Water.

Orlando Bloom tweeted a photo from his street showing the wildfire.

The Paramount Ranch, a Hollywood filming location for decades that was recently used by the HBO series Westworld, was also destroyed.

The ranch served as a location for productions ranging from 1938's The Adventures of Marco Polo to TV shows The Mentalist and Weeds. The set in the mountains west of Los Angeles dates to 1927 when Paramount Pictures leased the ranch and began making films there.

Actress Alyssa Milano said her home was "in jeopardy" amid her attempts to safely evacuate her five horses. The actress ultimately got the help she needed and tweeted that her horses were safe. "My children are safe. ... Everything with a heartbeat is safe."

The singer Melissa Etheridge also evacuated.

The entire 12,000 population of Malibu, which stretches 27 miles along the Pacific Ocean, was placed under mandatory evacuation on Friday.

More footage of the devastation: