According to authorities, the number of people killed in the wildfires in the Los Angeles area in the US state of California has risen to at least eleven. The victims all died Wednesday and Thursday. It is feared that the number of victims will continue to rise.
Six people died in the Eaton Fire near Pasadena and another five in the Palisades Fire in the Pacific Palisades district, according to the medical examiner’s office. There have been serious fires in the region since Tuesday. The authorities also fear that the number of victims will increase.
CNN reported that the exact number cannot be determined until investigators can safely enter the devastated neighborhoods. More than 15,000 hectares of land have now been consumed by flames. By comparison, the French capital Paris has only 10,500 hectares.
Slow successes for the fire brigade
Of the six different fires currently underway, only two — the Hurst Fire and the Lidia Fire — are largely contained, Cal Fire said. By far the most intense fires, the “Palisades Fire” in the Pacific Palisades district and the “Eaton Fire” near Pasadena, have so far only been contained to eight and three percent respectively.
Meanwhile, the head of the Los Angeles Fire Department, Kristin Crowley, made serious accusations against the city government. The $17 million (16.5 million euros) cut to the fire brigade’s budget is now negatively impacting her agency’s ability to fight the fires, Kristin Crowley complained on American television channel CNN. “We can no longer maintain the current situation. We don’t have enough firefighters,” she said.
Crowley complained that she had repeatedly pointed out in budget requests that her agency was understaffed and underfunded. An additional 62 fire stations would be needed.
The number of missions has increased by 55 percent since 2010, but the number of firefighters has decreased, she explains. “Additional resources will help us with the current disaster,” Crowley said. “But in the future, this could happen anywhere in the city of Los Angeles, and we need to be fully funded and supported,” she emphasizes.
Source: Krone
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