The China Mail - Wind lull offers hope in Los Angeles fires

At least ten people have died as infernos ripped through neighborhoods, razing thousands of homes in one of the worst disasters ever to hit California, with one estimate suggesting the bill could hit $150 billion.

As the unimaginable scale of the damage started to come into focus, individuals began to grapple with heart-rending ruin.

"I lost everything. My house burned down and I lost everything," said Hester Callul, who reached a shelter after fleeing her Altadena home.

California Governor Gavin Newsom on Thursday deployed the National Guard to bolster law enforcement efforts.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger said looters would face the full force of the law.

"I promise you, you will be held accountable," she said. "Shame on those who are preying on our residents during this time of crisis."

County Sheriff Robert Luna said Thursday his office was working on a nighttime curfew in areas ravaged by the fires.

The five separate fires have so far burned more than 35,000 acres (14,160 hectares) in Los Angeles, the state's fire agency reported.

- 'Death and destruction' -

The biggest of the blazes has ripped through almost 20,000 acres of the upscale Pacific Palisades neighborhood, where firefighters said they were starting to get a handle on the fire.

By Friday morning six percent of its perimeter was contained -- meaning it can't spread any further in that direction.

But the Eaton fire in the Altadena area remained entirely unchecked, with almost 14,000 acres scorched and key infrastructure -- including communication towers at Mount Wilson -- threatened.

A third fire that exploded Thursday afternoon near Calabasas and the wealthy Hidden Hills enclave, home to celebrities like Kim Kardashian, added to the feeling of encirclement.

"You just feel surrounded," one woman told a local broadcaster.

But after a huge response to the blaze, including retardant drops from planes and helicopters dumping vast quantities of water, the fire was 35 percent surrounded, firefighters said on Friday.

Some of those forced out of their homes began to return to find scenes of devastation.

Kalen Astoor, a 36-year-old paralegal, said her mother's home had been spared by the inferno's seemingly random and chaotic destruction. But many other homes had not.

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

- 'Critical' -

An AFP overflight of the Pacific Palisades and Malibu revealed desolation.

"This is crazy... All these homes, gone," said helicopter pilot Albert Azouz.

On highly coveted Malibu oceanfront plots, skeletal frames of buildings indicated the scale of what has been destroyed.

Multimillion-dollar mansions have vanished entirely, seemingly swept into the Pacific Ocean by the force of the fire.

Socialite and hotel heiress Paris Hilton was among those whose home were lost.

"Heartbroken beyond words," she wrote on Instagram.

"Sitting with my family, watching the news, and seeing our home in Malibu burn to the ground on live TV is something no one should ever have to experience.

"This home was where we built so many precious memories."

The fires could be the costliest ever recorded, with AccuWeather estimating total damage and loss between $135 billion and $150 billion.

Beyond the immediate carnage, life for millions of people in the area was disrupted: schools were closed, hundreds of thousands were without power and major events were canceled or, in the case of an NFL playoff game between the Los Angeles Rams and the Minnesota Vikings, moved somewhere else.

Meteorologists have warned that "critical" windy and dry conditions, though abated, were not over.

A National Weather Service bulletin said "significant fire growth" remained likely "with ongoing or new fires" into Friday.

Wildfires occur naturally, but scientists say human-caused climate change is altering weather and changing the dynamics of the blazes.

Two wet years in Southern California have given way to a very dry one, leaving ample fuel dry and primed to burn.

T.Luo--ThChM