Los Angeles wildfire scorches 27,000 acres, forces evacuation of over 100,000
Los Angeles plunged into its worst natural disaster in decades as wildfires driven by hurricane-strength wind gusts tore through prosperous neighborhoods, killed at least five people and forced more than 100,000 residents to flee.
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At least five massive blazes burned across the region early Thursday, with the two largest — in the coastal enclave of Pacific Palisades and the other bearing down on Pasadena — still uncontained after expanding rapidly in the last 24 hours alone.
The Pentagon is ready to provide aircraft to help extinguish the flames from the sky, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Thursday during a meeting in Germany. «Many US military installations in the area have personnel and equipment that can also be surged to fight this awful blaze,» he added.
Officials are under immense strain to contain the fires, which have scorched some 27,000 acres, upending life in America's second-largest city. Homes and businesses have burned down, schools and roads closed, air quality plummeted, and thousands of displaced residents searched for hotel space or sought shelter from friends and family.
Firefighters have made some progress in battling the so-called Sunset Fire threatening the Hollywood Hills, LA officials said in a notice early Thursday. That blaze, which erupted Wednesday evening local time, prompted evacuation
