President of the United States of America, Donald Trump has today, Sunday, issued a state of emergency in California, following strange conflagration that has so far destroyed no fewer than 700 structures, including multi-million dollar mansions.
The deadly blazes in California, which have forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee the Los Angeles area, have been raging on six different fronts and has claimed one life as at the press time.
President Trump has already authorizing the release of federal funds to “help alleviate the hardship and suffering that the emergency may inflict on the local population.”
An eye witness and victim, Judy Herman, 76, told AFP: “I’ve never seen anything like this and I’ve lived here 20 years.”
Herman was relieved to find her home in Murrieta, east of Los Angeles, still intact. It was part of the huge evacuation zone forced by the “Liberty” fire – which included many ranches in the area, where rodeos are popular.
With gusts of up to 60 miles per hour, the turbulent seasonal Santa Ana winds whipped the fire on Friday, spitting embers and creating “extreme fire danger.” A red alert was extended into the weekend due to expected low humidity.
Further south in San Diego county the “Lilac” fire was ballooning at a dangerous rate, charring more than 4,000 acres after igniting Thursday morning and triggering a new wave of evacuations as it encroached on the university town of Santa Barbara.
Flames also claimed the lives of more than two dozen racehorses after tearing through eight barns at the normally serene San Luis Rey training center, in the town of Bonsall, where some 500 horses were stabled, the California Horse Racing Board said in a statement.
“75 per cent of the stables were consumed, the fire was spreading so fast… they couldn’t evacuate all the horses,” fire chief Ross Fowler said.
“It’s hard when horses are scared, they don’t comply, they are heavy, they can hurt you,” he added.
Meanwhile, firefighters also got something of a handle on the “Skirball” fire in Los Angeles, which had spewed rivers of flames over 500 acres in the densely populated area of Bel Air, engulfing entire hillsides. [myad]
