US authorities in California expected Sunday the return of Santa Ana's strong winds, which have fueled wildfires in some parts of the south of the state, destroying hundreds of facilities and forcing some 200,000 people to flee their homes.
Hundreds of houses and buildings turned into piles of ash and debris. The hundreds of thousands of hectares of green smoke were rising. Cars were consumed by fires over 1500 degrees Celsius, leaving structures barely recognizable to their former body. The flames rise high in the sky. These are some of the scenes recorded in California, which appear part of the devastation that the state has been experiencing for about a week because of the fires again.
The accounts of survivors of the fires in southern California are similar. "It was late at night and my parents were asleep, when I began to see the darkness of the night, slowly dissipating with a red flame on the distant horizon," I said. "I looked from my window once every 15 minutes to make sure the flame or light was coming closer. "He said. "We did not have much time and barely managed to carry out some of our needs," he said, adding, "My father did not wake up to my belief that the fire was far away and would not bother us until our neighbor, Before we go to a hospital located on a nearby hill and we see our area and our house burning. " With these words, this survivor was shortened from the fires of Los Angeles leaving the house and his family and his family from the fires that consumed the green and the land. He is one of hundreds of thousands who have been evacuated from their homes in several areas.
Images from Los Angeles and other coastal areas in southern California look, according to fire survivors, as if they were cut from a horror film that barely ends until it begins again. This is the eleventh wave of fires that hit various parts of California since the beginning of 2017, which is nearing an end. The latest wave, which has been going on since Monday, is rapidly being driven by wind and wind, as well as by drought. The heavy black smoke caused dozens of people to be suffocated and taken to hospitals. At the time of writing, one person, a 70-year-old woman who had been killed in her car, had died and was suffocated. The injuries from these fires are relatively low, compared to more than 40 deaths during the fires that erupted two months ago in the north of the state.
The fire in southern California was preceded by a wave of control two months ago in the north of the state, particularly in the Sonoma and Naba regions, known for its greenery and tourist attractions, as well as vineyards and farms that produce luxury wines and are owned by small families. The losses from the fires were estimated at more than $ 300 billion. As for the losses from the current fires, it is still too early to talk about their size. The current wave of fires in the south has taken on a large number of luxury homes, especially in Los Angeles and the surrounding area, where Hollywood celebrities and other rich people live.
On Friday, US President Donald Trump announced a state of emergency in southern California in response to a request from state governor Jerry Brown. The declaration allows the state to receive federal aid, and also allows federal government offices to coordinate relief and assistance operations. "We are facing a new reality in the state, as more fires are threatening the lives of people, their property and their neighborhoods, and causing billions of dollars to lose," Brown said at a press conference in New York after inspecting some of the areas affected by the fire. To combat and respond to such fires, as well as to provide material and logistical resources to combat them. " Brown warned of new fires at later times, which firefighters would also have to fight during Christmas and New Year.
The fire, which hit more than 175,000 hectares, led to power cuts, disruption of water networks in several areas hit by fire and others surrounding it, as well as damage to telephone networks and the Internet. According to official sources, the electricity was cut off about seven thousand homes and a building.
As of this writing, fires are still burning in six major areas of southern California, which are difficult to control for several reasons, including winds that have reached speeds of more than 90 kilometers per hour, The flames are super fast and in different directions with constant change in wind direction. A firefighter likened the situation to a press conference with hurricanes hitting the coasts, which are hard to do to stop them, he said, stressing that stopping the fire, which is spreading quickly and with the help of wind, is very difficult.
The firefighters had achieved some success in fighting fires that had been raging for about a week in those areas, and were able to contain a number of them. California authorities say 9,000 firefighters (including women) have been working for almost a week and in successive shifts to extinguish the fires, as well as the efforts of dozens of helicopters.
It should be noted that more than eight thousand fires hit California since the beginning of 2017 and took over eight million acres, while the state of emergency declared more than 11 times in this policy