A week after wildfires started devastating the Los Angeles area, fire-fighting teams are finally making headways.
The Eaton Fire near Pasadena, which claimed seventeen of the 25 fatalities confirmed by local authorities so far, was nearly 50% contained as of Wednesday.
The Palisades fire, which has burned across a wide area on the western edge of Los Angeles, has also barely spread at all in recent days, according to local authorities.
According to initial estimates, more than 12,000 buildings have been destroyed or damaged in the area.
The weather forecast for the next few days – with decreasing winds and falling temperatures – was finally giving cause for hope that the most acute phase of the emergency may be over.
The majority of red fire warnings in place across affected areas were set to expire on Wednesday evening, the weather service in Los Angeles said.
Only around 82,000 people remained under evacuation orders, said County Sheriff Robert Luna.
However, US media reported that resentment was growing among residents, many of whom left their homes with little more than the clothes on their backs. The burnt-out areas remain cordoned off and no date has been set for residents to return to home.
Meanwhile, the Los Angeles district attorney and police again called for the harshest possible punishment for criminals trying to exploit the disaster.
At the beginning of the week, LA County District Attorney Nathan Hochman filed charges against 10 suspected looters, burglars and an arsonist. Two other suspected arsonists have been detained, authorities said on Wednesday. According to Hochman, they set small fires during the fire emergency east of Los Angeles.
LA Police Department Chief Jim McDonnell said two more suspected arsonists had been arrested.
One was a man who “admitted to starting the fire because he likes the smell of burning leaves,” McDonnell said in a news conference. The other was a woman “admitted to setting multiple fires that day and stated that she enjoyed causing chaos and destruction,” McDonnell said.
A Firefighter battles the fire in Mandeville Canyon neighborhood in Los Angeles, as the Palisades fires rage through the area. Jill Connelly/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
Fire crests the hills behind Pacific Palisades in Los Angeles, as the Palisades fires rage through the area. Daniel A. Anderson/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa