LA Palisades wildfire: The Palisades fire off the coast of Los Angeles has now spread to 15,800 acres between Malibu and Santa Monica. At least five people have been killed while more than 150,000 people are under evacuation orders. According to Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone, the Palisades fire is the largest to date in the county, having destroyed at least 1,000 structures so far.
Billionaire Elon Musk took to X (formerly Twitter) to share video footage of the devastation caused by the wildfires, which have yet to be contained. One of the clips shared by Mr Musk showed beachside homes in Malibu completely destroyed by the fire, as city officials urged everyone to evacuate, even those Even those who were not given evacuation orders.
– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) 8 January 2025
Another video shared by the Tesla boss shows cars, houses and trees completely burnt after a fire broke out in one of the suburbs of LA.
A friend in LA just took this video pic.twitter.com/WJBWCHmCUs
– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) 8 January 2025
As firefighters attempted to bring the blaze under control, President Joe Biden on Wednesday officially approved a major disaster declaration in the state — unlocking federal resources for affected survivors, according to a White House statement. .
“Today, President Biden approved a major disaster declaration for California, giving survivors immediate access to funding and resources,” the White House said in a fact sheet outlining the federal response to the wildfires. Permission will be granted.”
“Additionally, FEMA last night approved a Fire Management Assistance grant to reimburse California for firefighting costs.”
Read this also Los Angeles wildfire in the Palisades: How fierce winds caused devastation
Trump blamed Newsom for the fire
Meanwhile, President-elect Donald Trump has blamed California Governor Gavin Newsom for the fires and blamed him for refusing a plan to send more water to the state’s agricultural Central Valley.
“He wanted to save a useless fish called smelt by watering it down (it didn’t work!), but he didn’t care about the people of California,” Mr Trump wrote in his Truth Social post. “Now the ultimate price is being paid.”
The Republican leader’s comments came against the backdrop of reports that several fire hydrants in Los Angeles County were running out of water during firefighting efforts. According to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works, the problem stems from excessive demand on the city’s water system, which is not designed to handle such heavy use for firefighting.
