U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday approved a federal emergency declaration for California that will release money and resources to battle the wildfires.
"We are prepared to do everything and anything, as long as it takes, to contain these fires and help reconstruct and make sure we get back to normal. It's gonna be a hell of a long way," Biden said. "It's gonna take time."
The U.S. Defense Department said Wednesday that "it will work to provide additional firefighting personnel and capabilities" to California for its battle against the out-of-control fires.
The total amount of damage from the wildfires could run between $52 billion and $57 billion or more in losses, according to an analysis by AccuWeather's Global Weather Center.
The Los Angeles County Fire Department faced four life-threatening wildfires that have killed at least five people, burned more than 1,100 buildings, and forced tens of thousands of people to evacuate.
"The L.A. County Fire Department was prepared for one or two major brush fires, but not four, especially given these sustained winds and low humidities," Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said Wednesday. The fires erupted in Pacific Palisades, Altadena, Pasadena and Sylmar.
Thousands of hectares have burned, and the fire is continuing to spread.
"We have no percentage of containment," Marrone said.
Officials have warned residents to pay attention to evacuation orders and leave when directed.
Two thousand National Guard members have been deployed to help local firefighters.
Fire hydrants run dry
In the Pacific Palisades, the fire jumped from one house to the next, pushed by hurricane-force winds. In the same area, firefighters said hydrants had run dry.
"We had a tremendous demand on our system in the Palisades," Janisse Quiñones said Wednesday. Quiñones is the chief executive and chief engineer of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. "We pushed the system to the extreme."
The call for water was "four times the normal demand ... for 15 hours straight," she added.
Later Wednesday, support aircraft that had been grounded by the strong winds were airborne again, dropping water and fire retardant on the fire.
The fire in the Pacific Palisades is the most destructive in the history of Los Angeles. With 1,000 structures burned to the ground, the Palisades fire surpasses the devastation of the 2008 Sayre Fire, which demolished 604 structures in a northern suburb of Los Angeles.
At least 70,000 evacuation orders are in effect for the fires. Most of them were issued for Pacific Palisades.
Three evacuation centers for people and 12 for animals have opened for those fleeing the fires, according to The Associated Press.
The Pasadena Convention Center had several hundred evacuees by Wednesday afternoon, including many elderly people from assisted living facilities. Donald Fisher, 78, said he was wheeled into the center Wednesday morning.
"I can stand up, but I can't walk," Fisher told the AP. "I think that the city of Pasadena did a marvelous job."
EJ Soto and her family were not so lucky. They fled their Altadena home early Wednesday and also sought shelter at the Pasadena Convention Center, but by the time they arrived, all the cots had been taken.
"I had one hour of sleep, so it's been a really bad, really bad day," Soto told the AP.
Meanwhile, poweroutage.us reported that there were more than 1.5 million customers without power across Southern California on Wednesday afternoon, as firefighters continued to try to bring the fires under control.
As a safety precaution, power companies will sometimes shut off the power when communities are battling extreme environmental conditions to prevent the equipment from sparking a fire.
Washington is supporting California's firefighting efforts with four U.S. Forest Service large air tankers and an additional tanker in on route. The federal government has also helped the firefighting efforts with 10 helicopters. Meanwhile, dozens of the Forest Service fire engines are ready to be deployed.
Some information in this report came from The Associated Press.
