Los Angeles - Saba:
The scope of the many fires erupting in the American city of Los Angeles for five days, which resulted in the death of at least 16, has expanded to include areas that were safe from the fires.
The Los Angeles County coroner released a list of the dead without giving details of their identities. The document said five of the dead were found in the Palisades fire area and 11 in the Eaton fire area.
The fires have razed entire parts of the second-largest US city, destroying more than 12,000 buildings and 15,000 acres of land.
US President Joe Biden said during a meeting at the White House that the scene "looks like a war zone and bombings."
Despite the large numbers of firefighters battling the blazes, evacuation orders have been issued for the eastern part of the Pacific Palisades, and winds that had slowed down on Saturday are expected to pick up again on Sunday, according to the Federal Disaster Response Agency, dimming hopes of containing the disaster.
"There is a continuing shortage of crews, resources and money," fire chief Kristen Crowley told Fox News affiliate KTTV.
With looting rampant in the affected areas, or those evacuated, authorities have imposed a strict curfew from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. in the Pacific Palisades and Altadena areas, the most affected.
Given the extent of the damage, California Governor Gavin Newsom has requested a "comprehensive independent review" of the city's water distribution systems, describing the lack of water supplies and the loss of pressure in fire hydrants in the first moments as "very concerning", which caused the spread of the fires.
The main fire, out of four still active, has consumed more than 8,000 hectares on the Malibu coast and the upscale Pacific Palisades neighborhood, where firefighters said they had controlled 11 percent of the flames on Saturday.
US authorities have called on Californians to conserve water because three reservoirs supplying firefighting stations have been emptied.
The global weather center of the American company AccuWeather estimated the damage and losses at between $135 and $150 billion.
The winds currently blowing are known as "Santa Ana" and are common in the fall and winter seasons in California. However, this week they have reached an unprecedented intensity since 2011, according to meteorologists.
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