Los Angeles Under Threat as Three Wildfires Burn

This morning, we woke up to a dark cloud over all of Los Angeles. But it is darkest for those who are most intimately impacted by these fires. It has been an immensely painful 24 hours,

said Lindsey Horvath, LA County Supervisor

Normally everything would be wet by now, which means there would be much less of a chance of an ignition leading to a big fire that gets out of control like what we’re seeing now,

Moritz said

We haven’t had any substantial rain for hundreds of days,

said Max Moritz, a wildfire specialist at the University of California, Santa Barbara

Climate change is leading to more erratic and extreme precipitation patterns,

he said

That’s the climate signal in all of this — that we’ve opened this window where we can get these big, devastating extreme events now,

he said

No one was in her home at the time,

Apreza says

The fire has substantially damaged five campuses,

said Elizabeth Blanco of the Pasadena Unified School District, reported BBC

So gutted for the destruction and loss, ... Don't know if our place made it.”

Moore posted in her Instagram story, adding

Honestly, I’m in shock and feeling numb for all so many have lost, including my family. My children’s school is gone. Our favorite restaurants, leveled. So many friends and loved ones have lost everything too,

she said in a post

There’s a lot of stuff burning, and you don’t see fire engines or teams anywhere,

he said

We pushed the system to the extreme. We're fighting a wildfire with urban water systems, and that is really challenging."

At a press conference earlier in the day, Chief Executive of Los Angeles Water and Power Department, Janisse Quinones said

Mother Nature has been the star of the show and has made it really challenging for us to fight this fire,

Kelliher told "The Story" on Wednesday, explaining how Tuesday night's winds were more "amplified" than usual

The Eaton Canyon Fire is up to 10,000 acres, a little over 10,000 acres. So it has the potential to continue to grow if those winds don't lay down. We're not out of the woods with any of these. So, we're really doing what we can,

she continued

We're just waiting on, again, Mother Nature to cooperate. And they say, you know, the forecast says about 6:00 tonight, it's going to start to maybe subside. So, let's hope that's the case,

Kelliher said

There's a lot of places that are really working with the community to help people find shelter,

she said

Everybody's using the water. They're just not designed for that. They're designed for residential use, not wildland firefighting,

she said

Extreme fire behavior, including short and long-range spotting, continues to challenge firefighting efforts for the Palisades Fire,

noted Cal Fire in an update

Currently, customers experiencing a power outage should expect that it could take up to 48 hours before our crews are able to respond. High winds and fire conditions continue to present hazards for our crews and can affect response times and restoration efforts."

The Los Angeles Department of Water of Power, in an incident update at 1 p.m. PST

There’s a lack of awareness about how much most people living in the West are living in areas that are prone to wildfire,

she says

There are not enough firefighters in LA County to address four separate fires of this magnitude,

McDonnell said