Eaton mortals and fires fed to the wind, which exploded 3½ weeks ago in southern California, were declared totally contained on Friday by the Department of Forest Protection and Fire in California.
The extensive fire of Palisades broke out on the morning of January 7 in Pacific Palisades, a neighborhood east of Malibu, as a brush fire and quickly exploited in the dry climatic conditions of southern California.
Later that night, the Eaton fire began in Los Angeles County in the foothills of the National Forest of Angeles. He delighted with seven months of rain free brush when hurricane force winds extended him to the neighborhoods of Altadena.
Containment denotes how much of a perimeter has been established around a fire to stop its growth.
At least 29 people died in both fires: 17 in the Fire of Eaton and 12 in the Palisades fire, according to the Los Angeles County forensic doctor.
The official cause of the fires is under investigation, according to Cal Fire.
The fire of Palisades covered 23,448 acres, destroyed 6,837 structures and damaged additional 1.017, according to Cal Fire.
The Fire Eaton fed with an enclave of foil from the San Gabriel Valley located against the vast and mountainous national forest of Los Angeles while the strong winds pushed the flames downhill and towards the urban population.
It destroyed 9,418 structures and damaged 1,073, many of them hundred houses in Altadena, a historically inclusive community known for its professionals and black artists. According to Los Angeles Conservancy, many of the architectural gems of the community, including Andrew McNally’s house and the Gray Zane Gray farm, were destroyed.
Approximately 4,000 acres of the fire of 14,021 Acres covered the urban and residential blocks, the head of the Fire Operations Section, Jed Gaines, of the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection of California, at a community meeting last week.
A combination of conditions similar to drought and powerful winds in the high seas in southern California caused a fire climate that, in the words of the National Meteorological Service, “as bad as it is put.” The region has had less than 10% of average rainfall since October 1.
The National Meteorological Service warned of the extreme fire climate, using a rare term, “particularly dangerous situation,” on January 6.
Governor Gavin Newsom transferred state firefighters to southern California as a caution, said his office the day before the fires.
The forest fires overwhelmed most of the attempts to stop them, although some others, such as the fire of the sunset in the Hollywood hills of Los Angeles, were contained, soaked and hungry for fuel.
On Monday, the head of Cal Fire, Joe Tyler, accredited the recent storm, which brought the first significant rain to parts of Southern California in almost eight months, for helping firefighters to work in Las mortals La Blazes.
“The rains throughout the south of California have greatly reduced the current fire potential,” he said in X.
Mirna Alsharif contributed.
