LA battles deadly fire as anger rages

LOS ANGELES — As Los Angeles County grapples with one of the most destructive wildfire crises in its history, anger has raged over officials' preparedness and response.

Six simultaneous blazes that have ripped across Los Angeles County neighborhoods since last Tuesday have killed at least 16 people as of late Saturday, The Washington Post and other media reported, citing the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner's office.

Eleven of the dead were related to the Eaton Fire and five were found in the Palisades Fire zone.

The blazes have damaged or destroyed 12,000 structures, fire officials said. At least 13 people were estimated to be missing.

The death toll is expected to mount when firefighters are able to conduct house-to-house searches.

The Palisades fire was 11 percent contained on Saturday but had grown to 9,500 hectares, while the Eaton Fire was at 5,660 hectares and 15 percent contained.

The National Weather Service warned of worsening winds that it predicted would pick up late on Monday through Tuesday morning, bringing sustained winds up to 30 mph and wind gusts up to 70 mph.

"We're in a continued period of critical fire weather through Wednesday," said NWS meteorologist Rose Schoenfeld. Conditions were expected to moderate by Thursday.

The fires could be the costliest ever recorded, with AccuWeather estimating a total damage and loss between $135 billion and $150 billion.

As wildfires raged, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced on Friday that he was ordering an independent review to investigate why firefighters ran out of water early in their efforts to contain the fire.

Describing the situation as "deeply troubling", Newsom emphasized the need for answers to the situation. "We need answers to how that happened," he wrote in an open letter.

Roughly 20 percent of hydrants across the city went dry as crews battled blazes, LA Mayor Karen Bass said.

US President-elect Donald Trump accused California officials on Sunday of incompetence over their handling of the deadly wildfires.

"The fires are still raging in LA. The incompetent pols (politicians) have no idea how to put them out," Trump said on the Truth Social platform.

Democratic President Joe Biden defended the Los Angeles mayor over criticism about water supplies.

"I know you're getting a bad rap regarding fire hydrants that aren't working," he said to Mayor Bass during a briefing on Friday.

"This is complicated stuff, and you're going to have a lot of demagogues out there trying to take advantage of it," Biden said of the fires.

Authorities have largely blamed the intense winds of 160 kilometers per hour that raged over, and recent months of drought, for the disaster.

But this explanation alone falls short for many Californians, thousands of whom have lost everything.

Bass has come in for heavy criticism as she was visiting Ghana when the fire started, despite dire weather warnings in the preceding days.

Budget cuts to the fire department, and a series of evacuation warnings erroneously sent to millions of people last week, have only stoked the anger further among citizens.

Emergency managers apologized on Friday after false evacuation alerts were erroneously sent to millions of mobile phones, sparking panic.

Residents like Nicole Perri, whose home in the upscale Pacific Palisades burned down, told AFP that officials "completely let us down".

"I don't think the officials were prepared at all," said James Brown, a retired lawyer in Altadena.

Los Angeles fire chief Kristin Crowley blamed funding cuts to her department, telling Fox News affiliate KTTV: "What I can tell you is we are still understaffed, we're still under-resourced, and we're still underfunded."

AGENCIES-XINHUA