Transcribe your podcast
[00:00:00]

Hello there. I'm Tyeig Enright. We're starting in the United States, where at least 10 people have been killed in the devastating wildfires in Los Angeles. That death toll, having been revised upwards just over an hour ago. Around 180,000 people have been ordered to leave their homes. Many neighborhoods have been left unrecognizable. Residents have described the firestorm as apocalyptic. Officials say that thousands of homes and other structures have been damaged or destroyed. Accuweather estimates the damage is expected to be worth at least $135 billion. It could go as high as $150 billion. The National Guard has been deployed amid reports of looting. The biggest fires have been burning into a third night. Fierce winds have eased, giving firefighters some respite. Police say they believe one of the blazes in the west of the city was started deliberately. They're treating it as a crime scene A suspect is in custody and will be questioned. Our North America Correspondent, David Willis. Forgive me. We're going to go across live now or hear the latest from our correspondence, Helena Humphrey.

[00:01:18]

I watched this house burn down live on the news. Yeah, this was a beautiful home. Had a lot of good times here.

[00:01:29]

It's hard to put into words the level of devastation here. But the LA County Sheriff put it bluntly. In some areas, he said it looks like a bomb had been dropped. So far, land more than twice the size of Manhattan lies in ruins, and Well, these fires rage out of control.

[00:01:48]

There is a new fire, unfortunately, in West Hills, pushing into Ventura County, and we are expecting this fire to rapidly spread due to high winds. This is a reminder that this This is a very dynamic situation that can change quickly.

[00:02:05]

On Thursday, a brief lull in those fierce Santa Ana winds allowed aircraft to streak across the skies, dropping water and fire retarders onto the flames. But there's no guarantee that that calm will last, with forecasters warning more winds could fan these infernos even further.

[00:02:24]

The wind definitely played the biggest part, especially with the flying ambers. When we're seeing My aunt Amber is just shooting over my head like, Oh my gosh, that's somebody's house. That's someone's property. It just balls of a fire.

[00:02:40]

Some residents have ventured back, bracing themselves for what they'd behind, only to discover their homes reduced to little more than ash. Many told us they're simply too devastated to speak on camera. These fires don't discriminate, tearing through every neighborhood, from lavish mansions to humble bungalows. All of them wants a place of safety for someone.

[00:03:05]

This looks like the Apocalypse. It just doesn't feel like the normal things that happen in your life. This is something very unusual.

[00:03:15]

For others, the scope of this catastrophe confirms their growing fears about the changing climate.

[00:03:22]

This is obvious that stuff like this is happening because of global warming, and people that just want to deny it just don't know science and don't know how to research those things. I think that humans are funny because they think anywhere they move in this world, they'll be safe, but the entire world has global warming. I guess, pick your disaster and live there. What disaster makes you feel most comfortable? Because that's the world we're living in at this point.

[00:03:42]

Here in Altadina, fire crews are out battling these hotspots. You can see that many homes like this one are still smoldering. You can see here that this entire neighborhood, this entire community, has essentially been wiped out. We've been speaking to families here who have lived in these homes for generations, and in just a matter of hours, they've lost everything.

[00:04:06]

And in some of the hardest-hit areas, a night time curfew is in place, as some try to profit from the chaos. Looting has already led to multiple arrests. Meanwhile, President Biden has pledged his support for all those affected.

[00:04:21]

To the families who have been impacted by this disaster, you're living through a nightmare, I know.

[00:04:27]

And I promise you we're going to help you get through this and eventually, to recover and rebuild.

[00:04:32]

But rebuilding is hard to imagine right now. When all these residents can do is wait, hoping and praying that the next gust of wind won't stoke the embers back into an Ferno. Helena Humphrey, BBC News, Los Angeles.

[00:04:49]

I spoke to our North America correspondent, David Willis, a short time ago, who brought us up to date on what's happening where he is in Altadena.

[00:04:58]

There is an eerie silence at this, the site of the Pasadena, Altadena fire. Behind me is all that remains of what was once a wood-cramed family home. You can see, really, it is just the staircase leading to what was the upper floor. Over there is a family car that is completely burnt out, and there is not a property on this street that has not been either completely destroyed or very bad relatively damaged. Now, earlier today, another fire broke out, a very fast-moving fire to the west of us here. That was very swiftly brought under control, though, after it spread to encompass about a thousand acres of land. After firefighters used the dropping of water from helicopters and planes overhead. Now, police here are investigating the cause of that particular fire, and they are questioning a man on mission of possibly committing arson. Now, the biggest blaze of all is, of course, the Pacific Palisades fire. That grew to about 17,000 acres or so. The good news there is that there is, I hear, some containment that has taken place. About 6% of that massive fire that, of course, destroyed hundreds of multimillion dollar properties a few nights ago has now been contained.

[00:06:29]

But there is a lot of work still to do there. Officials have been pinning their hopes on the fact that the winds were due to stay fairly calm for the next few hours before potentially whipping up again over the weekend, which could, of course, make their job all the more difficult, type.

[00:06:49]

The disaster management effort, these fires are burning into a third night. We've been hearing some firefighters have been struggling to get access even to water. How is that Has that operation been ramped up?

[00:07:05]

Well, it's going to ramp up considerably in the next few days. Indeed, it has over the last few hours. My colleague Ben is behind the camera at the moment. Came here, traveled here from Nevada. He saw a convoy of firetrucks coming in from the state of Nevada, as indeed they are being drafted in from states all around here, Oregon, Arizona, here are Oregon, Arizona, Washington State, and so on. We're talking about mechanisms as well as machinery and mechanisms as well as manpower. Four hundred additional firefighters have been brought in over the last few hours The federal agencies and the White House are saying that whatever is needed here will be provided in order to get these communities back on their feet.