LA wildfires continue to burn as anger, criticism mount over fire response
Numerous fires continued to burn in Los Angeles Friday evening with fresh evacuations under way amid a growing tide of anger and criticism over failings in firefighting preparedness.
The speed and intensity of the blazes ravaging Los Angeles this week have put its firefighting infrastructure to the test.
Hydrants ran dry in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood as it was ravaged by one of the region's five separate fires, while water shortages additionally hampered efforts elsewhere.
"We need answers to how that happened," California Governor Gavin Newsom wrote in a letter to the heads of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and the Los Angeles County Public Works.
Calling the lack of water and water pressure "deeply troubling," Newsom directed state officials to prepare an independent report on the causes.
Chris Sheach, assistant professor of disaster management at Paul Smith's College in New York state, told AFP part of the problem is that the city's fire-fighting infrastructure wasn't designed for enormous multi-acre conflagrations.
"Their system is built to fight individual house fires," he said, or for "responding to commercial or residential structure fires."
The amount of water used for one building compared to the amount needed to squelch a fire burning across thousands of acres is quite different, he added.
Resources needed
Apart from that, Los Angeles fire chief Kristin Crowley has said her city is hampered by a lack of resources.
(AFP)
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