Terrifying second two males and their canine are trapped of their dwelling as apocalyptic Los Angeles inferno rages round them
Haunting video footage has emerged of two men and their dog trapped as hellish wildfires encircled their property in Los Angeles.
The chilling clip recorded from within the house showed how flames dozens of feet high surrounded the property, clearly visible through floor-to-ceiling windows, in a scene reminiscent of a Hollywood disaster movie.
The man, whose identity was not immediately known, can be heard telling his dog: ‘You’re going to be okay, alright?’, while instructing a second resident to stay away from the windows amid fears they could shatter.
Meanwhile, valiant firefighters battling to extinguish the horrific wildfires that have engulfed Los Angeles and large swathes of Southern California are discovering their fire hydrants are running low or empty.
Real estate developer Rick Caruso, whose properties in Palisades Village in Westside LA were demolished by the inferno, blamed the shocking issue on ‘mismanagement’ and ‘systemic problems’ in the city after it emerged the hydrants were not filled by reservoir water.
This revelation comes after LA Mayor Karen Bass – who is currently out of the country – cut the LA Fire Department’s budget by some $23 million in 2024.
‘This is a window into a systemic problem of the city — not only of mismanagement, but our infrastructure is old,’ he said, as the LA Times reported that firefighters were radioing their stations with reports that the hydrants were dry.
He went onto rail against Bass and the Department of Water and Power (DWP) in a stern interview delivered to FOX News.
The chilling clip recorded from within the house showed how flames dozens of feet high surrounded the property, clearly visible through floor-to-ceiling windows
The man, whose identity was not immediately known, can be heard telling his dog: ‘You’re going to be okay, alright?’
Flames from the Palisades Fire burn homes along Pacific Coast Highway
Flames from the Palisades Fire burn a home
Smoke and flames rise from burning structures as the Eaton Fire burns in Pasadena, California, U.S
Caruso – himself a former commissioner of the city’s Board of Water and Power – declared: ‘Everybody knew these winds were coming… you got to have water and my understanding is that the reservoir was not filled on time, or in a timely manner.
‘This is basic stuff… it’s all about leadership and management that we’re seeing a failure of and all of these residents are paying the ultimate price for that… Why don’t you call the mayor, who’s out of the country, and ask her? (why the fire hydrants are dry)’, he concluded.
More than 1,500 California firefighters are tasked with quelling the wind-whipped wildfires that tore across the greater Los Angeles area, destroying homes and clogging roadways as tens of thousands fled.
At least 30,000 residents are now under mandatory evacuation orders with more still warned they should be prepared to leave.
The flames from a fire that broke out Tuesday evening near a nature preserve in the inland foothills northeast of LA spread so rapidly that staff at a senior living center had to push dozens of residents in wheelchairs and hospital beds down the street to a parking lot.
The residents waited there in their bedclothes as embers fell around them until ambulances, buses and even construction vans arrived to take them to safety.
Another blaze that started hours earlier ripped through the city’s Pacific Palisades neighborhood, a hillside area along the coast dotted with celebrity residences.
In the frantic haste to get to safety, roadways became impassable when scores of people abandoned their vehicles and fled on foot, some toting suitcases.
The traffic jam on Palisades Drive prevented emergency vehicles from getting through and a bulldozer was brought in to push the abandoned cars to the side and create a path.
Video along the Pacific Coast Highway showed widespread destruction of homes and businesses along the famed roadway.
Pacific Palisades resident Kelsey Trainor said the only road in and out of her neighborhood was blocked. Ash fell all around them while fires burned on both sides of the road.
‘We looked across and the fire had jumped from one side of the road to the other side of the road,’ Trainor said. ‘People were getting out of the cars with their dogs and babies and bags, they were crying and screaming.’
A third wildfire started around 10:30pm and quickly prompted evacuations in Sylmar, a San Fernando Valley community that is the northernmost neighborhood in Los Angeles. The causes of all three fires were under investigation.
Firefighters battling a mammoth blaze in California ‘s ritzy Pacific Palisades have warned they’re running out of water and supplies, as emergency evacuation warnings spread as far as Malibu and Calabasas
Hellish photos from the inferno’s epicenter show once-decadent million-dollar homes completely obliterated by the wildfire. A spiral staircase and opulent art gallery wall were seen burned to cinders
All aircraft has now been grounded as conditions deteriorate
Flames were being pushed by Santa Ana winds topping 60 mph (97 kph) in some places. The winds were expected to increase overnight, producing isolated gusts that could top 100 mph (160 kph) in mountains and foothills – including in areas that haven’t seen substantial rain in months.
The situation prompted the Los Angeles Fire Department to take the rare step of putting out a plea for off-duty firefighters to help. It was too windy for firefighting aircraft to fly, further hampering the fight.
Gov. Gavin Newsom posted on X early Wednesday that California had deployed more than 1,400 firefighting personnel to combat the blazes.
‘Emergency officials, firefighters, and first responders are all hands on deck through the night to do everything possible to protect lives,’ Newsom said.
The erratic weather caused President Joe Biden to cancel plans to travel to inland Riverside County, where he was to announce the establishment of two new national monuments in the state.
He remained in Los Angeles, where smoke was visible from his hotel, and was briefed on the wildfires. The Federal Emergency Management Agency approved a grant to help reimburse California for the firefighting cost.
Officials didn’t give an estimate of structures damaged or destroyed in the Pacific Palisades wildfire, but they said about 30,000 residents were under evacuation orders and more than 13,000 structures were under threat.
Gov. Gavin Newsom visited the scene and said many homes had burned.
Tankers full of water have been dousing the inferno from the skies all afternoon, but all aircraft have now been grounded amid deteriorating wind conditions and visibility
A firefighter tries to cover his face from the thick smoke as he battles the inferno
By evening the flames had spread into neighboring Malibu and several people there were being treated for burn injuries and a firefighter had a serious head injury and was taken to a hospital, according to Los Angeles Fire Department Capt. Erik Scott.
By early Wednesday, the Eaton fire, which started around 6:30pm the day before, had quickly burned 1.6 square miles (4 square kilometers), according to fire officials.
The Hurst fire jumped to 500 acres (202 hectares) and the Palisades fire, which started around around 10:30am Tuesday and sent up a dramatic plume of smoke visible across Los Angeles, had destroyed 4.5 square miles (11.6 square kilometers) according to Angeles National Forest.
The fires were at 0% containment as of early Wednesday.
‘By no stretch of the imagination are we out of the woods,’ Newsom warned residents, saying the worst of the winds were expected between 10pm Tuesday and 5am Wednesday.
He declared a state of emergency.
As of Tuesday evening, nearly 167,000 people were without power in Los Angeles county, according to the tracking website PowerOutage.us, due to the strong winds.
Recent dry winds, including the notorious Santa Anas, have contributed to warmer-than-average temperatures in Southern California, where there’s been very little rain so far this season.
Southern California hasn’t seen more than 0.1 inches (0.25 centimeters) of rain since early May.
