Doha, January 13 (QNA) - The firefighting units of the United States are engaged in a relentless race against time to contain six simultaneous wildfires that have erupted across various regions of Los Angeles, California, over the past week.

With the fires continuing to spread, their intensity is projected to escalate in the coming hours with the anticipated return of fierce winds.

While aircraft and helicopters have engaged in combating the flames to prevent their spread to new areas, the US National Weather Service (NWS) issued warnings of powerful winds over the next three days, with speeds ranging from 80 to 110 kilometers per hour, particularly in mountainous regions.

Local officials predicted that wind strength will peak on Tuesday, indicating that warnings of severe fire risks will remain in effect for Los Angeles and Ventura counties through Wednesday, with California officials warning that the powerful winds forecast in the coming days pose a significant threat to exacerbate the devastation across the city.

The death toll from the fires, which have consumed vast areas of Los Angeles County, has risen to 24, with 16 individuals still missing, while the entire neighborhoods in the second-largest city in the US have been reduced to ash and smoldering ruins, with the flames leveling homes of both the affluent and ordinary citizens alike in a catastrophic scene.

Over 12,000 structures have been decimated, including buildings and vehicles, with forecasting company AccuWeather estimating the economic damages and losses to range between USD135 billion and USD150 billion.

Governor of California Gavin Newsom stated that the fires will likely become the worst natural disaster in US history, both in terms of associated costs and in scale, noting that firefighters from Mexico had arrived in Los Angeles to join over 14,000 personnel operating on fire suppression efforts.

He emphasized his intention to launch a marshal plan to rebuild California, ordering a probe into water management in Los Angeles County following reports that a critical reservoir had malfunctioned when the fires broke out, resulting in reduced water pressure at certain emergency hydrants before they ran dry. 

With the help of trained dogs, paramedics continue to sift through the rubble in search of victims, with Administrator of the US Federal Emergency Management Agency, Deanne Criswell, stating that the US military forces are on standby, ready to be deployed to contain the wildfires.

Amid the rampant looting in evacuated areas, authorities imposed a strict curfew from 6 pm to 6 am in the severely affected Pacific Palisades and Altadena, with calls for solidarity, volunteerism, and donations surged to support thousands of displaced families.

Meanwhile, many residents have voiced concerns over the authorities' crisis management, citing instances where firefighters encountered empty water tanks or insufficient water pressure.

Interestingly a glimmer of hope emerged with reports of partial containment of some fires, with officials stating that this would allow additional 14,000 powerful firefighting personnel, including teams from multiple states like Mexico and Canada to focus on the more powerful and devastating blazes in Palisades and Eaton.

The winds currently sweeping across California, known as Santa Ana, are normal in the fall and winter but reached unprecedented intensity last week, with speeds occasionally reaching 160 kilometers per hour, carrying embers over great distances, and fueled by strong, warm, seasonal gusts flowing from the desert through the mountains toward the California coast.

However, the exact cause of the fires, which have been exacerbated by the Santa Ana winds, remains unclear.

More tellingly, January is usually one of the most humid months in Los Angeles, making major wildfires rare, but climate change is altering fire behavior by driving more extreme temperatures and fluctuations, shifting conditions from wet to dry.

While these winds are not unusual for this time of year, their intensity has been exceptional, coinciding with a drought in Los Angeles, marking the beginning of the driest rainy season in over 80 years, leaving the landscape parched after an extraordinarily wet winter last year, thereby creating an environment conducive to faster more widespread fires. (QNA)