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Firefighters in Los Angeles have successfully beaten back a fire that threatened some of Hollywood’s most iconic landmarks as the city and its surrounding area deal with a devastating blaze that has demolished buildings and homes and sent thousands of residents fleeing.
Taming the fire in the Hollywood Hills, which broke out late on Wednesday, is the first sign that diminishing winds and new resources may help authorities control the fires that have ripped through the US’s second-most-populous city.
The evacuation order for the surrounding neighbourhoods was lifted at 7.30am on Thursday, allowing residents to return to their homes, the Los Angeles Fire Department said.
The success fighting the so-called Sunset fire was a rare piece of good news for Los Angeles residents. However, evacuation orders were still widespread elsewhere, with the Palisades fire and one near Pasadena still raging, and officials warning that winds could kick up once again and accelerate the spread.
The fire quickly spread in Runyon Canyon late on Wednesday before helicopters and fire trucks swept into the area to bring it under control. More than 100,000 residents are still under evacuation orders or warnings across the county, with multiple blazes spreading to more than 28,000 acres and resulting in the deaths of at least five people.
The Sunset fire was the sixth to break out in Los Angeles county in recent days. It threatened iconic landmarks including the Hollywood sign, and forced evacuations along Hollywood Boulevard, which is home to the famed TCL Chinese Theatre — formerly known as Grauman’s Chinese Theatre.
“We’re through the critical wind event,” Margaret Stewart, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles Fire Department, said in an interview with TV station KTLA on Thursday morning. “We anticipate that same operation throughout today and while we don’t yet have containment, we are working towards it.”
As the sun rose on Thursday, residents of both areas began to get a glimpse at the sheer scale of destruction. Many streets in the Palisades look as though a bomb had gone off, with entire blocks razed to the ground.
Strewn metal appliances and fireplaces were some of the only remnants in residential neighbourhoods. Many of the businesses in the Palisades — including its two grocery stores — were destroyed.
The fires have weighed on the city’s all-important entertainment industry. Work in Hollywood has halted, and pre-Oscar screenings and celebrations have been postponed. Warner Bros shut down production in Burbank because of the fires, and Paramount postponed the premiere of its new film Better Man.
The fires have also become a political flashpoint, as Republicans including US president-Elect Donald Trump have blamed Democratic leadership in Los Angeles and California, as well as President Joe Biden, for failing to adequately prepare for and respond to the fires.
“One of the best and most beautiful parts of the United States of America is burning down to the ground,” Donald Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “It’s ashes, and Gavin Newscum should resign,” he added, referring to the state’s Democratic governor Gavin Newsom. “This is all his fault!!!”
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