Los Angeles, Jan 13: The death toll from the ravaging wildfires in Los Angeles has risen to 24, local media reported.

Wildfires continued to rage through Los Angeles County, marking a catastrophic ‘Black Swan’ event of unprecedented scale in the history of the US’ most populous county.

Among the active fires, the Palisades Fire has burned through 19,978 acres (80.85 square km) with just six per cent containment as of Thursday night. Meanwhile, the Eaton Fire has scorched 13,690 acres (55.4 square km) and remains completely uncontained.

For residents like Michael, an accountant in Altadena where the Eaton Fire erupted, the devastation has been life-altering. He was evacuated moments before his home was engulfed by flames.

“It’s like living through Armageddon,” he said, choking back tears. “We’ve lost everything.”

According to Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley, the wildfires, which began Tuesday night, rank among the county’s most destructive natural disasters. Over 10,000 buildings have been destroyed so far, primarily due to the Palisades and Eaton fires.

In Malibu, officials reported the first fatality from the Palisades Fire on Thursday. The cause of death remains under investigation. Malibu Mayor Doug Stewart expressed profound sorrow, offering condolences to the victim’s loved ones.

“This tragedy weighs heavily on our hearts,” he said.

Currently, firefighters are battling four major wildfires: Palisades Fire, Eaton Fire, Sunset Fire in the Hollywood Hills and Hurst Fire in Sylmar.

While some progress has been made in controlling the Eaton Fire, strong winds reaching 100 km per hour have made containing the Palisades Fire particularly challenging. Officials hope calmer weather conditions will improve containment efforts, though the National Weather Service has warned of critical fire weather persisting through Friday night.

The fires have forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of residents, with at least 70,000 homes under threat and 10,000 destroyed. Looting has been reported in some evacuation zones, leading to multiple arrests.

Dorothy, a retired school administrator who had lived in Pacific Palisades for 40 years, lost her home and everything in it.

Los Angeles: The two biggest wildfires ravaging the Los Angeles area have killed 10 people so far and burned at least 10,000 homes, buildings and other structures, officials said Thursday as they urged more people to heed evacuation orders after a new blaze ignited and quickly grew.

The fast-moving Kenneth Fire started in the late afternoon in the San Fernando Valley just 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) from a school serving as a shelter for fire evacuees and then moved into neighbouring Ventura County by the evening.

Only hours earlier officials expressed encouragement after firefighters aided by calmer winds and help from crews from outside the state saw the first signs of successfully beating back the region’s devastating wildfires that have killed 10 people so far.

“We are expecting this fire to rapidly spread due to high winds,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said, echoing the forecast that called for winds to strengthen Thursday evening through Friday morning.

Tirupati, Jan 9: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday visited the stampede spot in Tirupati that claimed the lives of six devotees and pulled up officials for failing to make proper arrangements for the distribution of tokens for an annual event at Sri Venkateswara Swamy temple.

Soon after landing at Renigunta Airport, the Chief Minister drove to Vishnu Nivasam and later to Padmavati Park, where two separate incidents of stampede took place.

Accompanied by ministers, he went around the two places and asked officials including the District Collector, Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) Executive Officer, Joint Executive Officer and police officials why they failed to anticipate a huge turnout of devotees and accordingly make arrangements.

Visibly unhappy with the officials, the Chief Minister inquired about the incident and the arrangements made by the TTD and district administration for the distribution of tokens for the Vaikunta Dwara Darshanam.

The Chief Minister asked TTD Executive Officer Shyamala Rao why he did not use technology and took other steps for crowd control for the smooth conduct of the token distribution.

CM Naidu told TTD officials to ensure that such incidents are not repeated in future. The Chief Minister later visited TTD-run SVIMS Hospital and called on the injured.

He assured them that the government would extend all possible help.

A total of 48 persons were injured in the stampede. They were initially shifted to SVR Ruia Hospital. Of them, 35 were shifted to SVIMS Hospital for better treatment.

Meanwhile, police registered two cases in connection with the stampedes at Padmavati Park and Vishnu Nivasam.

Earlier, Revenue Minister Anagani Satya Prasad, who is in charge of Tirupati district, visited the SVIMS hospital along with his cabinet colleagues and announced compensation of Rs 25 lakh each for the families of the deceased.

State Home Minister Vangalapudi Anitha, Endowments Minister Anam Ramanarayana Reddy, Irrigation Minister Nimmala Rama Naidu and Information and Public Relations Minister K. Parthasarathy visited the hospital.

The bodies of the deceased were being sent to their home towns after autopsy. The deceased were identified as S. Lavanya (38), Kandipalli Santhi (33), G. Rajini (47) (all from Visakhapatnam), Malliga (50) of Tamil Nadu), Buddeti Naidu Babu (55) of Narsipatnam and V. Nirmala (55) from Kerala.