Los Angeles Wildfires Kill 10; Hundreds of Homes Destroyed (Worthy News Feature)
by Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
LOS ANGELES, USA (Worthy News) – Fires in Los Angeles, America’s second-largest city, and other areas in the U.S. state of California have killed at least 10 people while hundreds of homes were destroyed, officials said.
Mansions belonging to numerous celebrities have burned down in Los Angeles, where some 100,000 people have been ordered to evacuate, according to authorities.
Worthy News learned that looting has broken out in some areas of the city, and the U.S. National Guard has been called in to bring the situation under control.
It came as details emerged about the victims, including one reported to have been found clutching a garden hose in his hand while trying to defend his family home of more than 50 years.
Victor Shaw, 66, was identified by local media as one of the fatalities from the devastating Eaton Fire centered around the city of Pasadena.
His sister Shari told regional broadcaster KTLA that “Victor said he wanted to stay behind Tuesday night to try to fight the flames,” but a family friend said “his body was discovered the next day” on the side of a road with a hose. “They just told me that he was lying on the ground and that he looked serene as if he was at peace,” Shari Shaw told KTLA.
His death was one of the many tragedies as the region battled its worst fires in recent history, which erupted Tuesday fueled by powerful winds and dry conditions.
DESPERATE MOTHER
A desperate Los Angeles mother confronted California Governor Gavin Newsom on Thursday about the city’s raging wildfires, demanding answers about “why fire hydrants ran empty” and what he was going to do to fix communities that have been reduced to ash.
Pacific Palisades resident Rachel Darvish ran toward the governor as he was about to get into a black sports utility vehicle having surveilled some of the damage after fires wreaked havoc on the once picturesque neighborhood known for its charming homes and sweeping coastline views, witnesses observed.
“Governor! I live here, governor! That was my daughter’s school; what are you going to do,” Darvish, wearing a white industrial-style mask, said in footage monitored by Worthy News.
U.S. President-elect Donald J. Trump also pinned the blame for the “apocalyptic” wildfires tearing through Los Angeles County on California Democratic Governor Newsom.
He claimed the governor “refused to sign the water restoration declaration put before him that would have allowed millions of gallons of water, from excess rain and snow, melt from the North, to flow daily into many parts of California, including the areas that are currently burning in a virtually apocalyptic way.”
Trump alleged on his Truth Social media platform late Wednesday morning that the governor “wanted to protect an essentially worthless fish called a smelt, by giving it less water (it didn’t work!), but didn’t care about the people of California.”
Trump added, “Now the ultimate price is being paid.”
‘PROTECTING LIVES’
Newsom’s director of communications, Izzy Gardon, said: “We’re focused on protecting lives and battling these blazes—not playing politics.”
Experts blame the state’s handling of its forestry management on a lesser-known problem: its outdated water reserves system.
California’s existing reservoirs can only hold so much water, and many were built in the mid-20th century.
Yet California voters passed Proposition 1, also known as the Water Quality, Supply, and Infrastructure Improvement Act, in a 2014 referendum.
The legislation authorized $2.7 billion in bonds to increase the state’s water storage capacity through building new reservoirs and groundwater storage facilities.
However, critics noticed that no new reservoirs had been completed under Prop. 1 as of January 2025.
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