California on fire

Wildfires have ravaged parts of southern California with Los Angeles worst affected, where the death toll stands at 27 and upwards of 200,000 have fled their homes.

The first fire to take hold broke out in LA's Pacific Palisades district on the morning of 7th January. Hours later, fire engulfed an area bordering national forest lands and, as the tragedy unfolded, blazes subsequently caught light at half a dozen other city locations.

Having fled Pacific Palisades, Nicole Perri and her partner Kyle Kucharski are returning to the rubble of their former home, hoping to find something they might salvage from the ruins.

Nicole Perri: "I feel broken. I feel lost. I feel devastated. I don't want to have to tell my boys that this is their home, that is gone. It's so tragic, and I know I'm not the only one. So I feel for everyone who's in this position. I really do."

The causes of these wildfires have yet to be ascertained, but contributing factors include 8 months without any significant rainfall and intense Santa Ana winds, which have stoked the fires and carried burning embers across large distances. Speaking about the catastrophic incident, Kristin Crowley, the Los Angeles City Fire Chief, described it as "one of the most destructive natural disasters in the history of Los Angeles."

Financial losses are predicted to top $135 billion and in excess of 17,000 structures have been razed to the ground. Despite these figures, an accurate measure of the final costs, both on a human and economic level, won't be determined for some time to come.

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