US Firefighters Only Saving Houses Of Rich, Famous Individuals In Los Angeles Wildfires; Residents Cries Out
Residents of the devastated Los Angeles suburb, Altadena, said the arrival of men of the National Guard soldiers was too little and late, the AFP reports.
Wildfires have continued to ravage parts of Los Angeles in California, with at least 11 people dead, thousands of homes, businesses, schools and churches leveled and more than 150,000 people still under evacuation orders.
The Palisades fire – which continues to burn – already ranks as one of the most destructive in the city’s history.
“We didn’t see a single firefighter while we were throwing buckets of water to defend our house against the flames,” AFP quoted one Nicholas Norman, 40 as saying.
“They were too busy over in the Palisades saving the rich and famous’s properties, and they let us common folks burn,” said the teacher.
In the upscale Pacific Palisades neighborhood, the first to be hit by the flames this week, wealthy residents share the same resentment toward the authorities.
“Our city has completely let us down,” said Nicole Perri, outraged by the fact that hydrants being used by firefighters ran dry or lost pressure.
Her lavish Palisades home was burnt to cinders. In a state of shock, the 32-year-old stylist wants to see accountability.
“Things should have been in place that could have prevented this,” she told AFP.
“We’ve lost everything, and I just feel zero support from our city, our horrible mayor and our governor.”
Karen Bass, the city’s mayor, has come in for heavy criticism because she was visiting the African nation of Ghana when the fire started, despite dire weather warnings in the preceding days.
Budget cuts to the fire department, and a series of evacuation warnings erroneously sent to millions of people this week, have only stoked the anger further.
“I don’t think the officials were prepared at all,” said James Brown, a 65-year-old retired lawyer in Altadena.
“There’s going to have to be a real evaluation here, because hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people have just been completely displaced,” he told AFP.
