LA fires: ‘It’s an apocalypse’ – families return to homes reduced to ruins
More than 20,000 people who evacuated the Pacific Palisades on Tuesday have watched on TV for three days as their neighbourhood has burned without respite.
They have heard the statistics – about more than 50% of the buildings here being reduced to rubble. But it is not sufficient preparation for what they will see in real life.
“I’ve been telling everyone to brace themselves for this moment,” says Rachel Darvish, a lawyer who has lived in Pacific Palisades her whole life.
My team and I ride in a car with her as she returns for the first time since wildfire ripped through this community.
LA fires latest: Number of dead doubles as a blaze is investigated as possible arson
Water is dropped by helicopter on the Kenneth Fire in the West Hills section of Los Angeles (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
The destruction left behind by the Palisades Fire in the Pacific Palisades neighbourhood of Los Angeles., California. Pic: AP
The first place we stop is her modest childhood home where she lived until she was nine. It’s now a mound of dust and twisted metal, only a gate on to the pavement still standing.
“People think the Palisades are full of celebrities,” she says. “But this is where hardworking families come so that the kids can be by the beach and have a good life.”
She points across the road to another house which is now contorted by fire and covered in ash.
“That’s where I would spend July 4th at my neighbour’s,” she says. “We would go round to use their pool. I have the best memories here.”
As Rachel is talking she is interrupted by a deafening alarm from her phone. “It’s another emergency evacuation order,” she says. “This time for Malibu.”
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Progress of LA Kenneth fire ‘stopped’
Even though the winds have subsided, the threat of new blazes remains and each new evacuation order or warning causes renewed panic among local people.
Next up on the misery tour is Rachel’s three-year-old daughter’s nursery school. There is nothing left of the main building.
“It’s an apocalypse,” she says. “This is just so devastating. And somehow we are supposed to come back and rebuild.”
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‘Everything we love has gone’
As we are driving away from the school, she spots a familiar face next to a black SUV with tinted windows. “Is that Gavin Newsom?” she asks. “It is, it’s the governor,” she says, slapping the back of the car seat before jumping out to speak to him.
“Mr governor,” she says, chasing him down the street as Newsom holds a phone to his ear.
“Please, tell me what you’re going to do,” she says. Newsom replies that he is on the phone to President Biden.
“Can I hear? Can I hear your call? Because I don’t believe it,” she responds.
Newsom points to his phone, claiming he has poor phone service and was unable to reach the president.
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Biden on LA fires: ‘We’ll help you’
Rachel then asks him why there was “no water in the hydrants?”
As firefighters battled a raging inferno on Tuesday, fire hydrants ran dry because of the huge demands.
Residents are demanding answers about whether there are wider vulnerabilities in city water supply systems and whether they are adequate to tackle wildfires on this scale.
“It has to be different next time round,” Rachel says.
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As estimated losses surge there is still zero containment of the Palisades fire. Officials say they don’t know the death toll and that dogs will be brought in to search the rubble for fatalities.
On the Pacific coast highway in Pacific Palisades, Geoffrey Axelrod and his partner Nicole hug each other tightly as they return to the ruins that are their home. Every one of the houses in this enclave has been destroyed.
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Satellite images show fire destruction
“This is just a little beach community,” says Geoffrey, who has lived here since 2015.
“I know everyone here and it’s all gone.
“My dearest friend Galene, who I’ve known for my whole life lived here,” he says, pointing to the wreckage next door.
“I taught my daughter to ride her bike on this street, how to swim in the pool. It’s so sad.”
Together Geoffrey and Nicole sift through the dust, trying to retrieve any belongings that have survived the fire.
In a plastic box they place everything they can find. There are a couple of turtle figurines, a garden gnome and a house name plaque.
It’s very little, but in a place where the loss is so huge, it means so much.
A parade marking the US Army’s 250th anniversary – and President Trump’s 79th birthday – is under way.
You can watch the event in the livestream above.
President Trump said it was going to be a “big day” and admitted: “We want to show off a little bit.”
Today is the first time in more than 30 years that tanks have rolled through the US capital.
Officials have estimated around 200,000 people could turn out, including protesters, plus 6,600 soldiers, 150 vehicles and 50 aircraft.
However, it appears far fewer have turned out – possibly due to the poor weather – and the president has warned any protesters who interfere “will be met with very big force”.
Pic: AP
Pic: AP
Pic: AP
Pic: Reuters
Mr Trump is watching alongside the first lady and defence secretary as troops and military hardware file past – accompanied at times by up tempo rock music.
The event started half an hour early due to forecasted heavy rain, with cloud forcing the cancellation of a flypast by fighter jets.
Helicopters such as Apaches, Chinooks and Black Hawks are still taking part however.
Pic: Reuters
Pic: Reuters
Pic: Reuters
Military parachutists from the Golden Knights began the parade by swooping in, and some of the soldiers are parading in historic uniforms, complete with horses and wagons.
Vehicles from the Second World War era are also taking part.
President Trump stood and saluted many of the passing soldiers. He is said to have got the idea for the parade after being impressed with France’s Bastille Day celebrations during a visit in 2017.
Metal plates have been put down on some of Washington’s streets to protect the tarmac against the heaviest tanks – the 60-ton M1 Abrams.
Even so, the US Army has set aside several million dollars in case of any damage.
The last time such a major display took place in the US was 1991 when tanks and troops paraded to celebrate the ousting of Saddam Hussein’s army from Kuwait.
Pic: Reuters
Pic: Reuters
Pic: Reuters
The event has been criticised by some for being something more associated with a dictatorial regime such as Russia or North Korea.
An estimated cost as high as $45m (£33.33m) has also raised eyebrows given the administration’s efforts to slash the budget of many federal departments.
Among the critics is California governor Gavin Newsom, who has been trading barbs with Mr Trump since the outbreak of riots in LA.
“And we all know, this Saturday, he’s ordering our American heroes – the United States military – forcing them to put on a vulgar display to celebrate his birthday, just as other failed dictators have done in the past,” he said.
Pic: AP
Pic: Reuters
Pic: Reuters
The show of military might also comes as more than 1,500 protests against the Trump administration, organised under the slogan ‘No Kings’, have been planned across the US on Saturday.
Los Angeles is the scene of one demonstration, with police firing tear gas to disperse people and US Marines stationed outside the city’s federal building.
Tension is high in America’s second-biggest city after recent raids by immigration officers sparked unrest this week.
Pic: Reuters
Tear gas was fired on the streets of LA. Pic: Reuters
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Les Miserables, what else.
The hit musical about anti-government protest is now showing at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC.
Donald Trump was in the audience for Wednesday’s performance for what amounts to a busman’s holiday.
The narrative explores issues of social justice, love, and the enduring power of human compassion amidst a backdrop of poverty and revolution. Not everyone shares the president’s vision of those themes.
Indeed his presence drew what can only be described as mixed reviews from his fellow theatre goers – cheers and boos in equal measure as he waved from the front row of the circle.
The script of Les Miserables barely presents a break from the day job – Trump won’t be the only one getting a sense of art imitating life, as the real thing plays out on the streets of LA.
It is the first show the president has chosen to attend since he made sweeping changes at the iconic venue, prompting an outcry and accusations that he was politicising art and ‘MAGAfying’ the venerated institution.
According to CNN, a number of Les Miserables cast members had planned to sit out the performance in protest.
The Kennedy Center is a prestigious venue that showcases the best of American performance art.
More than 2,000 shows per year include the famous honours ceremony, an annual event that celebrates artists who have made a significant contribution to US culture.
Honourees through the years have included Joni Mitchell, Aretha Franklin, the Grateful Dead and Francis Ford Coppola.
The Kennedy Center in Washington DC
Following his election in November, Trump made himself chairman of the Kennedy Center’s board and replaced members with political loyalists.
Traditionally, the board has been made up of individuals from across the political spectrum; after his election, Trump got rid of 18 members and replaced them with political soulmates, including his chief of staff Susie Wiles and Fox presenters Laura Ingraham and Maria Bartiromo.
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Donald Trump signalled a change in artistic direction at the Kennedy Center when he wrote on social media of “Drag shows specifically targeting our youth”, and said of its production schedule: “We didn’t like what they were showing, we’re going to make sure it’s good and it’s not going to be woke.”
His changes prompted a number of acts to cancel shows at the venue in protest. The touring production of Broadway hit Hamilton cancelled dates, as did actor and producer Issa Rae, writer Louise Penny and Pulitzer Prize-winning folk musician Rhiannon Giddens.
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Trump’s attendance at the Les Mis performance was designed to boost fundraising, with donors paying up to $2m to attend a reception with the president.
Ticket sales and subscriptions have, reportedly, slumped since Trump’s changes although the centre’s management points out its campaign to renew subscriptions has been launched later this year than last.
Trump watched the performance of Les Miserables from the presidential box, in the company of his wife, Melania.
Vice president JD Vance was also there. When he attended a performance by the National Symphony Orchestra in March with his wife, he was booed by members of the audience.
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