Los Angeles’s exclusive high-end neighbourhood of Bel Air is coming under increasing danger from the wildfires inferno continuing to sweep through – as the death toll rose to 16.
The Getty Museum in California has stepped up defences aimed at protecting its priceless artworks, while it has also been revealed that the Palisades reservoir was empty when the blazes began.
LA mayor Karen bass has been condemned over the Santa Ynez Reservoir being ‘out of commission’ – while there is also anger about celebrities’ water use.
The prospect of more dry winds has prompted fresh fears about the ‘Palisades Fire’, as flames push towards the affluent districts of Bel Air and Brentwood.
The wildfires have already claimed the lives of around 16 people while burning over 37,000 acres of land and destroying 12,000 structures in its wake. At least 13 people remain missing, according to officials.
In total, an estimated 153,000 residents are under mandatory evacuation orders and about 57,000 structures remain at risk.
The acclaimed arts museum Getty Center, in the mountains above LA, is now within an evacuation warning zone as the blazes rage further onwards.
Its collection includes 125,000 artworks, among them paintings by Monet, Rembrandt, Turner and Van Gogh, as well as 1.4million documents.
The museum has said in statements: ‘Getty staff, the art collections and buildings remain safe from the Palisades Fire. The threat is still happening.’
Reported defences which officials hope will help protect against any damage to artefacts include fire-resistant travertine stone, plus well as cement and steel.
Galleries can be shut off a vault-style double door, the museum says.
Meanwhile, the wildfires death toll rose to 16 as crews battled to cut off the spreading blazes before potentially strong winds return that could push the flames toward some of the city’s most famous landmarks.
Five of the deaths were attributed to the Palisades Fire and 11 resulted from the Eaton Fire, the Los Angeles County coroner’s office said in a statement on Saturday evening.
The previous number of confirmed fatalities was 11, but officials said they expected that figure to rise as teams with cadaver dogs conduct systematic grid searches in leveled neighborhoods.
Authorities have established a center where people can report the missing.
There were also fears that winds could move the fires toward the J. Paul Getty Museum and the University of California, Los Angeles, while new evacuation warnings left more homeowners on edge.
Crews from California and nine other states are part of the ongoing response that includes 1,354 fire engines, 84 aircraft and more than 14,000 personnel, including newly arrived firefighters from Mexico.
Meanwhile, California governor Gavin Newsom has ordered state officials to determine why a 117million-gallon (440million-litre) reservoir was out of service and some hydrants had run dry.
Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley said city leadership failed her department by not providing enough money for firefighting.
She also criticised the lack of water, saying: ‘When a firefighter comes up to a hydrant, we expect there’s going to be water.’
The reservoir is reported to have been closed for repairs in recent weeks after damage to a covering which was meant to preserve water quality, the Los Angeles Times first reported.
Emptying of the reservoir is said to have started last February following a tear in the water cover which let debris into the water supply, before it was drained and bids for repairs were invited in April – the status of any response remained unclear.
Fire hydrants in higher-elevation streets are also said to have gone dry, which left firefighter crews struggling with low pressure levels.
LA mayor Ms Bass, 71, has ‘the most hated woman in America’ after cutting £14.4million ($17.6 million) in vital firefighting funding just weeks before the latest inferno.
The Democrat mayor was on a taxpayer-funded trip to Ghana last Tuesday despite warnings from weather experts that gusting Santa Ana winds of 80mph could spark catastrophic wildfires.
Fire chief Ms Crowley has been among her critics, saying: ‘We are screaming to be properly funded to make sure that our firefighters can do their jobs so we can serve the community. The budget cuts made our job impossible.’
Mr Newsom has branded the loss of water pressure as ‘deeply troubling’ and said in a letter to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and LA County Public Works: ‘We need answers to how that happened.’
LADWP spokesperson Ellen Cheng said: ‘We appreciate the Governor’s letter and believe that an investigation will help identify any new needed capabilities for water systems to support fighting wildfires.’
But LADWP union leader Gus Corona has said: ‘It’s completely unacceptable that this reservoir was empty for almost a year for minor repairs.
‘This work should have been done in-house, and they shouldn’t have depended on a contractor to do it – I truly believe it’s something that could have been avoided.
‘I am glad the governor is stepping in and looking into why this happened, and holding people accountable.’