'Real people losing everything': Sunset Fire mounts loss as wildfires spread to Hollywood Hills

Record ID: 1897981

  • Title: 'Real people losing everything': Sunset Fire mounts loss as wildfires spread to Hollywood Hills
  • Date: 9th January 2025
  • Summary: HOLLYWOOD BOULEVARD, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (JANUARY 8, 2025) (REUTERS) (NIGHT SHOTS) ***WARNING: CONTAINS PROFANITY*** VARIOUS OF METRO SIGN OUTSIDE HOLLYWOOD / HIGHLAND SUBWAY STATION EXTERIOR OF HARD ROCK CAFE STREET ARTIST SITTING ON SIDEWALK OUTSIDE HARD ROCK CAFE, STARS ON HOLLYWOOD WALK OF FAME TOM CRUISE’S STAR ON HOLLYWOOD WALK OF FAME (SOUNDBITE) (English) 54-YEAR-OLD CALIFORNIA RESIDENT, DEVIN HYDE, SAYING: “When I got off on Beverly this morning and (unintelligible), I’m looking this way, and you could literally see, like a clear view of where all the smoke was coming from.” DINOSAUR SCULPTURE DINOSAUR SCULPTURE ON RIPLEY’S BELIEVE IT OR NOT MUSEUM (SOUNDBITE) (English) CALIFORNIA RESIDENT, ROMANTINO, SAYING: “Inside the apartment very bad smell. Smell and burning.” VARIOUS OF NEON SIGN OUTSIDE HOLLYWOOD WAX MUSEUM (SOUNDBITE) (English) TOURIST, JAHAN SAIB, SAYING: “We wanted to visit the Santa Monica pier but we couldn't because of the wildfires and it’s so bad. And the Palisades wildfires at first, and now I just got an alert on my phone, there’s another wildfire I think, in the Hollywood neighbourhood area.” NEON SIGN OUTSIDE THE EL CAPITAN THEATRE (SOUNDBITE) (English) TOURIST, JAHAN SAIB, SAYING: “I think climate change affects a lot of problems that we have been having, natural disasters. And my home country, Pakistan, we have a lot of problems with climate change. Even all the world, the United States, oh that’s the helicopter. Recently we had Hurricane Milton in Florida, that was pretty bad. So yeah, climate change is a real mess. And yeah, a lot of countries are being affected. Like developing countries like Pakistan, more, but even the developed countries like the United States, they’re getting affected by it.” VARIOUS OF TRAFFIC ON STREETS (SOUNDBITE) (English) 40-YEAR-OLD CALIFORNIA RESIDENT, DANIELLE MTCLENDON, SAYING: “It’s real people out here going through some real shit. Real stuff. Real things. Losing their clothes, their life, their family, their pictures, their everything that they’ve had.” TRAFFIC MOVING ON STREET NEAR THE ROOSEVELT HOTEL SIGN ON ROOSEVELT HOTEL
  • Embargoed: 23rd January 2025 06:32
  • Keywords: CALIFORNIA HOLLYWOOD HILLS Hollywood Boulevard Sunset Fire WILDFIRES
  • Location: HOLLYWOOD BOULEVARD, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES
  • City: HOLLYWOOD BOULEVARD, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES
  • Country: US
  • Topics: Disaster/Accidents,Fires,North America
  • Reuters ID: LVA001189209012025RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS PROFANE LANGUAGE
    Raging wildfires surrounding Los Angeles and which have spread to the Hollywood Hills on Wednesday (January 8) have brought severe loss of lives and property, people interviewed at Hollywood Boulevard said.
    “It’s real people out here… losing their clothes, their life, their family, their pictures, their everything that they had,” said 40-year-old California resident Danielle Mtclendon.
    While other fires in the area killed at least five people, hundreds of homes were also destroyed, stretching firefighting resources and water supplies to the limit. More than 100,000 people were ordered to evacuate as dry, hurricane-force winds hindered firefighting operations and spread the fires, which have burned thousands of acres (hectares) since they began on Tuesday (January 7).
    Jahan Saib, a tourist visiting L.A., said he had to change his plans due to the wildfires.
    “We wanted to visit the Santa Monica pier but we couldn't because of the wildfires and it’s so bad,” he said.
    A new fire, named as the so-called Sunset Fire, broke out in the parched Hollywood Hills on Wednesday evening, said local authorities, raising the number of wildfires burning in Los Angeles County to at least six. The Sunset Fire in Hollywood Hills scorched 50 acres (20 hectares) on Wednesday, Cal Fire said.
    The L.A. Fire Department has issued an evacuation order for people in an area within Hollywood Boulevard to the south, Mulholland Drive to the north, the 101 Freeway to the east and Laurel Canyon Boulevard to the west - all iconic addresses for the entertainment industry.
    Within that area is the Dolby Theater, where the Oscars are held. Next week's Oscar nominations announcement was already postponed by two days because of the fire, organizers said.
    (Production: Matt McKnight, Ariel Wee)
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