在一个以自然灾害闻名的地区，幸存者多次大规模野火在洛杉矶县描述了世界末日的场景和试图逃离由飓风般的风引起的火焰的恐怖。
周三下午，至少有五场野火继续失去控制，共吞噬了26，000多英亩土地，摧毁了1，000多所房屋，包括美国一些最昂贵的飞地中价值数百万美元的豪宅。超过10万人被强制疏散。
官员称，至少有五人在其中一场火灾中丧生。
“发生的事情令人震惊，”美国总统乔·拜登(Joe Biden)周三在洛杉矶的新闻发布会上说，他在会上宣布，他已经签署了一项紧急灾难声明。
5团火焰同时燃烧
根据加州林业和消防部门的说法，大火始于太平洋时间周二上午10点30分左右，帕利塞德火灾和赫斯特火灾大约在同一时间爆发，相距数英里。
官员们说，帕利塞德大火在太平洋帕利塞德燃烧，位于洛杉矶市中心西北约20英里处的太平洋沿岸，截至周三下午，已经吞噬了近16，000英亩的土地。圣费尔南多附近的赫斯特大火位于洛杉矶市中心东北约22英里处，烧毁了500多英亩土地。
伊顿大火是该地区的第二大火灾，于周二下午6点后燃起，并受到圣安娜强风的煽动，在一些地区风速达到98英里/小时，火势已扩大到10，600英亩，烧毁了帕萨迪纳和阿尔塔迪纳的房屋，这两个地方都位于洛杉矶市中心以东约11英里处。五名居民在伊顿大火中丧生，但官员没有透露他们死亡的细节。
洛杉矶县的第四场大火伍德利大火于周三早上6点15分左右在圣费尔南多谷的范奈斯附近爆发，并迅速蔓延至30英亩。
周三下午，第五场火灾发生在洛杉矶市中心东北约40英里的帕姆代尔附近的洛杉矶县。据加州消防称，刘烨大火迅速蔓延至80英亩。
消防官员说，周三下午，洛杉矶县的所有五场野火都得到了控制。
帕利塞德的大火甚至蔓延到了马里布海滩，那里的一个救生员站被烧毁，太平洋海岸公路沿线的房屋也像一串罗马蜡烛一样燃烧着。
没有为这种大范围的灾难做好准备
在太平洋帕利塞德的托尼商业区，一家又一家商店着火，包括社区最大的超市。盖蒂别墅是一个博物馆，里面有超过125，000件无价的文物，当火焰吞没了它所在的山坡时，它也受到了威胁。
现场的美国广播公司新闻记者描述了破坏和混乱的可怕场景，因为一切似乎都在同一时间着火，包括豪华住宅，垃圾桶，棕榈树线和许多车辆。伴随着大火的是令人毛骨悚然的配乐，火焰爆裂，破裂的煤气管道嘶嘶作响，建筑物倒塌，狂风怒吼。
这场灾难发生时，该地区的消防部门正在为周末可能发生的火灾做准备，在美国国家气象局(National Weather Service)预测由于圣安娜风力事件(Santa Ana wind event)造成的高风险火灾危险成为十多年来最严重的事件后，将设备和人员部署在容易发生火灾的地区。
“不，洛杉矶县和我国所有29个消防部门都没有为这种大范围的灾难做好准备，”洛杉矶警察局局长吉姆·麦克唐纳说，并补充说，没有足够的消防员来应对洛杉矶县的所有火灾。
洛杉矶消防局局长克里斯汀·克劳利(Kristine Crowl)表示，在她25年的消防员生涯中，她从未经历过像现在这样影响深远的灾难，这场灾难席卷了美国人口最稠密的地区之一，有超过1000万人。
克劳利说，风、火和该地区因缺少雨水而长满干燥植被的地形形成了这场灾难的完美风暴。
克劳利说:“强风和周围的地形共同助长了火势，这对我们负责此次事故的人员来说极具挑战性。”
大火导致官员关闭了洛杉矶周围的几个标志性建筑，包括好莱坞标志、洛杉矶动物园、格里菲斯公园和格里菲斯天文台。
一切都着火了
公用事业公司的官员说，由于燃烧的树木倒在电线上或南加州爱迪生公司为了防止火势蔓延而关闭电源，近120万消费者也没有电力供应。
签署紧急声明后，拜登表示，他将派遣联邦援助帮助灭火，包括10架海军直升机。
总统还表示，来自俄勒冈、华盛顿、亚利桑那和其他地方的消防人员正前往洛杉矶县提供帮助。
演员史蒂夫·加顿伯格告诉美国广播公司的“早安美国，“那是周二上午9点，那是南加州一个典型的美丽、阳光明媚的日子。但90分钟后，他说:“一切都是黑色的，大火在肆虐。"
“两边都着火了，”古滕贝格谈到他的安全之路时说。“我看不到我的车前面超过三英尺的地方。烟太浓了。看起来像是火山在山坡上，突然间人们都在逃离。这是两英里的汽车挤满了。”
洛杉矶县著名的日落大道，穿过太平洋栅栏，周三排满了汽车，绝望的居民急忙逃离危险地带。但消防人员表示，人们显然害怕在交通堵塞时被困在火焰中，他们将汽车遗弃在日落大道上，促使消防人员使用推土机将车辆推到一边，为第一反应人员清理出一条道路。
Pacific Palisades的居民Tricia Rakusin周三告诉美国广播公司新闻，当火灾开始时，她开始冲洗她的家和周围的树木和灌木，但很快意识到她和她的家人不得不撤离后，她看到火焰蔓延到她的住所。
她说她沿着日落大道逃跑，结果被堵在了路上。
“我从来没有这么害怕过，”拉库辛说。“这绝对不真实。在这个地区，我们从未经历过这样的事情。”
拉库辛的丈夫肯尼说，由于火灾风险，他们的家庭保险公司最近放弃了他们和该地区的其他居民。
“我们不知道我们的房子是否屹立不倒，但如果它不倒，我不知道我们该怎么办，”他说。
From palm trees and mansions to beach lifeguard stations: 'Everything was on fire'
In an area famous for natural disasters, survivors ofmultiple massive wildfiresin Los Angeles County described apocalyptic scenes and the horror of trying to outrun flames stoked by hurricane-like winds.
At least five wildfires continued to burn out of control Wednesday afternoon, consuming over 26,000 acres combined and destroying more than 1,000 homes, including multimillion-dollar mansions, in some of the priciest enclaves in America. More than 100,000 people were under mandatory evacuation.
At least five people were killed in one of the fires, officials said.
"It's astounding what's happening," President Joe Biden said during a news conference in Los Angeles on Wednesday, during which he announced that he had signed an emergency disaster declaration.
5 blazes burning at once
The blazes began around 10:30 a.m. Pacific Time on Tuesday with the Palisades Fire and the Hurst Fire erupting around the same time miles apart, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
The Palisades Fire -- burning in Pacific Palisades, about 20 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles along the Pacific Ocean -- had consumed nearly 16,000 acres by Wednesday afternoon, officials said. The Hurst Fire near San Fernando, about 22 miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles, had burned more than 500 acres.
The Eaton Fire, the second-largest fire in the area, ignited just after 6 p.m. on Tuesday and was fanned by strong Santa Ana winds that reached 98 mph in some areas, had grown to 10,600 acres, torching homes in Pasadena and Altadena, both about 11 miles east of downtown L.A. Five residents perished in the Eaton Fire, but officials did not disclose details of how they died.
A fourth blaze burning in Los Angeles County, the Woodley Fire, erupted at about 6:15 a.m. on Wednesday near Van Nuys in the San Fernando Valley and quickly spread to 30 acres.
On Wednesday afternoon, a fifth fire broke out in Los Angeles County near Palmdale, about 40 miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles. The Lidia Fire quickly spread to 80 acres, according to Cal Fire.
All five Los Angeles County wildfires were 0% contained on Wednesday afternoon, fire officials said.
The Palisades fire even spread to Malibu Beach, where a lifeguard station went up in flames and homes along the Pacific Coast Highway were also blazing like a string of Roman candles.
'Not prepared for this type of widespread disaster'
In the tony business district of Pacific Palisades, shop after shop was on fire, including the community's largest supermarket. The Getty Villa, a museum filled with more than 125,000 priceless artifacts, was also being threatened as flames engulfed the hillside it is perched on.
ABC News reporters on the scene describe horrific scenes of destruction and chaos as everything appeared to be on fire at once, including luxury homes, trash bins, lines of palm trees and numerous vehicles. The fires were accompanied by an eerie soundtrack of blazes popping, broken gas lines hissing, buildings collapsing and winds roaring.
The devastation came even as fire departments in the area prepared for potential fires over the weekend, placing equipment and personnel in areas vulnerable to fires after the National Weather Service forecast high-risk fire danger due to a Santa Ana wind event that became the worst in more than a decade.
"No, L.A. County and all 29 fire departments in our country are not prepared for this type of widespread disaster," said Chief Jim McDonnell of the Los Angeles Police Department, adding that there were not enough firefighters in address all the fires burning in L.A. County.
Chief Kristine Crowl of the Los Angeles Fire Department said that in her 25 years as a firefighter she had never experienced a disaster as far-reaching as the one that has now enveloped one of the most densely populated areas of the nation, home to more than 10 million people.
The wind, fires and terrain filled with bone-dry vegetation from lack of rain in the area had formed a perfect storm for the disaster, Crowl said.
"The fire is being fueled by a combination of strong winds and surrounding topography, which is making it extremely challenging for our personnel that are assigned to this incident," Crowl said.
The conflagrations caused officials to close several iconic landmarks around Los Angeles, including access to the Hollywood sign, the Los Angeles Zoo, Griffith Park and the Griffith Observatory.
'Everything was on fire'
Nearly 1.2 million customers were also without power due to burning trees falling on powerlines or Southern California Edison shutting down power in an attempt to prevent the fires from spreading, officials of the utility company said.
After signing the emergency declaration, Biden said he was sending in federal assistance to help suppress the fires, including 10 Navy helicopters.
The president also said fire crews from Oregon, Washington, Arizona and elsewhere were headed to Los Angeles County to help.
Actor Steve Guttenberg told ABC's "Good Morning America," that at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, it was a typical beautiful, sunny Southern California day. But 90 minutes later, he said, "Everything was black and the fire was raging."
"Everything was on fire on both sides," Guttenberg said of his path to safety. "I couldn't see more than three feet in front of my car. The smoke was so thick. It looked like a volcano was on the sides of the hills, and all of a sudden people were just fleeing. It was two miles of cars packed."
Los Angeles County's famed Sunset Boulevard, which runs through Pacific Palisades, was lined with cars Wednesday as desperate residents rushed to get out of harm's way. But firefighters said people, apparently fearful of getting trapped by the flames while sitting in a traffic jam, abandoned their cars on Sunset Boulevard, prompting fire crews to use a bulldozer to push vehicles out of the way and clear a path for first responders.
Pacific Palisades resident Tricia Rakusin told ABC News on Wednesday that when the fire started she began hosing down her home and the trees and shrubbery around it, but soon realized she and her family had to evacuate after she seeing flames creeping up to her residence.
She said she fled down Sunset Boulevard only to get stuck in traffic.
"I've never been so petrified," Rakusin said. "It's absolutely unreal. We have never experienced anything like this in this area."
Rakusin's husband, Kenny, said that their home insurance carrier recently dropped them and other residents in the area because of the fire risks.
"We don't know whether our house is standing or not, but if it's not standing, I don't know what we're going to do," he said.
