by John Solomon
Wind-fueled wildfires continued to rage across Los Angeles early Friday, reducing once iconic neighborhoods to charred apocalyptic scenes while carving a path of historic death and devastation across a city increasingly frustrated at its political leaders.
Authorities announced late Thursday at least 10,000 homes, commercial buildings and other structures had been burned to the ground and that the death toll had grown to double digits.
“The Department of Medical Examiner received notification of 10 fire-related deaths as of 9 p.m. on January 9,” the agency announced on its website.
Damage estimates soared into the tens of billions of dollars as firefighters made some modest gains against five separate blazes while admitting none were close to being contained.
Meanwhile, jarring stories of personal loss emerged from the charred neighborhoods ranging from a man found burned to death still holding the garden hose he took to fight a towering inferno to a disabled man and his special needs son who died waiting for an ambulance to save them.
A new fire broke out Thursday evening in one neighborhood near the border between  Los Angeles and Ventura counties, and officials said they feared arson may have been involved as they detained one man stopped by suspicious neighbors.
Authorities admitted it would take days to contain the fires and to determine how each started.
That uncertainty forced the NFL to move a Monday playoff game between the Los Angeles Rams and Minnesota Vikings to Arizona and spurred residents to question their elected officials.
Video footage caught one mother whose  daughter’s school was burned to the ground  confronting California Gov. Gavin Newsom while Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass struggled at a public event to explain a path forward.
Nervous residents also got an unnecessary scare when  city officials admitted an evacuation order for one neighborhood was accidentally sent citywide.
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John Solomon is an award-winning investigative journalist, author and digital media entrepreneur who serves as Chief Executive Officer and Editor in Chief of Just the News.
