Los Angeles is still under seige from flames as our own Coromandel begins to catch alight in the heat. The NZ Police are being kept very busy with investigations; and AI.
Among more than 150,000 people ordered to evacuate is multi-award-winning Kiwi choreographer Parris Goebel, who posted pictures leaving home with her pet dogs.
Officials expect the death toll to rise as search and rescue teams look for missing people – and it is unclear when the fires will be fully contained.
New Zealand’s top choreographer has been forced to evacuate her Los Angeles home amid raging wildfires that have claimed at least 16 lives and razed thousands of buildings.
Multi-award-winning artist Parris Goebel, who relocated from Auckland eight years ago, was ordered to leave her San Fernando Valley home over the weekend as the massive fires spread into untouched parts of the city.
Kiwi dancer Parris Goebel was ordered to evacuate her Los Angeles home amid raging wildfires.
The 33-year-old, who’s worked alongside pop stars Rihanna, Jennifer Lopez and Justin Bieber, told her social media followers she’d been instructed to evacuate by authorities, posting a picture of her pet dog Prince and packed bags ready to move.
“Thank you to everyone reaching out, we are safe,” said Goebel, who encouraged followers to volunteer at a local YMCA she visited before evacuating.
Dancer and choreographer Parris Goebel.
“Anyone can be of service! I noticed a lot of heavy lifting.”
Goebel’s upscale Sherman Oaks neighbourhood lies just north of Pacific Palisades, which has been devastated in the largest of several blazes that broke out amid tinderbox conditions last week.
Auckland-born award-winning dancer Parris Goebel posted this image after evacuating her Los Angeles home this weekend.
Other LA-based Kiwis working in the entertainment industry have also told of being caught up in the fires.
In another social media post, former West Auckland musician Lisa Crawley described having to hastily shift across the city to a friend’s place with her computer and cat.
Tauranga-raised singer-songwriter Naomi Ludlow – better known as Ny Oh – told Stuff of being ordered to move from her Topanga Canyon home and checking on older people in her neighbourhood.
“I’ve been watching my friends lose their homes, and it’s horrible to see.”
At least 16 people were known to have died, with the toll likely to mount.
Among the confirmed victims was Australian and British former child star Rory Callum Sykes.
Rory Callum Sykes, a victim of the Los Angeles wildfires. Photo / Shelley Sykes
Shelley Sykes attempted to save her 32-year-old son, who was born with cerebral palsy, by putting out the flames on his Malibu cottage, but found that their water supply wasn’t working.
“He said, ‘mom leave me’ and no mom can leave their kid,” she told Australia’s 10 News First.
“And I’ve got a broken arm, I couldn’t lift him, I couldn’t move him.”
In Altadena, north of Pasadena, retired salesman and amputee Anthony Mitchell perished alongside his son Jordan, who was in his 20s and also had cerebral palsy.
Hajime White told media her father had been waiting for an ambulance to come for them, but it never arrived; Mitchell was later found by the side of his son’s bed.
Earlier today, actress Jennifer Garner, who’s been volunteering with food relief efforts, confirmed to MSNBC that a close friend of hers had also died.
Hollywood actress Jennifer Garner revealed she lost a friend in the devastating Los Angeles wildfires. Photos / MSNBC
“She didn’t get out in time,” said the 52-year-old Golden Globe winner, who became too emotional to continue.
Celebrities whose homes have been confirmed destroyed include socialite Paris Hilton, actors Billy Crystal, Mandy Moore, James Woods, Anna Faris, Adam Brody and Leighton Meester, and former talk show host Ricki Lake.
The destruction has been driven by five separate fires, which have burnt around 12,000 structures, California’s fire agency reported.
As of Sunday, just 11% of the monster Palisades fire – which has scorched more than 9000ha – was contained, while the Eaton fire in LA’s Altadena area was about 15% contained, after burning through 5600ha.
“Please be assured that we will continue to battle these wildfires until they are fully contained,” Los Angeles County fire chief Anthony Marrone said.
“We stand alongside all of you as we begin to plan for the repopulation of evacuated areas disaster recovery and the rebuilding of your homes and your lives.”
Search and rescue teams were meanwhile looking for 13 people reported missing, although it was unclear if any of those overlapped with those now confirmed dead.
Analysts believe the fires could be the costliest in US history, estimating the total economic losses at US$50-60 billion ($90-107 billion).
The Palisades fire was also nearing eastward the city’s celebrated Getty Centre and its priceless art collection – though the building had been reinforced with a fire safety system that museum officials considered practically impenetrable.
A house is engulfed in flames as the Palisades fire burns along Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, Los Angeles, on January 8, 2025. Photo / AFP
Health officials have meanwhile told LA residents to stay indoors, amid toxic smoke from fires that had ripped through plastics, chemicals, fuel and building materials.
“We are all experiencing this wildfire smoke, which is a mix of small particles, gasses and water vapours,” Anish Mahajan of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health told a press conference.
“It’s those small particles that get into our noses and throats and cause those sore throats and headaches.”
Pope Francis yesterday expressed his sadness over the havoc caused by the fires and expressed his spiritual closeness with the victims in a telegram to the archbishop of Los Angeles.
”Saddened by the loss of life and the widespread destruction.”
The pontiff expressed his “spiritual closeness” with the victims, Vatican number two Pietro Parolin wrote in the telegram.
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