Kiwi journalist David Farrier on ‘surreal’ and ‘apocalyptic’ scenes at Los Angeles wildfires

By RNZ

A Kiwi journalist says he witnessed “apocalyptic” scenes as the city is ravaged by fires.

Almost 200,000 people in Los Angeles are under evacuation orders and thousands of properties have been destroyed, with damage estimated at US$89 billion ($159b) so far.

New Zealand journalist and documentary maker David Farrier, who is based in Los Angeles, said it was a “surreal” time.

Early on in the crisis he had seen “apocalyptic” scenes from the hills where the Griffith Observatory is sited when he walked up there, he told SummerTimes.

“Rangers came up and told me I had to leave because they were shutting the entire park down because the fear was that the fire could kick off more centrally, which eventually it did.”

He had evacuated from his home in central LA yesterday and travelled two hours south, but the evacuation order for his area has been lifted, so he will head home tomorrow.

A beach house is engulfed in flames as the Palisades fire burns along Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, California. Photo / AFP

Though California residents were well used to wildfires, “what has got people on edge is that they are encroaching on the central city much more”.

“It’s a very new thing and also these things spread so, so quickly.”

Farrier said he knew of “friends of friends” who had seen their homes destroyed, most of them in the wealthier areas.

“Just looking at when a city that big is getting evacuation orders and how slow the information travels and how uncertain everyone is on what to do, it’s been a really fascinating thing to watch.”

People were gathering information from many sources, in particular apps, and he had been impressed with one called Watchduty.

It tracked wind speeds and fire spreads and he was able to see the Sunset fire was contained while the Pacific Palisades fire out west and Eaton fire to the east were very much uncontained and “going strong”.

“We’re all glued to the apps. The mayor seems very absent at the moment. It’s all just using social media and apps to track what’s going on.”

Air quality was a concern, Farrier said.

A house is threatened by fire in the community of Topanga, California. Photo / AFP

Everyone had woken with headaches yesterday because of the polluted air and the ash entering their homes.

Even though the situation seemed more under control in the central city now, he was well aware that in such dry conditions fires could quickly escalate again.

One spark could set things off quickly, especially if the winds whipped up again.

“It’s a really unpredictable time.”

Tim O’Brien, a New Zealander living in Pasadena, said many factors had combined to create perfect conditions for the unprecedented fires.

Earlier in the week the winds were ferocious and terrifying. He had never experienced such powerful winds in his 15 years living in the area.

One of their windows blew out because of the wind’s intensity.

People were waking up with headaches because of the polluted air and the ash entering their homes. Photo / Isabella Rolston

Though fires were high risk in the state, “what’s happened this time is way beyond what has happened before”, O’Brien told Morning Report.

He said two years of record rain had created a lot of undergrowth, then nine months of drought and high humidity plus the huge winds had combined to create perfect conditions for the fires.

He was about a five-minute walk from the evacuation zone for the Eaton fire.

Streets were blocked off near where homes had been destroyed, he said. The smoke was so dense and the direction of the wind was such that it was impossible to see flames, O’Brien said.

“It’s really horrible smoke. Breathing is difficult.”

He said it was handy that people still had their masks from the pandemic.

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