By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
LOS ANGELES, USA (Worthy News) – Massive wildfires raged through neighborhoods of Los Angeles, America’s second-largest city, and surrounding areas in the U.S. state of California late Wednesday, where tens of thousands of people were forced to leave their homes.
Authorities said four wildfires were burning in Los Angeles County, including the Pacific Palisades and Sylmar neighborhoods of Los Angeles and another near Pasadena.
Officials warned that the fires were ” zero percent contained ” as of Wednesday afternoon.
More than 70,000 residents were under evacuation orders as the Los Angelas area wildfires which threaten at least 28,000 structures, according to authorities.
Adding to the misery, more than 400,000 people were without power in Los Angeles County by Wednesday afternoon.
Santa Ana winds from the east are pushing the fires, and officials have warned that “the worst is yet to come.”
NAVY HELICOPTERS
With fires reaching apocalyptic proportions, the U.S. Department of Defense said it is deploying ten Navy helicopters with water delivery buckets to help suppress wildfires raging across southern California.
Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters that the 10 Navy helicopters come in addition to the California National Guard and the Nevada Nation Guard, each readying an additional two “modular air fighting system units.”
The Navy’s helicopters with watery delivery buckets will “immediately assist with aerial suppression,” Singh said, cautioning that high winds complicate efforts.
“We can search assets, and the president has directed this department to bolster whatever California needs. But we have to work with California, and right now, we can’t even get assets up in the air because the fires are so bad and because the winds are so bad,” she added.
At President Biden’s direction, the military “will provide additional firefighting personnel and capabilities,” Singh stressed. “The federal government is working closely with the National Guard, which is deployed under the governor’s state of emergency declaration.”
However, U.S. President-elect Donald J. Trump pinned the blame for the “apocalyptic” wildfires tearing through Los Angeles County on California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom.
PROTECTING FISH
He claimed the governor “refused to sign the water restoration declaration put before him that would have allowed millions of gallons of water, from excess rain and snow, melt from the North, to flow daily into many parts of California, including the areas that are currently burning in a virtually apocalyptic way.”
Trump alleged on his Truth Social media platform late Wednesday morning that the governor “wanted to protect an essentially worthless fish called a smelt, by giving it less water (it didn’t work!), but didn’t care about the people of California.”
Trump added, “Now the ultimate price is being paid.”
He made clear that soon after his January 20 inauguration as president he would “demand that this incompetent governor allow beautiful, clean, fresh water to FLOW INTO CALIFORNIA! He is the blame for this. On top of it all, no water for fire hydrants, not firefighting planes. A true disaster!”
In response, Newsom’s director of communications, Izzy Gardon, said: “We’re focused on protecting lives and battling these blazes—not playing politics.”
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
More Worthy News
Israel carried out an unusual airstrike deep inside northwestern Syria early Tuesday, targeting the strategic Abu al-Duhur military airfield shortly after a Turkish military delegation reportedly visited the base to assess its rehabilitation, according to Israeli and Syrian reports. The operation prompted a rare public rebuke from a senior U.S. envoy.
Newly declassified FBI records released by the White House detail what officials describe as a years-long Chinese intelligence effort to penetrate American political circles through sexual relationships, campaign donations, and strategically placed interns.
President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace is considering a significant overhaul of its Gaza disarmament framework after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a plan that would have linked Hamas weapons handovers to phased Israeli troop withdrawals, according to an exclusive report by The Times of Israel.
Iran’s rulers were quietly preparing for a broader and potentially prolonged Middle East war even as Tehran publicly engaged in diplomatic efforts with the United States, according to an exclusive investigation by The Wall Street Journal.
U.S. President Donald J. Trump announced Sunday that he had ordered the Pentagon to “substantially reduce” military exercises with key regional ally South Korea, citing his “very good relationship” with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Seoul’s refusal to assist Washington in its confrontation with Iran.
Rescue teams in eastern Indonesia recovered six more bodies Sunday following a powerful magnitude 7.7 earthquake, raising the death toll to at least 53 as Christians prayed for victims and rescuers struggled to reach isolated communities.
The U.S. Department of Defense is introducing a course centered on Christianity and Western civilization this fall in the schools it operates for military families, while casting Islam as a threat to both.