Homes are burned to the ground after the Palisades Fire destroyed beach homes in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles in January. Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI |
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Feb. 2 (UPI) -- Two of the largest and most deadly wildfires to ravage southern California are fully contained, state officials announced Sunday. The blazes, which erupted earlier this month, have claimed the lives of at least 29 people and destroyed tens of thousands of structures.
The Eaton and Palisades fires, which erupted more than three weeks ago and quickly blew out of control, were declared 100% under control, Cal Fire reported.
The death toll stood at 28 for weeks until the Los Angeles County medical examiner announced Monday that it had jumped by one and could still grow.
Officials declare a fire contained once crews have established a perimeter around the whole blaze, stopping its spread.
The Palisades fire scorched at least 23,448 acres, destroyed 6,837 structures and damaged an additional 1,017, Cal Fire said.
The Eaton fire burned 9,418 structures and damaged 1,073, many of them century-old homes in Altadena, nestled in the hills above the town of Pasadena. It erupted in Eaton Canyon and quickly swept through the town.
Eyewitnesses reported seeing chunks of burning debris blow past them in the sky, fueled by seasonal Santa Ana winds that reached in excess of 100 mph, touching off devastating historic fires across a wide swath of southern California, including in some of the area's most exclusive neighborhoods and along the Pacific Coast Highway.
The Andrew McNally House and the Zane Grey Estate, famous among artists, were destroyed, according to the Los Angeles Conservancy. The Getty Museum, which houses some of the world's most precious and valuable art, escaped serious damage, but the flames came perilously close. Officials credit architecture and state-of-the-art fire suppression systems for the Getty's survival.
Wetter weather helped crews get an upper hand on the fires, but rain increased the risk for mud and landslides of land left barren by the historic blazes.
"It really is a fortress," Getty Trust chief executive officer Katherine Fleming said in an interview with Canada's The Globe and Mail.
"We would never remove the collection. Think about how hard it is to move house -- the worst possible thing we could try to do would be to take priceless works off the wall. Where are you going to try and take them?"