00:00This is the Malibu coastline.
00:04It's one of the most well-known parts of Southern California.
00:08And what we're looking at here is what up until a few days ago would have been prime
00:12waterfront real estate.
00:14Houses looking directly out over the ocean, right up and down this road.
00:20There is property after property that has been destroyed, cars that have been burnt
00:25out.
00:26There's a power line here that has been brought down.
00:29The power in this area is off.
00:33And if we look down the coast, you can get really a small glimpse of the scale of the
00:40destruction here.
00:41You can see how this fire has come right up to the shoreline, damaging so much in its
00:49path.
00:51It's quite remarkable how many properties have been lost.
00:54And then just up the road from here, I can see a lifeguard tower that is completely unscathed.
01:01But so much damage in this region.
01:04It's been hit, what is known as the Palisades fire.
01:08It's one of two fires along with the Eaton fire to the northeast of here that has caused
01:16so much destruction where fatalities have been reported and where thousands of structures
01:22have been damaged or destroyed.
01:25Favourable weather conditions, more favourable weather conditions at least, compared to those
01:29early stages of these fires, has helped crews to start to contain them.
01:34But it's pretty slow moving at this stage and authorities are worried that conditions
01:42could worsen in the days to come.
01:45They are facing all sorts of questions about how they have handled this emergency, about
01:52whether Los Angeles was as prepared as it could have been for the catastrophic conditions
01:58that fuelled these fires and allowed them to spread so rapidly.
02:02They insist that all of those questions will be answered, that reviews will be undertaken,
02:07but that at the moment they're focused on the emergency that is still unfolding.
02:12They have apologised for emergency alerts that were mistakenly sent out overnight to
02:19people who aren't in fire zones, aren't in evacuation zones.
02:24Tens of thousands of people still remain under evacuation orders.
02:30But these alerts to people's mobile phones, including mine, I got one about 4am this morning
02:35suggesting that we might need to leave.
02:38They were sent out by mistake and authorities have conceded that that has caused confusion
02:44and frustration and they're worried now that people might disable those alert systems on
02:50their phones and they're concerned that if that happens and conditions change, if the
02:55threat assessment changes, then members of the public could be left vulnerable.
02:59So they've urged people not to do that.
03:02They insist that support is being provided at the state and at the federal level.
03:09There have been resources put in place to try to combat looting because a number of
03:13arrests have been made so far and the National Guard has been brought in to try to manage
03:21that situation and police are patrolling these worst affected areas as well.
03:26But still such an anxious time for so many people in this city.
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