Arcadia, United States:

As deadly flames swept closer and smoke poured into their Los Angeles home, Zahrah Mihm tried to calmly wake her two young children in the middle of the night.

“We gotta go baby. We’re going on a fun adventure,” she told 4-year-old Ethan in her gentlest voice, scooping up her 18-month-old baby and fleeing their house in Altadena.

The neighborhood would soon be totally razed by the inferno. At least 17 died in this community alone, with more bodies being discovered. 

The trauma has been severe for everyone, but is perhaps more acute among evacuated families with young children, many of whom are now desperately seeking diapers, milk formula and clothing.

And then there is the question of how to explain this colossal disaster to children who may sense their parents’ panic, even if they do not fully grasp what is happening.

“When we woke up at four in the morning panicking, he was shaking, scared,” recalled Mihm.

“I was like, ‘Are you cold?’ He’s like, ‘No, mommy, what’s happening? Why is there fire?'” 

The Mihms are sheltering at a friend’s home after struggling to find a hotel.

Even now, Zahrah is trying to distract her son, describing their visit Monday to a donation center in search of clean bedding and diapers as “a super fun party” packed with people, food and toys.

As his mother — still wearing the slippers in which she’d fled — spoke to an AFP reporter, Ethan proudly displayed his new dinosaur pajamas and toy car. 

“I’m trying to take this moment out of his mind, and just be like, ‘It’s all good. Our house got a little owie, we are gonna fix it. It’s gonna be fine,'” she said, out of earshot of him.

‘TraumatiSed’

The donation center in nearby Arcadia — which sprung up organically from one resident’s TikTok post asking for supplies, and has drawn hundreds of volunteers — received so many donations it is turning some away, but baby products remain among the most pressing needs.

“We desperately need diapers,” said Kellie Krievs, a 38-year-old communications director who is volunteering at the makeshift operation in the parking lot of the Santa Anita racetrack.

“A lot of people, the first thing they ask for is diapers and baby formula,” Krievs told AFP.

Beyond those products, mental health is an urgent concern.

“The kids are not alright,” said Chessa Latifi, deputy director of emergency response for NGO Project Hope.

“They’re acting differently and they’re under stress — they know that their friends have lost their homes, and they know that their school is closed.”

She urged parents to maintain whatever normalcy they can, including setting up playdates with friends.

“Just trying to make sure they understand that their community, whether it be physically or emotionally, is still there for them,” she said.

“This entire city has been traumatized, whether your house was burnt down or not,” Latifi added.

Thankfully for the Mihms, their home was only partially burnt.

Neighboring homes on three sides of their property were totally destroyed, as the blaze miraculously swept in an S-shape around them.

But they are still unable to return, with no electricity, powerlines dangling dangerously around the house, and National Guard soldiers sealing off the street.

“We’re OK. We’re just devastated, that’s all,” Mihm said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Los Angeles:

US officials warned “dangerous and strong” winds were set to push deadly wildfires further through Los Angeles residential areas Sunday as firefighters struggled to make progress against the flames.

At least 16 people have been confirmed dead from blazes that have ripped through the city, reducing whole neighborhoods to ashes and leaving thousands without homes.

Despite massive efforts, including precision sorties from aerial crews, the Palisades Fire continued to grow, spreading east towards the priceless collections of the Getty Center art museum and north to the densely populated San Fernando Valley.

“The winds are potentially getting dangerous and strong again,” Deanne Criswell, head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), told CNN.

“The biggest thing that people need to know is that this is still dangerous.”

A brief lull in the wind gave way to gusts that forecasters warned could reach up to 50 miles per hour (80 kilometers per hour) early Sunday, and feed the blazes for days to come.

The winds were due to weaken later Sunday before picking up again overnight, the National Weather Service said.

Nowhere to live

The Palisades Fire was 11 percent contained but had grown to 23,600 acres (9,500 hectares), while the Eaton Fire was at 14,000 acres and 15 percent contained.

Official figures show more than 12,000 structures burned, though Cal Fire’s Todd Hopkins said not all were houses and the number included outbuildings, trailers and sheds.

In some areas, the ferocious fire left streaks of molten metal flowing from burnt-out cars.

The sudden rush of evacuated people needing somewhere to live posed a growing problem for the city.

“I’m back on the market with tens of thousands of people,” said a man who gave his name as Brian, whose rent-controlled apartment has burned. “That doesn’t bode well.”

With incidences of looting and a nighttime curfew in place, police and National Guard mounted checkpoints to prevent people getting into the disaster zones.

Two people were arrested near Vice President Kamala Harris’s Brentwood house for violating the curfew order after police received reports of burglary.

A handwritten sign with “looters will be shot” was hung on one tree, next to the US flag outside a house in Pacific Palisades.

But the security checkpoints have left residents frustrated as they queue for up to 10 hours to try to get back in and see what, if anything, is left of their homes or check on family.

Prevented from entering an evacuation zone, Altadena resident Bobby Salman, 42, said: “I have to be there to protect my family, my wife, my kids, my mom and I cannot even go and see them.”

The queues left some people fuming about poor management, the latest gripe from a population already angry over hydrants that ran dry in the initial firefight.

City officials have put on a united front after reports of a behind-the-scenes row between the mayor and the fire chief.

But President-elect Donald Trump accused California officials of incompetence.

“This is one of the worst catastrophes in the history of our Country. They just can’t put out the fires. What’s wrong with them?” Trump said on his Truth Social platform.

Teams with cadaver dogs were combing through the rubble, with several people known to be missing and fears that the death toll will grow.

Among those known to have died in the tragedy was former Australian child star Rory Sykes, who appeared in British TV show “Kiddy Kapers” in the 1990s.

Climate impact

A huge investigation by federal and local authorities was underway to determine what caused the blazes.

California Governor Gavin Newsom told Meet the Press he was also launching a “Marshall Plan” for the state as it looks to rebuild.

“We already have a team looking at reimagining L.A. 2.0,” he said.

He also stressed the immediate problem of weather conditions, saying “the challenge is the winds. We’ve got these winds coming back this evening, Sunday night. We’ve got peak winds on Monday.”

While the ignition of a wildfire can be deliberate, they are often natural, and a vital part of an environment’s life cycle.

But urban sprawl puts people more frequently in harm’s way, and the changing climate — supercharged by humanity’s unchecked use of fossil fuels — is exacerbating the conditions that give rise to destructive blazes.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Los Angeles Wildfires LIVE Updates: Los Angeles Wildfires that have killed at least five people continue ravaging the city. United States’ second-largest city lay in ruins. California’s National Guard has been deployed to assist in managing the crisis. The biggest blaze had ripped through over 19,000 acres of the upscale Pacific Palisades neighborhood, while another fire in Altadena had torched 13,000 acres. Neither of the two fires was contained on Thursday, but the spreading has slowed, the firefighters said. Over 9,000 structures across the city have been damaged. Nearly 180,000 people across Los Angeles remain under evacuation orders.

Amid this, looting has broken out. At least 20 people have been arrested in the aftermath of wildfires that started on Tuesday.

Here are LIVE updates on California wildfires:

Los Angeles, United States:

One of the five people killed in ferocious fires tearing around Los Angeles died trying to protect his home from the flames, his sister said Wednesday, describing the moment she had to leave him behind.

Victor Shaw ignored firefighters’ pleas to flee as fire began tearing through the Altadena area, Shari Shaw told local broadcaster KTLA.

The 66-year-old, who lived with his sister, told her he wanted to stay behind and fight the flames as she made the heartbreaking decision to leave their family home.

“When I went back in and yelled out his name, he didn’t reply back,” Shari Shaw said.

“I had to get out because the embers were so big and flying like a firestorm that I had to save myself.

“I looked behind me, and the house was starting to go up in flames, and I had to leave.”

Al Tanner said after the fire had swept through the neighborhood, he went back to the charred property where he found the body of Shaw, a friend of his, on the driveway with a garden hose still in his hand.

“It looked like he was trying to save the home that his parents had had for almost 55 years,” he told KTLA.

The broadcaster reported that Shaw’s body was still at the property, with first responders stretched thin over a wide area by challenging fire conditions.

Furious winds have spotted blazes far and wide in a hellish two days around Los Angeles that has seen firefighters out-flanked by vicious, fast-moving fires.

Thousands of acres (hectares) have burned, with around 1,500 buildings razed, and a large number of people have been hurt — many because they did not heed warnings to leave, authorities have said.

Fire authorities in the area have ordered over 100,000 people to leave their homes.

They issue frequent exhortations to get out as soon as an order is posted, and speak often of their frustration with people who stay behind.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

A beach house engulfed by the flames of the Palisades fire in California. (File)