The effects of the California fires on the famous beaches of Los Angeles

On January 7, a series of wildfires broke out in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in southwestern California.

The cold drop disaster in Valencia seen from space by the Landsat 8 satellite
The brutal devastation that Hurricane Helene left in the beautiful town of Chimney Rock

The two largest fires are the Palisades fire (with 5 deaths and 9,170 hectares burned) and the Eaton fire (with 6 deaths and 5,712 hectares burned). So far, more than 13,400 homes, buildings and other structures have been damaged or destroyed. Some 180,000 people have had to be evacuated from the affected area.

These fires got out of control due to a dangerous cocktail of drought and strong winds, with speeds of between 130 and 160 km/h. This disaster is attracting the attention of media around the world, since Los Angeles is the second most populated city in the United States and has places that are part of popular culture on an international scale. Among those places are its beaches.

Above we can see a video showing the damage caused by the Palisades fire along the entire coastline of Pacific Palisades and Malibu, two coastal neighborhoods known for their luxury homes, many of which have been razed.

Thanks to television, the idyllic image that many of us have of these beaches is the one we can see in these two photos from the Lifeguard Division of the Los Angeles County Fire Department, with the lifeguard huts that became world famous thanks to the 1989 television series "Baywatch".

On Tuesday, January 7, the Lifeguard Division released this photo of the Palisades Fire moving toward the beaches, noting that areas of Rustic Canyon and Topanga Canyon were being evacuated.

On Wednesday night, the Lifeguard Division published these two photos in which we see the fires seen from the coast:

On Wednesday, Six12media posted this photo showing a lifeguard hut burning on the beaches of Pacific Palisades:

In the early hours of this Saturday, the Lifeguard Division published this series of photos showing the beach area of Los Angeles County scorched by fireIt's like we're looking at a war zone.

My prayers are with the deceased and their families, and I wish that the injured recover quickly and that those who have lost their homes can rebuild their lives.

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Main photo: Los Angeles County Fire Department, Lifeguard Division.