‘It was just dust’: Shocked families return to find their charred homes

At least 10 people have been killed and officials said they expected that number to rise as cadaver dogs go through levelled neighbourhoods to assess the devastation to an area larger than San Francisco. Officials have set up a centre where people can report those missing. Roughly 150,000 people remained under evacuation orders, and the fires have consumed about 145 square kilometres.

The disaster took homes from everyone – from waiters to movie stars. The government has not yet released figures on the cost of the damage, but private firms have estimated it will climb at least into $US50 billion ($81 billion).

The flames hit schools, churches, a synagogue, libraries, boutiques, bars, restaurants, banks and local landmarks like the Will Rogers’ Western Ranch House and a Queen Anne-style mansion in Altadena that dated back to 1887 and was commissioned for wealthy map-maker Andrew McNally.

In some neighbourhoods, hydrants ran dry and the water system buckled. Governor Gavin Newsom on Friday ordered an investigation into the loss of water pressure which President Joe Biden attributed to the shutdown of the electricity grid.

Firefighters for the first time made progress containing the Eaton Fire north of Pasadena, officials said on FRiday (Saturday AEDT). It has burned more than 7000 structures, a term that includes homes, apartment buildings, businesses, outbuildings and vehicles.

To the west, the fire in Pacific Palisades, the largest burning in the LA area, has destroyed more than 5300 structures. The blaze is already the most destructive in Los Angeles’ history.

LA Mayor Karen Bass, who faces a critical test of her leadership as her city endures its greatest crisis in decades, said firefighters had contained several smaller fires in the previous 24 hours.

California National Guard troops arrived on the streets of Altadena before dawn to help protect property in the fire evacuation zone and evening curfews were set to begin in those areas to prevent looting after several earlier arrests.

The level of devastation is jarring even in a state that has grown used to massive wildfires. Dozens of blocks of scenic Pacific Palisades were flattened to smouldering rubble. In neighbouring Malibu, where oceanfront homes once stood, all that was left above the debris were blackened palm strands.

Anna Yeager said she and her husband agonised over going back to their beloved Altadena neighbourhood near Pasadena after fleeing on Tuesday night with their six-year-old daughter and three-year-old son, their two dogs and a few extra clothes. A neighbour told them their house was gone.

Now she regrets not grabbing her children’s artwork, her husband’s treasured cookbooks, family photos, and jewellery from both her mum who died in 2012 and her husband’s grandmother who survived Auschwitz.

When the couple returned, it was only “chimney after chimney. Power lines everywhere. Fires still going everywhere” she said, adding that when they walked up to their home “it was just dust”.

There were remnants of the front porch where she had photographed her children nearly daily since 2020 and had planned to keep doing that until they reached high school. That gave her hope.

Loading

“The porch is still there and it’s to me, it’s a sign to rebuild and not leave,” she said. “You know, it’s like saying, ‘Hey, I’m still here. You can still do this.’”

Yeager’s neighbourhood of Tudor homes was planning to celebrate its 100th anniversary in May.

“You build a world for yourself and your family, and you feel safe in that world and things like this happen that you cannot control,” she said. “And that’s the way it goes. It’s devastating.”