Armored vehicles rolled east on the 210 freeway late Thursday night, bound for the Eaton Fire. They belonged to a force of 400 California National Guard troops sent into Los Angeles County to stop looters from picking through homes that evacuees had been forced to leave.
By Saturday the force was set to grow. Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that the Guard’s strength in the region would rise to 1,680 service members. “We are continuing to rush in resources to rapidly respond to the firestorm in Los Angeles fueled by hurricane-force winds,” he said, adding that the troops were “working day and night” for residents in “their greatest time of need.”
Of the more than 1,600 Guard personnel already on the streets, 1,000 are military police, the Guard’s own law enforcement branch.
Why the Guard, and why now
Looting had become a top worry for stretched police. Dozens of arrests had been made, and residents were reporting strangers prowling around empty houses. Sheriff Robert Luna said at a Thursday press conference that 20 people had been arrested for looting in evacuation zones. “You will be arrested and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” he said, a warning aimed as well at anyone scamming fire victims.
A curfew was in force from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. across areas under mandatory evacuation orders. Deadline reported that the first troops would work around the Eaton and Palisades fires, with orders that could reach other neighborhoods depending on need, according to a law enforcement source.
Newsom had been under fire himself. Critics said he waited too long to bring in the Guard, and the county’s request was not approved until Thursday afternoon.
Residents push back
Not everyone welcomed the checkpoints. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said the troops would help with traffic control and protecting critical infrastructure. An Altadena resident told the World Socialist Web Site that he and several other couples, whose homes had not yet burned, tried to go back for belongings and were turned away by the Guard. “What looters?” he asked, pointing out that news coverage kept returning to the same 20 arrests.
The fires behind it
The Eaton Fire, which started Tuesday, had scorched almost 14,000 acres by Thursday night with no containment, tearing through Pasadena and Altadena. Pressenza later put containment at 3 percent for Eaton and 8 percent for the Palisades Fire, the two biggest.
Another blaze, the Kenneth Fire, broke out Thursday afternoon in Calabasas and Hidden Hills and covered almost 1000 acres by 5:30 p.m. The LAPD took a suspect in for questioning over whether he started it.
Six fires had hit the county that week. Deadline counted 10 deaths; Pressenza, a day later, reported at least 11 and more than 12,000 homes and other structures lost, with about 180,000 people under evacuation orders. The burned area came to roughly 56 square miles (145 square kilometers).
Wind remained the problem. Fire warnings were set to take effect at about 6 p.m. Saturday and last until Sunday evening, and forecasters expected gusts of up to 45 mph from Monday into Wednesday.
Sources
- L.A. Wildfires: Newsom Sends More National Guard Personnel To LA To Halt Looters, Fires – Update
- National Guard deployed to Los Angeles fire zones as anger builds over government failure to prevent disaster
