Five fires rage in Los Angeles, with whole communities destroyed
Newshour
BBC
4.2 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 9 January 2025
⏱️ 47 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
A crescent of flames looms over Los Angeles as wildfires continue to burn. But firefighters have managed to bring under control the blaze that had been threatening Hollywood.
Also on the programme: Lebanon has a president for the first time in two years. He's Joseph Aoun, the Maronite Christian who leads the army; and we will hear from Ireland's ex- president Mary Robinson in Washington for the funeral of her friend, the former US President Jimmy Carter.
(Photo: A firefighter walks next to a burning home, as powerful winds fueling devastating wildfires in the Los Angeles area force people to evacuate, in Malibu, California. Credit: Reuters)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to NewsHour. It's coming to you live from the BBC World Service Studios in central London. I'm Tim Franks. And we're starting with dramatic events in and around the biggest city in the richest state of the world's most powerful country. But it's one that is struggling to deal with an ancient scourge. |
| 0:23.0 | I'm talking about Los Angeles in the teeth of rampant wildfires. |
| 0:31.0 | The sound of the strong winds which are fanning and spreading the flames. |
| 0:35.7 | Firefighters say they're making no progress |
| 0:37.4 | in containing several separate blazers |
| 0:39.8 | that are ravaging neighborhoods. |
| 0:41.9 | Five people are confirmed to have died. |
| 0:43.9 | Tens of thousands have been evacuated. |
| 0:46.5 | Catherine Barger heads of the L.A. Board of Supervisors. |
| 0:49.4 | She says these fires are unprecedented. |
| 0:53.0 | We are prone to wildfires, but nothing like what I witnessed today. |
| 0:59.2 | The Eaton Canyon fire is ripping through a community like I have never seen. |
| 1:05.1 | It is like a third world country out there. |
| 1:08.3 | I would ask anyone listening, if you do not need to be in the area and you've |
| 1:12.7 | been evacuated, please heed the evacuation warning. And if you don't live in the area, please |
| 1:19.1 | stay away. She mentioned the Eton Canyon fire at southwest of there, close to the upmarket |
| 1:25.4 | neighborhood of Beverly Hills, the Palisades |
| 1:27.6 | Fire, as it's called, is raging. Our BBC News website has superimposed the reach of that fire |
| 1:33.4 | on maps of New York City and London. You can see it covers great swathes, or would cover |
| 1:38.9 | great swathes of both cities. Our reporter John Sudworth spent the night close to the Palisades' fire with fire |
| 1:46.0 | crews and with residents. |
| 1:50.8 | Late into the night, in one of L.A.'s wealthiest areas, the eerie sound of home after home, |
... |
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