INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Firefighters are making an all-out assault to prevent the largest of the deadly wildfires that is threatening Los Angeles from spreading
hold back the Palisades fire, which has expanded an additional 1,000 acres and is now menacing Brentwood.Officials have been on the
defensive amid mounting anger at how hydrants ran dry as firefighters struggled to contain the fast-moving blazes.Winds are expected to pick
worst of the infernos, the Palisades fire, which has scorched nearly 23,000 acres and is 11% contained.But the conflagration has spread into
the Mandeville Canyon neighbourhood, sparking evacuation orders for swathes of Brentwood, a ritzy enclave where Arnold Schwarzenegger,
Disney chief executive Bob Iger and NBA star LeBron James have homes.Also in the evacuation zone is the Getty Center, a hilltop museum that
holds more than 125,000 artworks, including masterpieces by Van Gogh, Rembrandt, Rubens, Monet and Degas
The building is undamaged so far.The second-biggest blaze, the Eaton fire, has razed more than 14,000 acres and was 15% contained
Firefighters have mostly contained two smaller blazes, the Kenneth and Hurst fires.But the National Weather Service warned that the gusty
Santa Ana winds that whipped up the fires at the outset would increase again on Saturday and into Sunday.Seven neighbouring states, the
federal government and Canada and Mexico have rushed resources to California.No cause has yet been established for the fires
The two biggest ones combined have razed an area more than twice the size of Manhattan.Some 153,000 residents are under mandatory evacuation
orders and another 166,000 have been warned they may have to flee, too.The political repercussions have begun.On Friday, Governor Gavin
Newsom, a Democrat with rumoured White House aspirations, ordered an investigation into why a key reservoir was out of service and some fire
mechanic positions, which she said had resulted in more than 100 fire apparatuses being out of service.On Saturday, Los Angeles Mayor Karen
being strictly enforced in evacuated areas, official said.Newsom announced on Saturday that he would double the number of National Guard on
curfew violations.Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said cadaver dogs are helping 40 search and rescue team scour razed
neighbourhoods.The death toll is expected to rise once house-to-house searches are conducted.The fires were so intense that wheel alloys on
cars were melted to puddles of liquid metal.Rick McGeagh, an estate agent, told Reuters news agency that in his Pacific Palisades
