Before the fires in California, the budget for firefighters was cut and they began to refuse home insurance (10 photos + 3 videos)
Category: Fires and Catastrophes, PEGI 0+
Yesterday, 11:17
Donald Trump demands the resignation of the state governor Gavin Newsom. 
Fires are raging in California. A state of emergency has been declared in Los Angeles - according to the latest data, the area of the forest fire in Pacific Palisades has already exceeded 6,390 hectares. The situation is complicated by the fact that the fire is spreading quickly due to strong winds, and firefighters simply cannot cope with the volume of the disaster. 
The fire affected not only the elite Pacific Palisades area, but also spread to Malibu and Santa Monica, where Hollywood celebrities live.
More than a thousand houses were destroyed by fire, including mansions of actors, directors, supermodels. Thus, it is reported that Paris Hilton, Leonardo DiCaprio, Anthony Hopkins, Tom Hanks, Mark Hamill, Ben Affleck and others have already lost their homes.
Photos of a sad Ben Affleck watching his house burn are circulating on public pages.
Affleck lived in this mansion after breaking up with Jennifer Lopez. Now, having lost his home, he has moved in with his ex-wife Jennifer Garner, who lives nearby.
And this video shows Paris Hilton's burned-out mansion.
The evacuation area also includes the homes of Steven Spielberg, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kim Kardashian, Lady Gaga, Adam Sandler, and current US Vice President Kamala Harris.
The fire threatens Hollywood Boulevard and the Walk of Fame. Five people are known to have died, and firefighters believe that this figure may not be final.
This is what Malibu looks like - the city of millionaires and luxury.
This is where Hunter Biden's mansion was located - the son of the current US president. The house burned to the ground and cannot be restored.
The three-bedroom, three-bathroom home was valued at $4.2 million, now just two chimneys remain
According to the Associated Press, the fire has already destroyed all buildings on an area of 108 square kilometers (the same size as neighboring San Francisco), and about 130,000 residents have received demands for evacuations,
It is all the more surprising that several months before the large-scale fires, California authorities cut fire department employees, and people were denied home insurance. On December 4, 2024, Los Angeles Fire Chief Christine Crowley warned that a budget cut of almost $18 million would affect the response time during large-scale emergencies. In particular, there will be difficulties with extinguishing fires from the air, with the work of bulldozer operators laying gaps and firebreaks around forest fires. Budget cuts entail the dismissal of these workers who are indispensable for extinguishing fires.
It is also interesting that California residents were denied home insurance shortly before the fires, even in areas with a low risk of wildfires, NBC Bay Area reported in September. And now many residents of the state will have to rebuild their homes at their own expense.
Amid the current situation, Donald Trump called on the state governor to resign. The politician is confident that most of the responsibility for everything that is happening in California lies with Gavin Newsom.
"One of the best and most beautiful parts of the United States of America is burning to the ground. Everything is in ashes and Gavin Newscum (intentional distortion of the last name, scum can be translated as "scoundrel", "scum" - ed.) must resign. This is all his fault," Trump wrote on his account on the Truth Social social network
The damage from the fires in Los Angeles may exceed $50 billion.
