"Everything looked like a huge apocalypse".
This is how Jelisaveta Eli Sweeney, a Serbian woman who has lived in Los Angeles for three decades, describes the scene from Wednesday (January 8) from the window of her own home.
Just 200 meters from her house, where she lives with her husband and two children, a terrible fire broke out, and the wind speed of up to 140 kilometers per hour carried everything before it.
California WildfiresTens of thousands of people were left homeless / Photo: AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes
"The air was black and full of smoke, palm trees were falling all over our yard," Jelisaveta told "Vreme".
In one of the biggest fires Los Angeles has ever seen, residents fear for more victims, but also for their lives.
I started packing passports
At one point, a bang was heard from the yard, so the householders thought that the fire had engulfed their home as well. It turned out that the wind knocked over the basketball hoop.
Jelisaveta then quickly started packing the most basic things - documents, children's birth certificates, medicines, water.
California Wildfires Photo GalleryMany houses in LA are not insured against fire / Photo: AP Photo/Ethan Swope
"I was looking for photo albums when the kids were little," says the LA-based lawyer.
During this time, the sky in front of their house turned black.
"That's where I already panicked," he adds.
However, the neighborhood where he lives does not have much greenery, so the fire was extinguished relatively quickly and the family could breathe a sigh of relief.
The things she packed are still in the car - just in case.
"It's easier for us if we are ready to leave at any time," says Jelisaveta.
Life in a burning city
At the time this text was written, 10 people died in a fire in Los Angeles, 10.000 houses were burned, and 130.000 people were evacuated.
Jelisaveta's sons go to different schools that are not open, and she will try to work from home in the coming days.
California WildfiresThe wind was so strong that firefighters could not do anything / Fpto: AP Photo/Etienne Laurent
Almost all the schools in Pacific Palisades, the neighborhood hardest hit by the fire, have burned down.
The Sweeneys' home is in a valley neighborhood, but it's a low 1 on the fire danger scale, which goes from 10 to 2.
Pacific Palisades is at 9 or 10.
That's why her family members were so scared when the fire unexpectedly reached their end.
Jelisaveta is a lawyer who moved to the "City of Angels" in 1998 and started a family there.
Since living in America, she has never seen anything like this, even though LA is engulfed in fires every year during the dry season.
California WildfiresEntire settlements burned down / Photo: AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill
"The wind was so strong you literally couldn't walk," she says.
He is in constant contact with friends who live in the most affected neighborhoods.
Many have lost their homes, so they are staying with family and friends, and, he says, a large number of shelters are open in churches and other facilities.
Photo: Private archiveLocation of Elizabeth's House (blue dot) in relation to Pacific Palisades
Who was wrong
Pacific Palisades is a luxury neighborhood in which a fire destroyed a huge number of buildings, says Jelisaveta. It is one of the most beautiful parts of the city with beautiful houses.
The very thing that made it beautiful – lots of greenery, a house in a natural setting without a lot of concrete surfaces – made it so vulnerable to this fire.
As the city had not seen rain for months, the grass was completely dry, so the smallest spark was enough to start a fire.
According to Jelisaveta, the question of the cause of such a fiery element is widely raised among the public.
"We all have water hydrants in the yard and they are all over the city, precisely because of the high risk of fire." No one knows why yet, but the fire hydrants were empty on the day the fire broke out."
Another reason mentioned is the wind, the strength of which also broke the limits measured in this part of America.
That's why on the first day, says the resident of LA, the firefighters could not even put out the fire, but only evacuated the population.
The wind was so strong that it "carried the water backwards", explains Jelisaveta.
What next
Los Angeles hotels are full. Airbnb announced that the state reached an agreement with this company so that city residents whose houses were destroyed can stay in their accommodations.
California Wildfires Photo GalleryFires break out in dozens of places, panic reigns in the city / Photo: AP Photo/Etienne Laurent
Jelisavetu worries about how the city will continue to function, when "everything has burned".
Many people who lost their homes did not insure their homes against fire because insurance in Los Angeles is very expensive.
Insurance companies in some parts of the "City of Angels" even refuse to issue this type of policy.
"LA is always well organized and now the fire seems to be calming down." But what we will do next, how the city will recover - I can't even imagine", says the native of Belgrade.
