‘There was nothing you could do’: The week fire swallowed Los Angeles

Like so much of California, Los Angeles knows fire. But this has been different. It is a disaster ripped from a Hollywood film, a real-life nightmare playing out in America’s dream factory.

The devastation from the Palisades Fire is seen from the air in the Pacific Palisades neighbourhood of Los Angeles. AP

Reis Thebault and Joshua Partlow

Jan 10, 2025 – 2.53pm

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Willemina Yospe set out on foot through a city on fire. She wore a white sweatsuit and carried an empty backpack. This was a rescue mission.

With the ocean behind her, flames up ahead and thick, yellowed smoke everywhere closing in, Yospe wound her way through one of the most sublime corners of the country, her heaven turned hell.

Washington Post