TV star couple sue after losing home in LA fires
The reality TV couple are suing city officials after their $3 million dollar home was destroyed in one of LA’s deadly fires.
A rapidly spreading fire, which has torched more than 10,000 acres and forced 31,000 residents to flee their homes, continues to wreak havoc on Los Angeles.
Four thousand firefighters have been deployed to battle the monster Hughes fire which broke out about 11am on Wednesday, local time, near Castaic Lake.
As of Thursday evening (local time), the fire had grown to 10,396 acres and was 36 per cent contained, according to California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
Meanwhile, a new, smaller blaze, the Laguna fire, has broken out in Ventura County, promoting the brief evacuation of a nearby university.
At least 28 people have died as a result of the wildfires, which first broke out in Los Angeles two weeks ago on January 7.
Read on for the latest updates from the Los Angeles fires.
Reality TV couple sue city officials
Reality TV couple Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag are taking legal action after their mutli-million dollar home was destroyed in the deadly Palisades Fire.
The Hills stars are suing the city of Los Angeles and the L.A. Department of Water and Power (DWP) over the damage to their $3 million house, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Pratt, 41, and his wife, 38, filed the lawsuit on Tuesday, alleging inverse condemnation -defined by the outlet as a legal concept that gives property owners compensation or damage caused by public use.
In the suit, Pratt and Montag allege that a nearby reservoir had been empty for months when the fire near their property ignited, per TMZ.
They claim the water flow to fire hydrants and tankers was limited to firefighters who ran out of water while trying to battle the blaze.
The reality TV couple accuses DWP of trying to cut costs by draining the reservoir and seeking bids for repairs.
They are also blaming the city and DWP for an alleged faulty water system design, claiming the infrastructure could not effectively fight wildfires – an accusation they say city officials admitted to after the fire broke out.
Pratt and Montag are among 20 others suing the city and DWP for damages after losing their homes in the Palisades Fire.
MORE: Celeb homes destroyed in LA fires revealed
Trump threatens to withhold federal aid
President Donald Trump has threatened to withhold federal disaster aid unless California changes its water policies.
In an interview with Fox News on Wednesday, Mr Trump slammed California’s water management, repeating false claims that California’s fish conservation efforts in the northern part of the state were responsible for fire hydrants drying up. He called for more water to be sent down to the southern part of the state.
“I don’t think we should give California anything until they let the water run down,” Mr Trump said.
It comes after the President earlier blasted California Governor Gavin Newsom for refusing “to sign the water restoration declaration put before him that would have allowed millions of gallons of water” into parts of California, which are currently burning.
“He wanted to protect an essentially worthless fish called a smelt, by giving it less water (it didn’t work!),” Mr Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Local officials have denied claims hydrants had dried up because of conservation efforts for the delta smelt, instead blaming demand on the municipal system.
“The claim that Delta smelt protections in the Bay-Delta estuary are limiting the amount of water exported to southern California, which, in turn, would affect the amount of water available for emergency response, has no merit whatsoever,” Ashley Overhouse, a California water policy advisor for Defenders of Wildlife, toldABC News.
Elsewhere during the Fox News interview, Mr Trump called for reform of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
“I’d rather see the states take care of their own problems,” he said, adding there would be “a whole big discussion very shortly”.
Mr Trump will visit areas devastated by the fires wildfires in his first presidential trip of his second term on Friday.
Fire breaks out near California freeway
A small fire has broken out along a freeway in Seal Beach, California, causing closures and traffic chaos.
The blaze was reported at about 1.30 pm on Thursday, local time, near the interchange from the northbound 405 Freeway to the northbound 605 Freeway.
Footage shared by Fox 11 Los Angeles shows bright orange flames and billowing black smoke coming from a patch of vegetation next to the freeway as cars and trucks drive past.
Multiple freeway lanes were closed as firefighters worked to battle the flames.
Firefighters managed to stop the fire’s forward progress and have held the blaze to about 1 acre.
Orange County Fire Authority said no structures were threatened in the fire and there were no reported injuries.
Officials are investigating the cause of the fire.
New blaze breaks near university
Firefighters are battling a new blaze which broke in Ventura County, briefly forcing the evacuation of a nearby university.
The Laguna Fire started at about 8.51am on Thursday, local time, in the hills west of the California State University Channel Island campus.
About 200 firefighters were deployed to battle the blaze which prompted Ventura County Sheriff’s Department to issue an evacuation for California State University Channel Island.
“VCSO has issued evacuation orders for the Cal State Channel Islands Campus and fire resources are in place evaluating any potential structure threats,” Ventura County Fire Department wrote on X.
The Ventura County Sheriff’s Department has since downgraded its evacuation order to a warning, prompting the university campus to reopen.
The fire burned about 50 acres and is zero per cent contained, according to California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
– With the New York Post
Originally published as TV star couple sue after losing home in LA fires
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