The wild day when Sydney nearly burned to the ground like Los Angeles

The brutal bushfires that tore through America’s beloved cultural capital, Los Angeles, this week have shocked the world, but some Australians may remember that Sydney narrowly escaped the same fate 30 years ago.

In the LA area, especially in the hilly coastal neighborhood of Pacific Palisades, six people have died and thousands of structures have been damaged or destroyed, making it the most destructive fire in the city’s history.

Fast-moving flames, fanned by powerful California winds, have blown through homes and businesses as thousands of residents pass through smoke-filled canyons and picturesque neighborhoods where many celebrities live.

Similar scenes to the evacuations in LA were seen in Sydney in the dry, hot summer of 1993-94, when vegetation that had grown during heavy rains the year before dried out as drought gripped the east coast and a tinderbox changed.

About 20,000 firefighters battled 800 fires that broke out across NSW from Sydney to the Central Coast and up to the Queensland border, burning 2 million hectares of bushland, destroying 225 homes and claiming four lives.

The fires were not as large as the Black Summer bushfires of 2019-2020, which stretched as far as Victoria, but were just as worrying, especially given the fact that the inferno threatened to engulf Sydney itself.

A fire swept through the Royal National Park bordering Sydney’s south and charred the suburbs of Como and Jannali, while Lane Cove National Park to the north went up in flames, sending panicked residents fleeing along roads and waterways.

On the Central Coast, Ku-ring-gai National Park was on fire, threatening the main population center of Gosford, with the glow of the wall flames easily visible on the horizon as night fell.

The fires burned in NSW from December 17, 1993 to January 16, 1994.

A state of emergency was declared in the counties along the coast from Coffs Harbor to Tweed Heads and inland to Kyogle and Casino.

On the Central Coast, the fires reached within 1.5km of the Gosford CBD.

However, the worst damage occurred in Sydney, where the Como and Jannali fires burned 101 homes in the city’s south to the ground.

The second fire front in the north of the city destroyed 13 homes, threatening the suburbs of Chatswood, Turramurra, West Pymble, West Kilara, Lindfield and Macquarie Park.

On January 9, more than 16,000 people were on standby for evacuation.

A decrease in hot, dry winds and a heavy effort brought the fires under control by the end of January.

Three volunteer firefighters had been killed, along with a tanker driver when a tree branch fell on his vehicle and a woman who had taken shelter in a swimming pool.

In Los Angeles, firefighters have managed to slow the spread of fires, but the largest blazes are still out of control.

According to statistics from the Wildfire Alliance, the destruction exceeds that of the November 2008 Sayre Fire in L.A., which destroyed 604 structures in Sylmar, the city’s northernmost suburb.

Many of the towering fires that ignited Tuesday were fueled by Santa Ana winds, which whipped at more than 70 miles per hour in some areas.

Winds eased Thursday, but the National Weather Service warned that even the reduced gusts could still spread the fire quickly and winds are expected to strengthen again Thursday evening.

High winds could return on Tuesday and the death toll is expected to rise as crews sift through the rubble.

Governor Gavin Newsom said the state has deployed more than 1,400 firefighters to battle the blazes, with Oregon, Washington, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona dispatching teams to help.

AccuWeather estimated Wednesday that $52 billion to $57 billion in preliminary damage and economic loss has been incurred, but the fires continue to burn.

Nearly 45 square miles burned in Pacific Palisades, which is dotted with celebrity homes and was memorialized by the Beach Boys in their 1960s hit “Surfin” USA.

The flames burned part of Palisades Charter High School and a public library, two large supermarkets, a few banks and several boutiques in Palisades Village.

Actor Billy Crystal and his wife Janice lost their home of 45 years.

The Eaton Fire North of Pasadena, more than 200 buildings burned as workers at a senior center pushed dozens of residents in wheelchairs and hospital beds into a parking lot to escape.

The Hurst fire, which broke out Tuesday evening, prompted evacuations in Sylmar in the San Fernando Valley Another fire broke out in the Hollywood Hills on Wednesday ccaused by the Sunset Fire.

It burned near the Hollywood Bowl and other iconic landmarks. Together tThe fires have consumed about 117 square kilometers, about the size of San Francisco.

Nearly 180,000 people were under evacuation orders Thursday morning.

The flames threatened densely populated and affluent neighborhoods including Calabasas and Santa Monica, home to California’s rich and famous, and many Hollywood stars, including Mark Hamill, Mandy Moore and James Woods, were among those forced to flee.

The Critics Choice Awards were postponed, while the Oscars have extended the voting window for Academy Awards nominations and postponed the announcement of next week’s nominations.

Universal Studios also canceled filming for numerous series, the Los Angeles Unified School District has closed schools, the NHL and NBA have postponed games while the NFL considers it.

Authorities said they would go after looters who took advantage of the fires.

The fires have filled the sky with a thick cloud of smoke, prompting air and dust warnings for 17 million people across a vast area of ​​Southern California.

More than 415,000 customers were also without electricity in Southern California on Thursday afternoon, about half of them in Los Angeles County.

And residents in some areas, including Palisades, have been ordered to boil their water before using it as debris from the fires has contaminated some water supplies.