(CP) John H. Taylor, the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles, mourned “losses too great to bear” as wildfires in Greater Los Angeles ravaged scores of churches and houses of parishioners among the many greater than 2,000 buildings destroyed in a historic blaze that has left at the very least five people dead and sent hundreds more fleeing to safety.
“We have absorbed losses too great to bear. The list of names of members of our churches within the San Gabriel Valley and within the Pacific Palisades area who’ve lost their home could exceed 40 or 50 by the point the entire news is in,” Taylor revealed in a video statement on Facebook.
“You’ve heard little question of the lack of the historic Saint Mark’s Church in Altadena. The devastating losses of Saint Matthews Church and college in Pacific Palisades. The lack of two rectories. … I’m sorry to should say there will probably be more reports equivalent to this and most of all our system demands your prayers,” he added.
On Wednesday night, the Rev. Carri Patterson Grindon, the rector of Saint Mark’s, invited her community to wish via Zoom as they face the “hardest of days for our church.”
“This has been a painful and unimaginably difficult day for our whole community. So a lot of you will have lost your homes. We all have lost our cherished church constructing. So much stays uncertain, but in the subsequent days, we are going to create ways to return together for support, to worship, to grieve, and to comfort each other,” Grindon wrote on the church’s Facebook page.
Tens of hundreds of residents were placed under mandatory evacuation orders because the fires burned greater than 27,000 acres, The New York Times reported. Fires within the Palisades and Eaton are reportedly the 2 most destructive fires ever to hit Los Angeles with at the very least 2,000 buildings destroyed.
In a statement on Truth Social Wednesday night, President-elect Donald Trump called for Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom to resign over the handling of the fires, which has brought loss to residents wealthy and poor.
“One of one of the best and most beautiful parts of the United States of America is burning all the way down to the bottom. It’s ashes, and Gavin Newscum should resign. This is all his fault!!!” Trump wrote.
Actor James Woods wept as he talked in regards to the impact of the fireplace in an interview with CNN: “One day you are swimming within the pool and the subsequent day it’s all gone.”
On Wednesday evening a latest fire had engulfed a part of the Hollywood Hills and greater than 80,000 people were ordered to evacuate.
Minutes before midnight the evacuation order was lifted, in response to a release from the Los Angeles Fire Department.
“The majority of the Evacuation Zone for the Sunset Fire is LIFTED with the EXCEPTION of the world North of Franklin Ave from Camino Palmero St (East border) to N Sierra Bonita Ave. (West border). This area stays CLOSED until tomorrow morning resulting from continued LAFD operations ensuring no flare ups within the vegetation surrounding these streets,” the discharge said. “Residents are asked to be cautious when returning to their homes because firefighters are continuing to work of their neighborhoods.”
When the fires erupted on Tuesday, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who was a part of a delegation sent by President Joe Biden to Ghana for the inauguration of that country’s latest president, didn’t return to the country until Wednesday and she or he has been facing criticism for it.
“It was an utter breakdown in leadership, and it starts with the mayor’s office,” Michael Gonzales, 47, who lost his home within the Pacific Palisades, a wealthy neighborhood that overlooks the Pacific Ocean, told the NY Times.
Many Los Angeles residents have said they didn’t receive sufficient warning in regards to the fires and Bass must have been stateside before the disaster hit.
Bass argued, nevertheless, that this wasn’t the time to be divided and noted that she worked to make sure she returned to town as quickly as she could.
“I took the fastest route back, which included being on a military plane,” she said.
In his update on the fireplace on Wednesday, Taylor offered prayers for the primary responders within the disaster and took time to count the blessings of his denomination.
“It’s a substantial blessing that as of now no word has reached us of any member of our Episcopal community being injured or hurt. There’s other signs of life, hope and redemption as well,” he said.
“Last night, 180 people found shelter in All Saints Church. Perhaps 80 percent of them had never been to the church before,” he said, noting that they were now “latest friends.”
