Los Angeles Skyline As Wildfires Spread Across Hollywood Hills - Photo by the Associated Press
LOS ANGELES, CA (WSAU) – The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has announced the arrests of nearly two dozen looters as the city continues to deal with several deadly wildfires in the Hollywood Hills.
According to a statement by the department, “Over last night and this morning, we are up to 20–20 individuals who chose to go into our areas and deprive these poor people who have been through so much of their property.” At least one hundred thousand residents were forced to evacuate from the area on Wednesday as over 17,000 acres of forest have been affected by the fires.
“As you know, when we have an evacuation order by law, if you remain in that area, you are guilty of a misdemeanor. If you commit certain crimes, it could jump up to a felony. I’m going to be asking our employees to start enforcing that,” Sheriff Robert Luna said in the statement.
The fires have claimed the lives of at least five people so far, according to Fox News, and they come only a month after Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley warned Democratic Mayor Karen Bass that cutting the department’s budget by over $17 million would limit “the department’s capacity to prepare for, train for, and respond to large-scale emergencies, including wildfires.” Bass originally requested to cut the department’s budget by $23 million as the city continues to try and find funding for their growing homeless crisis in which recent data from the state estimates the city’s homeless population crossed the 75,000 mark in 2024.
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