California Fires
Goodbye to the Hollywood sign? Two reasons why the iconic landmark should be safe
Wildfires continue to blaze across Los Angeles County and Hollywood Hills is the latest area to become affected.
The wildfires in Los Angeles continue to cause destruction across the region despite the best work of firefighters and emergency response teams. The blaze spread on Thursday and residents in the Hollywood Hills are the latest affected by the inferno.
Images shared on social media purported to show that the iconic Hollywood sign was on fire. At time of writing, those images are fake and the landmark looks very unlikely to be affected by the blaze for two key reasons.
Firstly, the Hollywood sign is on the other side of a major freeway. The fires would have to swell to even greater magnitude to pass a wide stretch of tarmac and close in on that area. Secondly, the Hollywood sign is made of metal and is therefore extremely unlikely to physically catch fire, even if the flames got close.
While claims of a Hollywood sign fire are untrue, the iconic attraction has still been affected by the blaze. The Independent reports that the fire has cut out the lights that usually illuminate the sign, making it difficult to see from a distance.
By the early hours of Friday morning ten people had been confirmed as dead in the wildfires that continue to burn. Officials have warned that the actual toll is still unclear and could rise when investigators are able to access the affected neighbourhoods.
Around 10,000 structures are thought to have been destroyed by the fires in the coastal Palisades area making it the most destructive to ever hit Los Angeles County. Officials continue to impose evacuation orders of residents in the affected areas, while polluted air and other hazardous side effects complicate response efforts.
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