As REVOLT previously reported, Los Angeles was hit hard by several wildfires that burned down countless homes and businesses. At least five have been confirmed dead as a result of the flames, which firefighters continue to battle well into Thursday (Jan. 9).

In a couple of Instagram Stories shared by TMZ, Jhené Aiko revealed that she was one of many who lost their residences in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood, where the fire incinerated over 17,000 acres. “Me and my children’s home is gone [and] burned to the ground with all our things inside,” she confirmed. “Lord have mercy. Thankful we still have each other. Starting from scratch. My heart is so heavy.”

Aiko continued by sharing an image of the residence with flames coming from a front porch window. “My perfect little Pali dream. Sorry we couldn’t save you,” she captioned. “Thank you for the memories and thank God no one was inside. Praying for our neighbors and the whole wide world.”

During a press conference, LA Mayor Karen Bass addressed criticism over the government’s handling of the disaster and 2024 cuts that removed roughly $17 million from the city’s fire department. “There were no reductions that were made that would have impacted the situation that we were dealing with over the last couple of days,” Bass told reporters. “There was a little bit of confusion because money was allocated to be distributed later on, which was actually going to support salaries and other parts of the fire department... The impact of our budget really did not impact what we’ve been going through over the last few days.”

Bass continued, “Our No. 1 priority right now is to save lives, to protect lives, to save homes. After our first priority, then we will look back at everything that was done to do an evaluation to see what worked and what didn’t work.”