Huge wildfires kill two and destroy 1,000 structures in Los Angeles

Massive wildfires have torn across the Los Angeles area, destroying more than 1,000 structures and killing at least two people.

At least four separate blazes were burning in the metropolitan area, from the Pacific Coast inland to Pasadena.

With thousands of firefighters already attacking the flames, the Los Angeles Fire Department put out a plea for off-duty staff to help, and weather conditions were too windy for firefighting aircraft to fly, further hampering the fight.

In addition to the two deaths, Los Angeles County fire chief Anthony Marrone said many others were hurt in the fires, which threatened at least 28,000 structures.

Images of the devastation that emerged overnight showed luxurious homes that had collapsed in a whirlwind of flaming embers. The tops of palm trees whipped against a glowing red sky.

At least 70,000 residents were ordered to evacuate. The flames marched toward highly populated and affluent neighbourhoods home to California’s rich and famous. Hollywood stars, including Mark Hamill, Mandy Moore and James Woods, were among those forced to flee.

The home of Vice President Kamala Harris in Los Angeles was included in one of the evacuation zones although no one was there, according to a spokesperson.

“We are prioritising life over everything else,” Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said. Several hundred deputies were helping residents evacuate and responding to emergencies, he said.

Flames that broke out on Tuesday evening near a nature preserve in the foothills north east of LA spread so rapidly that staff at a care home had to push dozens of residents in wheelchairs and hospital beds down the street to a car park.

Residents — one as old as 102 — waited in their bedclothes as embers fell around them until ambulances, buses and construction vans arrived to take them to safety.

Another blaze that started hours earlier ripped through the city’s Pacific Palisades neighborhood, a hillside area along the coast dotted with celebrity homes and memorialised by the Beach Boys in their 1960s hit Surfin’ USA.

In the race to get to safety, roads became impassable when scores of people abandoned their vehicles and fled on foot.

Sheriece Wallace was unaware there was a fire burning around her until her sister called at the moment a helicopter made a water drop over her house.

“I was like, ‘It’s raining,’” Ms Wallace said. “She’s like, ‘No, it’s not raining. Your neighbourhood is on fire. You need to get out.’”

“As soon as I opened my door, it was like right there,” she said.

“The first thing I did was looked at the trees to see where the wind was blowing. Because it hit me. It blew me back.”

A traffic jam on Palisades Drive prevented emergency vehicles from getting through, and a bulldozer was brought in to push the abandoned cars to the side and create a path.

Video along the Pacific Coast Highway showed widespread destruction of homes and businesses.

Pacific Palisades resident Kelsey Trainor said the only road in and out of her neighborhood was blocked. Ash fell all around while fires burned on both sides of the road.

“We looked across and the fire had jumped from one side of the road to the other side of the road,” Ms Trainor said. “People were getting out of the cars with their dogs and babies and bags. They were crying and screaming.”

A third wildfire started on Tuesday evening and quickly prompted evacuations in Sylmar, a San Fernando Valley community that is the northernmost neighbourhood in Los Angeles. A fourth fire was reported early on Wednesday in Coachella, in Riverside County. The causes were under investigation.

Flames were being pushed by Santa Ana winds topping 60mph in some places on Tuesday, increasing to 80mph by early Wednesday, according to reports received by the National Weather Service.

They could top 100mph in mountains and foothills, including in areas that have not seen substantial rain in months.

California’s wildfire season typically begins in June or July and runs through October, according to the Western Fire Chiefs Association, but January wildfires are not unprecedented. There was one in 2022 and 10 in 2021, according to CalFire.

The season is beginning earlier and ending later due to rising temperatures and decreased rainfall tied to climate change, according to recent data.

Rains that usually end fire season are often delayed, meaning fires can burn through the winter months, the association said.

“This will likely be the most destructive windstorm seen (since a) 2011 windstorm that did extensive damage to Pasadena and nearby foothills of the San Gabriel Valley,” the weather service said in a red-flag warning early on Wednesday.

Governor Gavin Newsom posted on X that California had deployed more than 1,400 firefighting personnel to combat the blazes. “Emergency officials, firefighters and first responders are all hands on deck through the night to do everything possible to protect lives,” Mr Newsom said.