Five dead as wildfires burn out of control across Los Angeles area
The winds temporarily stopped aircraft from dumping water from above until they were able to resume flights.
Massive wildfires roaring through the Los Angeles area have left neighbourhoods in ruins, killing at least five people.
Three major blazes that erupted just a day earlier grew substantially while winds scattered embers far and wide.
More than 100,000 people were under mandatory evacuations.
One of the fires was the most destructive in the modern history of the city of LA and reduced grocery stores and banks to rubble, levelling entire blocks.
With thousands of firefighters already attacking the flames, the Los Angeles Fire Department put out a plea for off-duty and out-of-state firefighters to help.
The winds temporarily stopped aircraft from dumping water from above until they were able to resume flights.
More than 1,000 structures were destroyed, and many people were hurt in the fires, including first responders, Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said.
He said the water system was stretched and was further hampered by power outages but even without those issues, firefighters would not have been able to stop the fire as embers ignited block after block as they flew through the air.
“We were not stopping that fire last night,” he said. “Those erratic wind gusts were throwing embers for multiple miles ahead of the fire.”
Images of the devastation showed luxurious homes that collapsed in a whirlwind of flaming embers. Swimming pools were blackened with soot, and sports cars slumped on melted tyres.
“This morning, we woke up to a dark cloud over all of Los Angeles. But it is darkest for those who are most intimately impacted by these fires. It has been an immensely painful 24 hours,” LA County supervisor Lindsey Horvath said.
The flames marched toward highly populated and affluent neighbourhoods, including Calabasas and Santa Monica, home to California’s rich and famous.
Hollywood stars, including Mark Hamill, Mandy Moore and James Woods, were among those forced to flee.
In Palisades Village, the public library, two major grocery stores, a pair of banks and several boutiques were destroyed.
“It’s just really weird coming back to somewhere that doesn’t really exist anymore,” said Dylan Vincent, who returned to the neighbourhood to retrieve some items and saw that his elementary school had burned down and that whole blocks had been flattened.
The fires have consumed a total of about 42 square miles — nearly the size of the entire city of San Francisco.
