Wildfires raging near Los Angeles kill at least five; Hollywood ordered to evacuate

Raging wildfires surrounding Los Angeles spread to the Hollywood Hills on Wednesday (Jan 9), after other fires in the area killed at least five people, destroyed hundreds of homes and stretched firefighting resources and water supplies to the limit.

More than 100,000 people were ordered to evacuate as dry, hurricane-force winds hindered firefighting operations and spread the fires, which have burned parched terrain almost unimpeded since they began on Tuesday.

"This firestorm is the big one," Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass told a press conference after rushing back to Los Angeles upon cutting short an official trip to Ghana. A new fire broke

Four of them were 0 per cent contained according to state officials, including a pair of major conflagrations on the eastern and western flanks of the city that continued to grow as night fell on Wednesday.

In between, the so-called Sunset Fire in Hollywood Hills scorched 20ha on Wednesday, Cal Fire said. Helicopter crews doused the flames with water drops, appearing to impede its rapid advance.

The Los Angeles Fire Department issued an evacuation order for people in an area within Hollywood Boulevard to the south, Mulholland Drive to the north, the 101 Freeway to the east and Laurel Canyon Boulevard to the west - all iconic addresses for people in the entertainment industry.

Within that area is the Dolby Theater, where the Oscars are held. Next week's Oscar nominations announcement was already postponed by two days because of the fire, organisers said.

Though relatively small compared to the others, the Sunset Fire burned just above Hollywood Boulevard and its Walk of Fame. It would need to cross the 101 Freeway to endanger the Hollywood sign and Griffith Observatory further up in the hills.

SMOLDERING RUINS
On the west side of Los Angeles, the Palisades Fire consumed 6,406ha and hundreds of structures in the hills between Santa Monica and Malibu, racing down Topanga Canyon until reaching the Pacific Ocean on Tuesday.

Aerial video by KTLA television showed block after block of smoldering homes in Pacific Palisades, the smoky grid occasionally punctuated by the orange blaze of another home still on fire.

To the east, in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, the Eaton Fire claimed another 4,289ha, another 1,000 structures, and killed at least five people, officials said.

Private forecaster AccuWeather estimated initial damage and economic loss at more than US$50 billion.

"We're facing a historic natural disaster. And I think that can't be stated strong enough," Kevin McGowan, director of emergency management for Los Angeles County, told a press conference.

Even though forecasters said winds would subside briefly on Wednesday night, so-called red flag conditions were expected to remain until Friday.

Nearly 300,000 homes and businesses lost power in Los Angeles County, down from nearly 1 million earlier on Wednesday, according to PowerOutage.us. School was cancelled throughout Los Angeles County at least through Thursday, Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said.

"We've had fires over the years but not something like this," Frances Colella, a 71-year-old retiree, told Reuters at an evacuation center in Pasadena, resting in a wheelchair alongside dozens of others. "It's a really sad occurrence and I can't remember anything like this."