More than 100,000 flee deadly Los Angeles fires

Raging wildfires surrounding Los Angeles spread to the Hollywood Hills, 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 thousands of hectares since they began on Tuesday local time.

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

A new fire broke out in the parched Hollywood Hills on Wednesday evening (Thursday evening NZT), Fire Chief Kristin Crowley told a press conference, forcing more evacuations and raising the number of wildfires burning in Los Angeles County to at least six.

Four of them were 0 percent 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.

In between, the so-called Sunset Fire in Hollywood Hills scorched 50 acres (20 hectares) on Wednesday, Cal Fire said. Helicopter crews and ground teams appeared to be making progress impeding its rapid advance.

The L.A. 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 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, organizers said.

Though relatively small, 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.

Nearby, a structure fire claimed at least two homes and spread to brush in Studio City, live television footage showed. More than 50 firefighters extinguished the fire with no injuries reported, the L.A. Fire Department said.

Catch up with RNZ's updates from throughout the day:

Smouldering ruins

On the west side of Los Angeles, the Palisades Fire consumed 6406ha and hundreds of structures in the hills between Santa Monica and Malibu, racing down Topanga Canyon until reaching the Pacific Ocean on Tuesday.

A home reportedly belonging to Hollywood actors Leighton Meester and Adam Brody was one of the buildings destroyed.

Aerial video by KTLA television showed block after block of smouldering 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 4289ha, another 1000 structures, and killed at least five people, officials said.

Three people had been arrested for looting, law enforcement 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 local time.

Horses and other large animals found shelter from the wildfires at a college equestrian centre that opened its doors to horses, alpacas, llamas and even pigs, whose owners were under evacuation orders.

"I think they sense the fire and so I really had to lead them in a way that they understood that they were being taken somewhere safe," said Jaye Riedinger, 37, a creative director from Topanga, who left her home with her mustang horses.

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 canceled throughout Los Angeles County at least through Thursday.

Water woes

The scale and spread of the blazes stretched exhausted firefighting crews beyond their capacity.

Firefighters from six other states were being rushed to California, while an additional 250 engine companies with 1000 personnel were being moved from Northern California to Southern California, Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone told a press conference.

Water shortages caused some hydrants to run dry in upscale Pacific Palisades, officials said.

"We pushed the system to the extreme. We're fighting a wildfire with urban water systems," Janisse Quinones, chief executive of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, told a press conference.

Pacific Palisades relies on three tanks that hold about 3.78 million litres each, and the demand for water to fight fires at lower elevations was making it difficult to refill water tanks at higher elevations, she said.

By Wednesday afternoon, all three of those tanks and all 114 reservoirs throughout the city were refilled, Quinones said in a later press conference.

The fires struck at an especially vulnerable time for Southern California, which has not seen significant rainfall for months.

Then came the powerful Santa Ana winds, bringing dry desert air from the east toward the coastal mountains, fanning wildfires while blowing over the hilltops and down through the canyons.

President Joe Biden, who declared the fires a major disaster, joined California Governor Gavin Newsom at a Santa Monica fire station to get a briefing on firefighting efforts.

In his final days as president before handing off to President-elect Donald Trump on 20 January, Biden canceled an upcoming trip to Italy in order to focus on directing the federal response to the fires, the White House said.

- Reuters