Los Angeles County Fire chief Anthony Marrone estimated that 1,000 homes and businesses have burned in the Palisades fire, the largest of the blazes in the south of the city, alone and that 100 more have been destroyed in the Eaton fire.
Image: Pic: Reuters
A preliminary review from insurance analysts at JP Morgan estimated that losses from the fires could top $10bn (£8.1bn), Sky News’ US partner network NBC News reported.
Here is everything we know about the blazes, in what fire chiefs have called a “tragic” chapter for the city.
Image: Flames rise from the Sunset fire. Pic: Reuters
Image: The damage left behind due to fire in Pacific Palisades. Pic: AP
Where are the fires, and how big are they?
There are currently five major fires raging across LA.
Here is a list of how big they are and how “contained” they are – referring to what degree the fire department has them under control.
Image: The California wildfires as of Thursday morning
Palisades fire
A bush fire started the blaze in Pacific Palisades, a Los Angeles County neighbourhood east of Malibu, on Tuesday morning.
By Wednesday afternoon, it had grown to more than 15,000 acres, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
Currently, it is covering at least 17,234 acres and is 0% contained by firefighters.
Image: The largest of the blazes is in the Pacific Pailsades area
Eaton fire
The Eaton fire ignited Tuesday night near a canyon in the sprawling national forest lands north of downtown LA and had exploded to more than 10,000 acres by Wednesday, according to the US Forest Service.
Currently, it covers at least 10,600 acres and is 0% contained.
Hurst fire
Also on Tuesday night a fire broke out in Sylmar, a suburban neighbourhood north of San Fernando, after a brush fire.
It quickly grew to 500 acres, and currently covers 855 acres. It is 10% contained.
Lidia fire
The Lidia fire broke out near the community of Acton in a region between the Sierra Pelona and San Gabriel mountains.
Currently, at least 348 acres are affected by the blaze. It is 40% contained.
Sunset fire
The Sunset fire was sparked in the Hollywood Hills of LA, near Runyon Canyon, shortly before 6pm local time on Wednesday, prompting mandatory evacuations.
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0:57
Wildfires burn through Hollywood Hills
The blaze currently covers 43 acres and is 0% contained.
The Woodley fire in Sepulveda Basin was “under control” before it grew beyond 30 acres, while a blaze that engulfed Hollywood’s Studio City has now been extinguished, with no casualties.
Image: Altadena in California before the fires.
Pic: Maxar/Reuters
Image: And after. Pic: Maxar/Reuters
Why is this happening in January – and when is wildfire season?
The typical wildfire season in the US usually kicks off mid-year, around May.
Image: The spread of the fire on Tuesday afternoon
Image: And its progression early on Wednesday morning
Wind speeds of up to 100mph work to spread the flames and coupled with a lack of humidity in the air, and patches of dry vegetation, the ground is much more flammable.
These winds create an “atmospheric blow-dryer” effect that will “dry things out even further”, Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), said.
The longer the extreme wind persists, the drier the vegetation will become, he said.
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2:45
How fast did the wildfires spread?
California governor Gavin Newsom said fire season has become “year-round in the state of California” despite the state not “traditionally” seeing fires at this time of year – apparently alluding to the impact of climate change.
Why are firefighters running out of water?
The demanding nature of the fires has led to reports that fire hydrants across the city have gone dry.
Wildfire attorney Ari Friedman, a partner and trial attorney at the Los Angeles-based law firm Wisner Baum, put this down to the increased demand simply overwhelming the supply.
Image: A satellite image shows the Pacific Coast Highway along the Malibu coastline before devastating wildfires.Pic: Maxr/Reuters
Image: The same satellite view after fires broke out.
Pic: Maxar/Reuters
But, he said, this “doesn’t immediately point to an equipment or water line failure as a lawyer might think of it”.
Mr Friedman added that the Palisades area, the site of the biggest fire, is served by water tanks because of the area’s high elevation.
Which celebrities have been impacted?
Hollywood celebrities are among the thousands of people who have been evacuated, while some have said they have lost their homes completely due to the fires.
The likes of Paris Hilton and actor Billy Crystal both described the anguish of losing the homes they raised their children in, with the socialite saying she was “heartbroken beyond words” to see her Malibu home “burn to the ground on live TV”.
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0:55
Actor tells Sky News of wildfires ‘panic’
Oscar-winning songwriter Diane Warren said she had also lost her home of 30 years in the fires, while The Hills stars Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag also confirmed they had lost their home in the fires.
American presenter and actress Ricki Lake posted on Instagram to say she had lost her “dream home”, the same place she and her husband got married three years ago.
Sky News’ US correspondent Martha Kelner reported that Tom Hanks, Ben Affleck and Reese Witherspoon were all evacuated as wildfires continued to spread in the Pacific Palisades suburb of LA – an area known to be home to billionaires and A-listers.
The havoc caused by the fires has also led to the cancellation of several key dates in the awards season calendar.
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1:37
Stephanie Pratt: ‘I don’t know if my house is there’
The annual Critics Choice Awards ceremony was due to take place this weekend, but has been postponed by two weeks, to 26 January, “due to the catastrophic fires”, organisers said in a statement.
Production on several television programmes, including America’s Got Talent, Loot, Ted, Suits: LA, Happy’s Place and Hacks, is also at a standstill.
What have Trump and Biden said?
The White House said on Wednesday that President Joe Biden approved a major disaster declaration for California that will clear the way for federal funds and resources to be accessed in recovery efforts.
A statement said the president is “focused on mobilising life-saving and life-sustaining resources across the region,” and that he is “praying for those who lost loved ones, had property damaged, were injured, and for everyone affected by this and other devastating fires in the area”.
He has also cancelled his coming trip to Italy to deal with the wildfires.
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1:13
Trump blames governor for wildfires
Meanwhile, president-elect Donald Trump took aim at California’s governor Mr Newsom, repeating claims that firefighters did not have enough water in their hydrants to tackle the blaze.
“It’s a mistake of the governor, and you can say the administration,” he said on Wednesday evening.
“They don’t have any water. They didn’t have water in the fire hydrants. The governor has not done a good job.”
When will the fire weather end?
The winds that have been fuelling the blazes are beginning to drop, but dangerous conditions are expected to persist through until at least Friday, NBC said.
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Climate scientist Daniel Swain said some of the driest vegetation will come after the strongest winds have died down, warning: “So the reality is that there’s going to be a very long period of high fire risk.”
A warning for high wind remains in place for parts of greater Los Angeles, including the Malibu coast and the Santa Monica Mountains, according to the National Weather Service.
The forecaster suggests wind speeds could reach up to 60 mph.
Red flag warnings – which are issued by the National Weather Service to warn the public and authorities of imminent weather conditions that may result in extreme fire – are also set to remain in place until at least 6pm local time on Friday.
Humidity levels are expected to stay low, and they could dip into single digits in some areas into Friday.
Mature, developed economies like the UK and US became ever more reliant on cheap imports from China and, in the process, saw their manufacturing sectors shrink.
Large swathes of the rust belt in the US – and much of the Midlands and North of England – were hollowed out.
And to some extent that’s where the story of Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” really began – with the notion that free trade and globalisation had a darker side, a side he wants to remedy via tariffs.
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6:39
Trump’s tariffs: Ed Conway analysis
He imposed a set of tariffs in his first term, some on China, some on specific materials like steel and aluminium. But the height and the breadth of those tariffs were as nothing compared with the ones we have just heard about.
Not since the 1930s has the US so radically increased the level of tariffs on all nations across the world. Back then, those tariffs exacerbated the Great Depression.
It’s anyone’s guess as to what the consequences of these ones will be. But there will be consequences.
Consequences for the nature of globalisation, consequences for the US economy (tariffs are exceptionally inflationary), consequences for geopolitics.
Image: Imports from the UK will face a 10% tariff, while EU goods will see 20% rates. Pic: Reuters
And to some extent, merely knowing that little bit more about the White House’s plans will deliver a bit of relief to financial markets, which have fretted for months about the imposition of tariffs. That uncertainty recently reached unprecedented levels.
But don’t for a moment assume that this saga is over. Nothing of the sort. In the coming days, we will learn more – more about the nuts and bolts of these policies, more about the retaliatory measures coming from other countries.
We will, possibly, get more of a sense about whether some countries – including the UK – will enjoy reprieves from the tariffs.
To paraphrase Churchill, this isn’t the end of the trade war, or even the beginning of the end – perhaps just the end of the beginning.
Actors, directors and celebrity friends have paid tribute to Val Kilmer, after he died aged 65.
The California-born star of Top Gun, Batman and Heat died of pneumonia on Tuesday night in Los Angeles, his daughter Mercedes told the Associated Press.
She said Kilmer was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014 but later recovered.
Tributes flooded in after reports broke of the actor’s death, with No Country For Old Men star Josh Brolin among the first to share their memories.
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2:49
Watch: Val Kilmer in his most iconic roles
He wrote on Instagram: “See ya, pal. I’m going to miss you. You were a smart, challenging, brave, uber-creative firecracker. There’s not a lot left of those.
“I hope to see you up there in the heavens when I eventually get there. Until then, amazing memories, lovely thoughts.”
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Kyle Maclachlan, who co-starred with Kilmer in the 1991 biopic The Doors, wrote on social media: “You’ll always be my Jim. See you on the other side my friend.”
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Michael Mann, who directed Kilmer in 1995’s Heat, also paid tribute in a statement, saying: “I always marvelled at the range, the brilliant variability within the powerful current of Val’s possessing and expressing character.
“After so many years of Val battling disease and maintaining his spirit, this is tremendously sad news.”
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Heat co-star Danny Trejo also called Kilmer “a great actor, a wonderful person, and a dear friend of mine” on Instagram.
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Cher, who once dated the actor, said on X that “U Were Funny, crazy, pain in the ass, GREAT FRIEND… BRILLIANT as Mark Twain, BRAVE here during ur sickness”.
Lifelong friend and director of Twixt, Francis Ford Coppola said: “Val Kilmer was the most talented actor when in his High School, and that talent only grew greater throughout his life.
“He was a wonderful person to work with and a joy to know – I will always remember him.”
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The Top Gun account on X also said it was remembering Kilmer, who starred as Iceman in both the 1986 original and 2022 sequel, and “whose indelible cinematic mark spanned genres and generations”.
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Elon Musk has called reports that he will leave his government role in the coming months “fake news”.
A senior White House official previously told NBC News, Sky’s US partner network, that Donald Trump had discussed the Tesla and X boss transitioning back to the private sector at a cabinet meeting last month.
Image: The Tesla boss has headed DOGE since 20 January. File pic: Reuters
After reports emerged of the meeting, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said it was “garbage” and added: “Elon Musk and President Trump have both publicly stated that Elon will depart from public service as a special government employee when his incredible work at DOGE is complete.”
Mr Musk added in response on X: “Yeah, fake news.”
NBC News reported that the official said Mr Musk would leave at the end of his 130 days as a special government employee.
That would be 30 May, but it is unclear if the billionaire businessman will indeed leave on that date.
Previously, the White House said that as a temporary organisation, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) would be terminated on 4 July next year – the 250th anniversary of the US.
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It comes days after Mr Musk said some members of his DOGE team were getting death threats on a daily basis.
Mr Muskhad drawn criticism over his efforts to downsize the US federal government.
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0:36
‘Elon Musk has got to go’
In just weeks, entire agencies were dismantled, and tens of thousands of workers from the 2.3 million federal workforce have been fired or have agreed to leave their jobs.
A number of lawsuits were filed in state and federal courts over cuts recommended by DOGE.