Matt Taylor
BBC Weather

The chart below from the National Weather Service in Sacramento shows one of the reasons the wildfires have been unusually bad.

This part of the year should be Southern California’s "wet" season, but much of the south and east of the state has seen less than half the normal rainfall expected to fall between the 1 October and now. That contrasts with above-average rainfall in north-west of the state.

It's meant that the ground and vegetation have become parched and perfect fuel for fires. Only in the last week did the US Drought Monitor categorise much of the area around Los Angeles as being in "moderate drought".

Image source, National Weather Service / National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Juan Benn
North America reporter

Almost 400,000 residents across southern California are currently without power, according to tracking site PowerOutage.US, external.

Some 259,102 residents have lost power in Los Angeles County, where four wildfires have destroyed homes and burned through thousands of acres. According to LA's Department of Water and Power, external, most of the outages are in parts of the county nearest to the wildfires.

Nearby Ventura County has 49,458 people without power. Around 60,000 customers in San Bernardino and Riverside counties in southern California are also affected.

The strong winds that have fanned the blazes across thousands of acres are also battering power lines.

Gabriela Pomeroy
Live reporter

I’ve just spoken to Miriam Feygenson, who lives in Los Angeles and believes her home has burnt down.

She went on holiday to Florida a few days ago and tells me she watched on her house’s security camera as fire surrounded her home, which sits on on the border between Malibu and the Palisades.

"I am feeling numbness, grief and disbelief," she says. "My home is gone. We saw an inferno on our security cameras which we could watch remotely."

She describes seeing what looked like a "hurricane of fire with embers blowing everywhere" around her house, as well as flames engulfing nearby homes. She says she also saw her neighbour’s back garden completely covered in flames before the power cut and her cameras stopped working.

"We went on vacation so we didn’t think to take any mementos," she tells me, recalling some of the items she no longer has.

"There are things that are not digitised like sonogram photos, my wedding dress and my little girl’s lovely dresses. I keep thinking about them - I have an emotional attachment to things. I was so proud of my house, and now it is gone."

Image source, BBC / Miriam Feygenson

The very brief and difficult to hear briefing (neither Biden or Newsom had microphones) came to a close with the outgoing president reflect on his family.

He says his son - Hunter Biden - has a home in southern California, and initially they thought it had been damaged in the fires.

The president says he now believes the home to be okay before turning to a more personal topic: the birth of his eldest granddaughter's first child.

"The good news is, as of today, I'm a great-grandfather," Biden says, a comment that is welcomed with applause from reporters and officials in the room.

Naomi Biden, the 31-year-old daughter of the president's son Hunter, announced her pregnancy in November in a social media post to mark Election Day.

Newsom also spoke at the briefing, thanking President Biden for attending and noting that Biden "happened to be in the region" for an unrelated event.

"It's impossible for me to express the level of appreciation, and cooperation we received in the White House and this administration," Newsom said.

The microphones on both Biden and Newsom made it hard to completely decipher, but we could hear Newsom express his remorse for the "over 1,000 structures already destroyed... people that have been evacuated... lives lost".

Here's the moment we just reported on - when President Biden spoke at a Californian fire station.

He says the government will do "anything and everything" it can to help officials contain the four ongoing wildfires in Los Angeles - and will then help with rebuilding destroyed buildings.

Watch it here:

Image source, US Pool

Various public safety officials in Los Angeles and the county have just briefed Biden on the latest updates on the fires, including how far they have spread, and the impacts they are having on communities.

LA County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone has told Biden about the extra resources they're getting from other states, including Arizona, Oregon and Washington, noting that firefighters are on their way to assist them.

President Joe Biden is now speaking and tells the Los Angeles area officials who have just briefed him that the government is doing "anything and everything" we can to "contain the fires", though much of his other comments are hard to hear in the fire station.

We can now see that US President Joe Biden, who is in Los Angeles on an unrelated trip, has arrived at a fire station in Santa Monica, California.

He's currently being briefed by fire officials, which you can watch for yourself at the top of the page.

We're expecting him to talk soon - when he does we'll bring you text updates, so stick with us.

We're expecting to hear President Joe Biden make some comments about the ongoing wildfires affecting parts of Los Angeles.

When that happens, we'll bring you text updates of what he says - and you'll also be able to tune in live for yourself at the top of this page.

He's due to speak from a fire station in the Santa Monica area, along with California Governor Gavin Newsom.

We'll let you know when the news conference is under way.

Lisa Lambert
BBC News, Washington DC

Just last week, people across the US watched the Tournament of Roses parade in Pasadena, a New Year's day tradition where floats and bands march in front of a background of blue mountains under a clear sky.

The Eaton Fire is burning in the foothills of those mountains.

Eaton Canyon is part of the Angeles National Forest, and officials there say 10,6000 acres are currently burning.

The area around the fire is home to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (an important institution in US space exploration also called the JPL) and Caltech university, with the Mount Wilson Observatory in the forest.

You can also visit the Huntington Library and Gardens, where the famous Blue Boy and Pinkie paintings are, as well as the Santa Anita racetrack just outside the evacuation zone.

This is the part of the world where I grew up, and many of my family members are still there. Our family originally moved to the area more than 100 years ago. My mother's ashes are interred at All Saints Church, a couple of blocks from Pasadena's convention centre, which is currently an evacuation shelter.

Image source, Getty Images

In his first comment on the Los Angeles fires, Republican President-elect Donald Trump has strongly criticised California's governor over water shortages in the state.

In a post on his Truth Social platform, he says the shortages are hindering the fight against massive blazes.

Trump accuses Gavin Newsom - a Democrat - of refusing to enact a measure that would have led to water being pumped from northern California to the drought-affected south.

"I will demand that this incompetent governor allow beautiful, clean, fresh water to FLOW INTO CALIFORNIA!", Trump wrote.

Newsom has yet to respond to Trump's claims but it's not the first time the two politicians have sparred over wildfires in the state.

In 2018 and 2019 Trump threatened to withhold federal funding for the state accusing Newsom of having done a "terrible job of forest management". Newsom retaliated by accusing Trump of denying climate change.

Image source, Getty Images

Christal Hayes
Reporting from Los Angeles

It was hard to fall asleep last night. I kept grabbing my phone and would see another fire had ignited, then another. Each made it feel more surreal that the city I call home was being surrounded by a wall of flames.

Friends who live in Santa Monica packed bags and were ready to leave. Other friends lost power and were eagerly looking for updates as their phone batteries drained.

But it was even scarier when I woke up this morning - checking online, not knowing what state our city was in and where the burning had spread. The strong smell of smoke fills the air outside and a haze covers the sun. Ash is falling from the sky, and a thin layer is covering my car.

We're used to fires here in California. It's due to a prolonged drought and the mix of dry weather and a lack of humidity (both of which make California an appealing place to live and visit).

But I've never felt so on edge and powerless.

In recent years, the biggest fires have all been north of here, and in rural, low-populated places.

The greater Los Angeles area is surrounded by mountains on one side and ocean on the other, but now those mountains are now filled with fire.

Living here, I've always felt that we have enough resources to handle a disaster. We're the second-most populous city in the country. Whenever there has been a small brush fire, it's typically put out fairly quickly.

That's not the case now. Our fire chiefs say they don't have the manpower to handle this crisis. Fires are still spreading with 0% containment.

It's daunting.

Image source, Getty Images

We've just received an update that the Getty Villa - a popular art museum that has an extensive collection of artworks and artefacts - remains "safe and intact".

"While vegetation on the property has burned, Getty structures have been unaffected, and thankfully, both staff and collections are safe," the museum wrote in a post on X.

There were concerns for the museum in the Pacific Palisades after it was reported that a fire was burning on its grounds - but it did not damage the building, according to Los Angeles fire officials.

The museum remains closed this week while emergency responders try to put out the blazes.

Here's a breakdown of the latest updates on the four fires continuing in the Los Angeles area.

Palisades: This was the first fire to break out yesterday and has so far burnt more than 1,000 structures. 37,000 residents are under an evacuation order and continues to blaze through 5,000 acres

Eaton: Two people have died and dozens more are injured - some with "significant injuries" - as a result of the Eaton fire near the city of Pasadena. It continues to burn through over 2,000 acres and 32,500 people have been evacuated so far

Hurst: The fire, which ignited near the Sylmar area of Los Angeles last night, has now grown to 500 acres, and 3,000 people have been evacuated from its surroundings

Woodley: The most recent of all the wildfires, the Woodley blaze, was just reported by California's fire authority in the last few hours. It's currently burning over 75 acres of terrain

Image source, Reuters

US President Joe Biden has been briefed on the wildfires around Los Angeles, the White House says in a statement.

The president, who arrived in Los Angeles yesterday on a pre-arranged visit before the fires broke out, will meet CalFire officials at a fire station in Santa Monica on Wednesday. He and the first lady are then due to return to Washington.

Biden has also recently spoken with California Governor Gavin Newsom on the phone to receive the latest update on the wildfires.

Buildings destroyed, lives lost and the worst is still to comepublished at 17:37 Greenwich Mean Time

17:37 GMT

David Willis
North America correspondent, reporting from Los Angeles

Image source, Getty Images

This was one of the most devastating nights in the history of the City of Los Angeles.

Residents awoke to the sound of ferocious winds buffeting all around them and a horizon cloaked in thick black smoke.

Fires are burning out of control all around us and there is a widespread sense of unease.

Seasonal wildfires are nothing new but in the 25 years I have lived here I have never witnessed anything quite so disturbing.

Buildings have been destroyed, lives lost and the forecast suggests the worse is yet to come.

It is - as one fire chief put it - a "widespread disaster" and a tragic day in the history of America’s second-largest city.

Image source, Getty Images

We've just finished hearing the latest on the wildfires from Los Angeles officials. It was a lot to take in, so here's what you need to know:

• Two people have died and dozens more are injured - some with "significant injuries" - as a result of the Eaton fire near the city of Pasadena
• The four ongoing fires - Eaton, Palisades, Hurst and Woodley - are "stretching the capacity of emergency services to their maximum limits" according to one official, with the LA County fire chief saying there's not enough firefighters to address fires "of this magnitude"
• Another official, Kathryn Barger, says all four fires remain 0% contained - after an earlier warning that weather conditions meant it was impossible to control the flames
• The Palisades fire, which broke out yesterday, has so far burnt more than 1,000 structures with 37,000 residents under an evacuation order; another 32,500 people have been evacuated due to the Eaton fire
• There was also an update on the Hurst fire, which started near the Sylmar area of LA last night and has grown to 500 acres, with 3,000 people having been evacuated from its surroundings

• Residents in all areas have been urged to conserve as much water as possible, with the pressure and quality of LA water decreasing due to demand by the fire service

The news conference by fire officials in Los Angeles, which we've been reporting on for the past hour, has now come to an end.

We'll bring you all of the key takeaways in a round-up post as well as analysis from BBC correspondents on the ground.

Stick with us.