Wildfires in Los Angeles have killed at least five people, and forecasters warn more high winds may fan the flames further
Three bodies were found in the vicinity of the Eaton fire, with a further two deaths recorded in the Palisades fire
Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna says it hasn't been safe to reach many hard-hit areas and the death toll is "absolutely going to change"
Arson investigators are looking into the start of one fire, in the Palisades, which has gone on to destroy more than 5,300 structures
The Eaton fire is estimated to have destroyed 4,000 to 5,000 structures
A curfew is planned for some areas after police arrest 20 people for looting abandoned homes
Crews dealing with the blaze tell our reporter they are desperately short of water - and fear they are fighting a losing battle
Residents return to burned homes as LA fires rage on
Several schools in LA will be closed on Wednesday due to the fires and high winds in the area. Some have said lessons will be moved online.
The full list of districts affected has been published here. , external
Schools in Santa Monica and Malibu have also been closed and a decision about whether to extend all closures will be made later on Wednesday.
Simon King
BBC weather presenter and meteorologist
Image source, ReutersThe Santa Ana winds will – in the short term – increase slightly during the early to mid-morning local time in Los Angeles.
Gusts generally will be around 50-60mph (80-100km/h) but locally up to 100mph (160km/h) over portions of the higher ground.
The other weather factor critical to wildfires is the relative humidity – or how dry the air is - which is also very low at the moment at 10-20%. But this is likely to fall even further to 5-10% after sunrise. In other words, it will get even drier.
Local forecasts from the National Weather Service are predicting there could be localised extreme conditions near the Santa Ana mountains in Orange County. Additionally, a critical fire notice will extend towards San Diego.
Any new fires starting in the early morning will spread quickly.
The good news is that the wind will start to ease slightly during Wednesday afternoon, with the most extreme fire weather conditions slightly improving.
However, it will stay rather breezy so firefighting will still be difficult in some areas.
CBS News, BBC's US partner, is reporting firefighting crews from northern California and Arizona have been deployed to assist the trio of blazes raging in southern California.
The LA Fire Department is also seeking help from off-duty firefighters.
CBS News correspondent Danya Bakus is in the Pacific Palisades, one of the worst affected areas so far, and has told the BBC it is the first time in 19 years that such a call has been put out.
Bakus also says strong wind gusts are hindering emergency rescue teams who are unable to use any aircrafts, such as helicopters, that could drop water and other fire retardants on the flames.
Image source, Getty ImagesCalifornia's Attorney General has warned against excessive price increases by retailers who may see an opportunity to overcharge those who have been forced to evacuate.
Price gouging for shelter, gas, food and other essential supplies during a state of emergency is illegal under state law.
“If you see price gouging — or if you’ve been the victim of it — I encourage you to immediately file a complaint with my office,” Rob Bonta said in a statement, external.
His office said it’s generally illegal to boost prices on essential needs by 10% or more during such an emergency.
Those who are caught price gouging will be subject to criminal prosecution which could result in a one-year prison sentence or a fine of up to $10,000 (£8,032.95).
Image source, EPAActive power lines have been burning in the wildfires
Tens of thousands of people are still without power because of the blazes.
Around 200,000 customers in Los Angeles county and nearly 26,000 in neighbouring Ventura county are still affected, according to tracking website PowerOutage.us.
Providers saying they are working around the clock to restore power as soon as possible.
Image source, EPAPeople for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) has issued a reminder that animals are likely to die if abandoned.
In a statement posted on its website, Peta says small animals should be placed securely in carriers; birds should be covered and dogs should be kept on a secure harness and lead.
"Take enough food for your animals to last several days," it says. Large animals, like horses, shouldn't be confined in stalls or barns. "If it’s impossible to remove them, they should be freed so that they can attempt to survive."
Anyone who sees animals in danger or distress should assist if possible but if they’re unable to help, they should note their exact location and alert authorities immediately, the charity says.
Peta adds anyone who evacuates and intentionally abandons animals to fend for themselves may be prosecuted.
Matt McGrath
Environment correspondent
According to Governor Gavin Newsom there’s no fire season in California anymore, it’s a fire year, with conflagrations now happening all the time.
Is this the result of climate change? Experts say that rising global temperatures are having an influence on California’s vulnerability to fire, even if they are not a direct cause.
The main factors influencing the Palisades fires are high winds and lack of rain.
The Santa Ana winds are dry, strong easterlies which occur naturally around this time of year, blowing from the interior of southern California towards the coast.
However, the lack of rain in southern California in recent months is making fires more likely following a very warm summer.
Scientists say that a heating world increases the number of “fire weather” days, when conditions are more suited to conflagrations.
California is particularly vulnerable to these conditions right now because the last two years have seen quite significant amounts of rain, meaning there is now plenty of fuel to burn, and the recent dry spell make this fuel prone to ignite.
While there is scant evidence that climate change has increased the likelihood of the extreme wind events that are driving the current fires, researchers believe that a warming world is making an overlap between these wind events and periods of extremely dry vegetation conditions more likely.
Image source, Reuters
Thomas Mackintosh
Live reporter
I've just spoken to fire ecologist Chad Hanson, who predicts it is going to be a very long night for fire crews.
"The most extreme fire weather is projected to occur between 02:00 - 06:00 Pacific time. So we are not even in the worst of it yet. It's going to be quite a rough night."
Hanson explains it is still considered to be wildfire season in this part of California and the biggest influence in the current fires is the Santa Ana winds.
"You can certainly have fires in winter," he says. "The biggest fires are in November, December and early January. Fires are driven by the weather and they are basically stopped by the weather."
"These winds are unique to southern California and it results in extreme, sustained wind events with pretty dramatic gusts," Hanson adds.
"It is a double whammy as we have already had dry conditions because of a lack of rain - then the winds dry things out further."
We've just received these pictures of homes on fire in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles, where residents have been forced to evacuate and firefighters are battling to contain the blaze.
The photos show structures collapsing and smoke billowing over residential areas.
Image source, Getty Images
Image source, Getty Images
Image source, Getty Images
Image source, Getty Images
Christal Hayes
Reporting from Los Angeles
Image source, Getty ImagesScreaming Los Angeles residents abandoned their cars to flee a fast-moving wildfire as it closed in on a picturesque celebrity enclave, eyewitnesses say, describing scenes straight out of a Hollywood disaster movie.
A windstorm whipped a seemingly typical brush fire into a raging inferno within a matter of hours on Tuesday, sending the blaze towards the Pacific Palisades area.
At least 30,000 people were ordered to evacuate as the blaze in the west of the city exploded rapidly from 10 acres to nearly 3,000 in size.
One resident said firefighters told people to get out of their cars as the blaze, fanned by gusts of winds sometimes topping 100mph (160km/h), approached.
"The fire was right up against the cars," Marsha Horowitz tells us.
Watch: View of LA fires over iconic Santa Monica skyline
Image source, EPAThere is no possibility of containing the fires because of high winds, David Acuna, battalion chief and public information officer with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire), tells CNN.
Acuna says CAL is "mostly concerned with ensuring that all people get out of the area because life safety is the most important part, and we're helping people to plan so that their pets and livestock also have a safe shelter."
This comes as the governor for California, Gavin Newsom, said more than 1,400 firefighters have been deployed to combat the "unprecedented fires" in Los Angeles with hundreds of additional staff "pouring in from across the state".
"Emergency officials, firefighters, and first responders are all hands on deck through the night to do everything possible to protect lives," he wrote on X, external.
Jennifer Colby, Public Information Coordinator for the California city of Pasadena, has just been giving the BBC an update on the fire situation there.
She says more than 5,000 people have now been evacuated and that the city's north-east and surrounding areas have been most affected.
"We are utilising all resources that we have," says Colby, adding that 50 strike teams - groups of firefighting appliances that are often sent to major incidents - have been requested state-wide.
She says that while there has been damage to homes and other buildings in Pasadena, the full extent of the impact is not yet known.
Image source, ReutersCelebrities are among those fleeing the affluent Pacific Palisades neighbourhood in Los Angeles.
Schitt's Creek actor Eugene Levy lives in the area and told local media he was forced to evacuate his home. “The smoke looked pretty black and intense over Temescal Canyon. I couldn’t see any flames but the smoke was very dark,” he told the Los Angeles Times.
Elsewhere, Police Academy star Steve Guttenberg stayed to help firefighters by moving cars in order to make room for incoming fire trucks. He had a message for residents leaving the area, telling local TV: "What’s happening is people take their keys with them as if they’re in a parking lot. This is not a parking lot. We really need people to move their cars.”
Others that reportedly have homes in the area include Tom Hanks, Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, basketball star Kawhi Leonard and James Wood.
On X, Wood described evacuating his home and said he wasn’t sure if it was still standing: “It feels like losing a loved one”.
On Instagram, Mark Hamill, of Star Wars fame, called the blaze the "Most horrific fire since '93" and says he evacuated Malibu "so last-minute there [were] small fires on both sides of the road".
As a reminder, at least 30,000 people in the area are under evacuation orders as the blaze worsens.
Image source, EPAAs the fires continue to spread across LA, a number of evacuation zones have been set up.
This has expanded east to Kenter Road and north to Mulholland Road due to the Palisades fire, the LA Fire Department has announced. This zone also includes south to the Pacific Coast Highway.
Nearby, Santa Monica has also issued an evacuation order for all areas of the city to the north of San Vincente.
Evacuation orders have been issued to some people living in Altadena, Pasadena and Sierra Madre due to the Eaton fire.
Similar orders are in place for North of the 210 Freeway from Roxford to the Interstate 5/14 Freeway split due to the Sylmar brush fire.
Image source, AFPThe magnitude of the fires tearing through parts of LA and other parts of California has been captured in footage that is being sent in to us in the newsroom.
Homes are shown being engulfed by flames as firefighters battle in vain to try and save them. In one clip, huge tongues of flame rip through a beautiful two-storey home:
Senior citizens, some in hospital beds, could be seen lining the streets outside an elderly care facility in Pasadena after being evacuated.
Meanwhile, a bulldozer was used to clear nearly 200 abandoned cars, making way for firefighters:
Fire department bulldozer heads down Sunset Boulevard to clear abandoned vehicles
Simon King
BBC weather presenter and meteorologist
Earlier I mentioned how the strong winds are being caused by a weather pattern called the "Santa Ana winds".
This occurs when there is a large area of high pressure situated to Nevada and Utah, which in turn results in a strong easterly wind around Arizona and Southern California.
As this wind flows over the top of higher ground to the east of Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and San Diego, it dries the air out and speeds up on the western side, funnelling down the hill toward the more populated city areas.
Santa Ana winds can often reach speeds of 60-80mph (97-129kmh) and are the primary reason for an increase in fire danger, as the dry winds take moisture out of the vegetation. Once a fire ignites, the winds will easily spread it.
We're getting new images now of the fires that are raging in Los Angeles. Fires are consuming homes and businesses - and are a particular threat in the affluent Pacific Palisades neighbourhood.
Image source, ReutersFirefighters work to extinguish flames as the Eaton fire burns in Pasadena, California
Image source, ReutersFlames engulf a structure in Pasadena, California
Image source, EPAThe fire in the Pacific Palisades neighbourhood has spread to more than 3,000 acres
Image source, EPAA Los Angeles County firefighter battles the Palisades wildfire
Image source, EPAA Los Angeles County helicopter drops water to extinguish the Palisades wildfire
Image source, Getty ImagesThe LA premiere of Robbie Williams biopic Better Man has been cancelled due to the fires, US media reports.
"Due to the dangerous conditions affecting Los Angeles we are cancelling tomorrow’s [Wednesday's] premiere of Better Man," a spokesperson for Paramount Pictures says.
"Our thoughts are with those impacted by the devastating fires resulting from these conditions, and we encourage everyone to stay safe and follow guidance and orders from local officials and government agencies."
The Hollywood premieres of both Unstoppable, starring Jennifer Lopez, and the Ryan Gosling-produced Wolf Man had already been cancelled due to the fires.
The ceremony announcing the nominees for this year's Screen Actors Guild Awards (SAG) has also been cancelled "in an abundance of caution for the safety of our presenters, guests and staff", the guild says, external.
The nominees will instead be unveiled in press releases on Wednesday
Image source, Getty ImagesA sign pointing to the Getty Villa art museum in engulfed in red smoke
The Getty Villa Museum, a popular art museum, will be closed from Wednesday, it says in a post on X.
"In an abundance of caution and to keep roads clear in the surrounding areas, the Getty Center will be closed tomorrow January 8," the post states, adding that it will remain closed from Wednesday through Monday Jan 13. Staff are closely monitoring the situation and will provide updates when available.
We reported earlier that a fire was burning on the grounds of the museum but had not damaged the building, according to Los Angeles fire officials.
The museum has an extensive collection of artworks and artefacts, including paintings by Vincent van Gogh and Claude Monet, as well as many classical Greek and Roman sculptures.