Over 46,000 homes and businesses in LA County have lost electricity, according to Poweroutages.US, external.

Officials had warned earlier that as the winds increased through the night so would the chance that trees could be knocked over, taking out power lines and blocking roadways.

Another 8,000 customers are without power in neighbouring San Bernardino, which is also seeing the impact of the Santa Ana winds but has not reported any wildfires.

Image source, Reuters

There is no longer a fire season in California, says state governor Gavin Newsom - noting that the past 12 months has been a year of blazes.

"This time of year traditionally has not been fire season, but now, we disabuse any notion that there is a season," Newsom said in a video posted on X, reiterating comments he made at an earlier press conference:

"It's year-round in the state of California."

Newsom thanked the firefighters and first responders battling the blaze, and said authorities will continue to "mobilise resources to support local communities" in this severe weather.

Another brush fire has started near Altadena, a city at the foothills of the Angeles National Forest.

Los Angeles County and Angeles National Forest firefighters are responding to the fire in the Eaton Canyon area, but there are no details yet on how far it has extended.

"This is a dire situation, as resources are already stretched thin, with wind gusts of 60+ mph near the fire and expected to increase," extreme weather analyst Colin McCarthy posted on X.

The scale of the evacuation zone has expanded dramatically in the last two hours, as the fire has also grown.

Mandatory evacuations were initially only impacting the neighbourhood of Pacific Palisades, where the fire started.

The areas now under mandatory evacuation include the upscale area of Calabasas - home to many celebrities - and Topanga Canyon.

Mandatory evacuations means there is an "immediate threat to life" and that locals have been given a "lawful order to LEAVE NOW," according to Cal Fire.

Evacuation warnings, which are not legally enforceable, also stretch throughout the Santa Monica mountains, and include parts of wealthy Malibu.

The Los Angeles Fire Department has just posted an appeal for more help from off-duty firefighters.

The notice, posted moments ago on X, says that "all LAFD members currently off-duty are to call" into headquarters "with their availability for recall".

We heard earlier tonight from officials that around 250 firefighters are assigned to this blaze. This request for more help indicates that the fire teams may not have the staff they need to protect more homes from going up in smoke.

Image source, Getty Images

The fast-moving wildfire has more than doubled in size in the last three hours. It now covers 2,921 acres, according to California's Department of Forestry & Fire Protection.

The blaze appears to be reaching Will Rogers State Beach, where officials held a press conference earlier in the day.

Actors Eugene Levy and James Woods are among the celebrities who have been forced to flee their homes.

"To all the wonderful people who’ve reached out to us, thank you for being so concerned. Just letting you know that we were able to evacuate successfully," Woods, who lives in the Pacific Palisades, posted on X.

"I do not know at this moment if our home is still standing, but sadly houses on our little street are not."

Levy told The Los Angeles Times that he spotted "black and intense" smoke while battling traffic during his evacuation.

Speaking to a local news channel, actor Steve Guttenberg urged residents to leave their car keys in the cars so that he could help move their vehicles for fire trucks to come through.

Image source, Getty Images

The fire danger will continue overnight, as wind speeds continue to climb into the early hours of Wednesday morning.

In a forecast bulletin issued around 17:00 PT (01:00 GMT), the National Weather Service, external warned that "winds will peak this evening through Wednesday morning".

"Downed trees, hazardous driving conditions, increased traffic, power outages and airport delays," are also expected.

"Any wildfires that start may spread rapidly with extreme fire behaviour."

Winds have already been clocked at up to 70mph (115 km/h), with stronger gusts of up to 100mph forecast to arrive later tonight - fuelling the flames with oxygen and spreading them into new areas.

Air temperatures are forecast to be around 21C (70F), and will climb later in the week.

More wind is expected on Thursday, but it's predicted that the speeds will begin to decrease.

The short answer is: yes. Over the last few decades, wildfires in the US have increased dramatically in size, duration and intensity. The vast majority were ignited by humans.

California in particular is prone to wildfires partly because of its dry climate. The inferno that hit northern California in 2018 is the deadliest fire to ever burn in the state.

Let's take a look at some of the latest photos coming in as the fire continues to spread in the Pacific Palisades.

Image source, Allison Dinner/Shutterstock

Image source, Carolina Brehman/Shutterstock

Image source, Carolina Brehman/Shutterstock

Image source, Mike Blake/Reuters

Christal Hayes
Reporting from Los Angeles

Image source, Getty Images

A fire is burning on the grounds of the Getty Villa Museum, a popular art museum in the area, but has not damaged the building, Los Angeles fire officials say.

The Palisades wildfire has caused a spot fire on the grounds of the Villa but "the Villa itself has not caught on fire," Margaret Stewart, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles Fire Department tells me.

She said the building has not been impacted by the fire and crews are working throughout the region to protect homes and buildings like this.

Footage on social media shows a small fire burning near the front of the building, and a larger fire burning near the back of the massive property. An online fire map generated by Cal Fire, California's statewide fire agency, shows the blaze has nearly encircled the area.

The art museum - a re-creation of a Roman country house - contains more than 44,000 Greek and Roman antiquities. Its art dates back to the Stone Age and the Roman Empire.

Image source, EPA

We've reported that Sunset Boulevard has been full of cars - many abandoned - as residents in the area try to escape the fire.

One resident, Marsha Horowitz, told the BBC's US news partner CBS that the fire department told people to get out of their cars.

"The fire was right up against the cars," she said.

Let's catch up with Lucy Sheriff, who works for the BBC and lives in the Los Angeles community of Pacific Palisades. She was forced to evacuate. Here's how she described her escape:

I was already concerned about the high wind warning, and how quickly the fire was spreading. I went outside to find out what was going on because there wasn’t a lot of information online. One Los Angeles officer told me that they had all been taken by surprise by the speed of the blaze. I could see the fire spreading across the Santa Monica mountains ridgelines – jumping from spot to spot – and surrounding the Palisades.

I’m also pregnant, and felt I needed to be more responsible than perhaps I would normally be. When I felt how quickly the wind was changing – the sky went from bright blue to orange in a matter of seconds – and ash began raining down on me, I ran back home and started making plans to evacuate.

I needed to leave. Then I saw the roads and it was complete gridlock. How would I get out? Some people were ditching their cars and running to escape the fire. I don't think I could outrun it. Home felt like the safest place to wait as I packed.

I finally decided to leave when we were told there was a mandatory evacuation order for the entirety of the Palisades. I was also getting more concerned as the fire had spread to the mountains directly in front of my house, and I had heard the winds were going to only get stronger this evening.

There’s only one road that goes in and out of the Palisades, and so I braved the gridlock - it didn’t feel like there was any other choice. It took a while to get out – there were thousands of cars trying to leave.

Christal Hayes
Reporting from Los Angeles

Evacuating the fire has become a dire issue for residents - some of whom deserted their vehicles as flames moved toward roads.

KTLA reporter Gene Kang was on Sunset Boulevard and Palisades Drive, which was packed with abandoned vehicles. A bulldozer ploughed through nearly 200 vehicles, with plumes of smoke and bright red flames flaring just off the roadway.

A firefighter noted the vehicles were left without their keys and blocked an evacuation route, preventing fire crews from accessing the area. The firefighter noted at least one home was on fire nearby and others were in danger.

The City of Los Angeles noted about 140 officers with the Los Angeles Police Department were working to assist with the traffic gridlock and evacuations.

Asked about the cars blocking the road at a press conference moments ago, a police official said drivers should pull over if they are abandoning their vehicles and not leave them in the middle of the road.

We're seeing more and more pictures of homes in LA that have caught fire.

Officials warned in their news conference moments ago that about 10,000 homes are threatened.

And California Governor Gavin Newsom says "many structures" have been destroyed.

Here are some of the latest images:

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, EPA

Image source, Getty Images

The National Weather Service (NWS) is warning that high winds of 25 to 40 mph (40 km/h to 64 km/h), with gusts of 60 to 80 mph, will whip through the area until 18:00 local time on Wednesday.

That means we can expect the high winds that have fanned the flames and quickly spread the fire to continue for more than 24 hours.

Meanwhile, the Weather Channel is forecasting humidity to remain low through that time, about 17% - a dangerous combination.

The NWS has also issued "red flag" warnings for other parts of the Los Angeles region east of the Pacific Palisades, such as Pasadena, where winds are also expected to be high and humidity low.

Image source, Reuters

The smoke from the wildfire is dangerous to breath, officials are warning.

Reporters out covering the blaze are wearing face mask, as well as goggles to protect their eyes.

People who are driving are advised to set their air-conditioning to recirculate internally, to prevent smoke from entering the car.

Local air quality monitors have detected a local spike in the area near the fire, but so far there is no widespread reduction in air quality in the greater Los Angeles region.

Image source, Reuters

Christal Hayes
Reporting from Los Angeles

Image source, Getty Images

Officials here in Los Angeles have just finished a news conference on the growing blaze in the Pacific Palisades community. Here's the latest:

• The fire has grown to 1,260 acres. It ignited about 10:30 PT when winds were clocked at 25mph and has quickly spread as winds worsened to 40mph.
• The fire chief in Los Angeles says the blaze is still growing and is "extremely challenging" to fight due to the high winds and dry, brush area.
• Californnia Governor Gavin Newsom says "not a few, but many structures" have been destroyed but an exact number was not given. Officials say more than 10,000 homes and 13,000 buildings are under threat.
• No injuries have been reported, nor has anyone been reported missing. Officials note they did receive calls to addresses for people needing help getting out and they were able to rescue them.
• About 30,000 residents are under evacuation orders in the area. Those orders could remain for several days as crews fight the fire.
• More fires are still expected as officials noted the windstorm is forecast to worsen tonight.
• Officials asked that residents who do not need to be on the roads to stay home to help emergency crews to get through the typically traffic-filled streets of Los Angeles.

Governor Newsom notes that embers from the fire could sail for dozens of miles in the high winds, igniting new fires far from where the current fire is taking place.

"We're anticipating other fires happening concurrently," he warns.

An incident command team on-site is using new technology and "gaming out the next few days", he says.

Their goal, he says, is to "prepare to supress subsequent fires".

The briefing has now ended but we will continue to bring the latest from the region. Stick with us.

LA County Sheriff McDonnell says that multiple government agencies are currently "developing a plan for night time aerial operations" to continue dropping water and fire retardant on the flames.

"We are going to take advantage of the lower temperatures later at night," he says. But if the winds reach a certain speed they will be forced to cut off flights.

The water dropped from aircraft "never reaches the ground" during extreme winds, which he says unnecessarily puts flight crews at risk.

Winds are forecast to reach 100mph (160km/h) later tonight. The sheriff did not say at exactly what wind speed aerial missions will be suspended.