Fire crews in Pasadena had issues accessing water last night, says Chief Augustin, but the severe winds means that more water would not have made any difference in firefighting efforts.

"When you have multiple city blocks on fire... it's gonna stretch our water system," the fire chief says.

"On top of that we had loss of power, temporarily, which impacted our water system," he continues.

"We could have had much more water [but] with those wind gusts, we were not stopping that fire last night."

Image source, Reuters

Chad Augustin, the fire chief of Pasadena, says that more than 750 firefighters are currently working to fight the Eaton fire - which is now more than 10,600 acres in size.

Crews are coming from all over California, and as far away as Arizona, he says. Crews out there are "exhausted" and desperately need back up, he adds.

So far, somewhere between 200 to 500 structures are "damaged or lost".

Conditions last night were so windy that embers were being spotted "two to three miles ahead of the fire".

Luckily, winds have died down enough for aircrafts to resume dropping water onto the fire.

He predicts "good progress" will be made to supress the fire in the next several days.

Elizabeth Blanco of the Pasadena Unified School District says schools will be closed for the rest of the week.

"The fire has substantially damaged five campuses," she says, adding: "We are doing everything possible to preserve our schools."

One school alone was 80% damaged by fire, she adds.

Congresswoman Judy Chu begins by saying she just arrived from Washington DC, and has many friends who have lost their homes.

She goes on to say that the federal government will finance all of the firefighting efforts being paid by local fire crews.

"I just urge everybody to obey the evacuation orders," she says, adding that federal lawmakers are also taking measures to close state forests to visitors.

Image source, Reuters

LA County Supervisor Kathryn Barger says she has toured the damage in the Pasadena area, and "it is surreal".

She says she has no words to describe it.

Barger also asks that spectators stay away from firefighting efforts.

"These are fires that are actively taking place as we speak," she says.

She also sends a message to potential looters: "The full weight of the county will come down on you."

Pasadena City Manager Miguel Marquez is next to speak.

He begins saying it's been "a brutal 22 hours here".

When firefighters first arrived at Eaton Canyon, "they found darkness, and they found fire, and they found 80mph winds".

By going door-to-door to warn people to flee, "they saved many lives", he says, calling their efforts "heroic".

"The battle continues. As does our resolve. We will put out the fire," he adds.

Image source, Reuters

Pasadena Mayor Victor Gordo begins the news conference saying that his thoughts and prayers are with all of the victims of the Eaton fire, which is impacting the community.

More than 100,000 people are under mandatory evacuation orders, and another 100,000 have been warned that they may soon be forced to flee.

Five fatalities have been reported so far from the fire.

Pasadena Victor Gordo is currently speaking to the media. He confirms five people have died in the wildfires.

Stick with us, we'll bring you any updates from the briefing. And a reminder that you can watch it live at the top of this page.

We're expecting a media briefing with Los Angeles officials in the next 10 minutes.

You will be able to click watch live at the top of this page to follow along.

Stick with us, we'll bring you text updates as well.

New evacuation orders have just been issued for parts of Santa Monica, a neighbourhood bordering the Pacific Palisades.

"A new expanded evacuation ORDER has been issued for all areas north of Montana Avenue from the beach to 11th Street," the city posted on X moments ago.

"Residents in this area must leave IMMEDIATELY and the area is closed to public access."

People in the area are asked to travel south to evacuate the fire zone.

The population of Santa Monica is relatively dense compared to the hillier regions where the fires have been ongoing. The new evacuation zone is near Will Rogers State Beach, which caught on fire after officials held a news conference there yesterday, and near the famous Santa Monica pier.

Free buses are being provided to evacuees.

Isabella Bull
BBC World Service

The landmark Reel Inn restaurant on the Pacific Coast Highway is one of the sites that’s been destroyed by these enormous wildfires.

Teddy Leonard, owner of the popular fish shack, told the BBC World Service’s OS programme how she and her husband found out their business had been destroyed when they saw videos of it burning on social media.

"The restaurant was there for 36 years. A lot of our employees had been with us for over 30 years, started as bus boys and ended up as head cooks. Those are the people that I am just devastated for, because we were their livelihood and trying to put that back is going to be difficult."

Teddy and her husband Andy also had to evacuate their Topanga home as flames encroached on the property.

“Having lost the restaurant, we were both in a state of shock – wandering around grabbing things, making sure we had our dog.

"Looking up this morning at the sky – it feels a little like Armageddon. This is the worst we’ve ever seen and we’ve both lived here for many, many years.”

She says she’s been touched by the outpouring of support from the community.

Image source, Getty Images

Emma Vardy
BBC News in Los Angeles

We’ve been driving along the Malibu seafront where luxury homes have been reduced to shells.

A world-famous part of California renowned for its surfing, celebrity homes and glamorous beach lifestyle is now utterly destroyed.

This is already being called "the most expensive fire in LA history", and it’s obvious why.

There are also warnings about people looting, as some try to take advantage of the homes of the rich and famous that have been abandoned.

Price gouging can also become an issue in a crisis, and there are local warnings that California has laws in place to try to deter this.

People in LA are in a state of shock at the extent of the damage to some of its most iconic spots, and there is real sorrow as the realisation spreads.

Image source, Getty Images

The Los Angeles Sheriff's Office has confirmed that another three people have been confirmed killed by the wildfires ravaging the region.

Two other deaths reported by officials earlier today were from the Eaton fire, which broke out in the Altadena region last night.

LA County Sheriff Robert Luna just confirmed five people have now been killed in the Eaton Fire.

We've reported today that tens of thousands of people with homes in the Los Angeles area have been told to evacuate due to these fires - and someone who's affected by this is Vice-President Kamala Harris.

The neighbourhood of the city where she has a house - Brentwood - is under an evacuation order, her press secretary Ernie Apreza wrote earlier on X.

"No-one was in her home at the time," Apreza says. "She and the second gentleman are praying for the safety of their fellow Californians, the heroic first responders, and Secret Service personnel."

Writing on her own X account, Harris sent a personal message to the people of California - saying she too is "a proud daughter" of the state who understands "the damage that wildfires have on our neighbours and communities".

Harris, who was in Washington yesterday delivering a eulogy for former US President Jimmy Carter, has had to evacuate her LA home twice before.

Gabriela Pomeroy
Live reporter

Image source, BBC / Susan Korwin

Susan Korwin, whose home in Los Angeles has burnt down, tells me she had lived there for 29 years.

"Everything we know is gone. Our city is decimated," she says when we talk on the phone - adding that a neighbour went back to their street today and filmed what's left.

"When I saw the video of our street I cried," she says, describing it as looking like something out of a "war zone".

Susan says it's not so much the house that she is upset about, but the things inside it - "the things we did not take which are not replaceable, like the children’s artwork and family heirlooms".

The only part of her home that remains is a garage wall, she tells me, explaining how she and her husband left in a rush when they saw flames coming towards the area.

"We have lost a whole community," she says, "but I am grateful we are safe.”

It's been confirmed that the US Department of Defense is mobilising military aircraft to help firefighters in Los Angeles tackle the large Palisades fire to the west of the city.

Both the California and Nevada Air National Guards have C-130 Hercules transport planes which can be fitted with equipment that spreads 3,000 US gallons (11,000 litres) of fire retardant on wildfires.

These aircraft are not like waterbombers which take water from the sea or lakes and drop them on fires and are intended to be used in addition to civilian firefighting aircraft.

According to the US Air Force it takes about two hours to fit a C-130 with the firefighting system. Once it has discharged its fire retardant it needs to return to base to be refilled and can be back in the air in 20 minutes.

Air National Guard C-130s have been used as recently as last July to tackle wildfires in California.

Image source, US Department of Defense

Image source, Getty Images

The wildfires have caused massive issues for power supply in the region, and more than 1.5 million customers are without power in California.

In Los Angeles County, nearly one million are without power, and in nearby Orange County 162,428 customers have lost electricity, according to PowerOutage.us.

The four biggest fires, all within the Los Angeles area, have burned more than 26,000 acres since igniting on Tuesday night, and so far have shown no signs of slowing down. All of the fires are 0% contained.

The Palisades wildfire, to the west of Los Angeles between Santa Monica and Malibu, is now covering 15,000 acres - that's approximately 23 square miles. For context, one acre is about the same size as an NFL field.

Previously, CalFire had reported the size of the fire at 11,800 acres.

Christal Hayes
Reporting from Los Angeles

As firefighters were battling infernos ravaging the city, their hoses ran dry.

LA Fire Department captain Erik Scott said three separate 1 million gallon tanks had been filled before the Pacific Palisades fire started. But some fire hydrants were located in high elevation areas, where the fire was growing. And Scott says that elevation impacted how fast the water could move through the system.

"The extreme demand caused a slower refill rate for these tanks which created a challenge for our firefighting effort," Scott said.

Janisse Quiñones, the head of the city's water and power department, noted the water systems in Los Angeles are for urban use - not for large firefighting efforts. The city and county doesn't typically see wildfires of this magnitude.

She noted in the Palisades area, which is now the most destructive fire in LA's history, the system was pushed to "the extreme" - and was running four times the normal demand for 15 hours straight, which impacted water pressure and hydrants.

Officials outlined that the area was not without water, but the heavy usage to fight these fires was making it difficult to replenish tanks.

"The consumption of water was faster than we can provide water," Quiñones explained. She noted more water was being sent to the area.

Image source, Getty Images

The Pentagon is continuing to closely monitor the wildfires in southern California and has briefed its governor on the latest developments.

"At the President's direction, the Department of Defense will provide additional firefighting personnel and capabilities," Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh says in a recent statement.

The National Guard, which has been deployed in California since Governor Gavin Newsom issued a state of emergency last night, is working closely with the federal government.

Singh adds in the Pentagon statement that California will receive two "modular air firefighting System Units" and two more are being readied by the Nevada National Guard.

"Additionally, the department is sending 10 Navy helicopters with water delivery buckets to immediately assist with aerial suppression," the statement says..