Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass says "historic winds" and extensive droughts created the "perfect storm", but dropping winds mean firefighters are now able to tackle wildfires from the air
LA County Board of Supervisors chair Kathryn Barger says she's "hopeful" the "tide is turning", but the impact is worse than anything she's seen
Some 20 people have been arrested for looting, she says, adding: "Shame on those who are preying on our residents during this time of crisis"
Across LA County, the number of people told to evacuate has risen to 179,700
But an evacuation order for the Hollywood Hills West area has been lifted, as the fire there is shrinking
Crews dealing with the Palisades blaze tell our reporter they are desperately short of water - and fear they are fighting a losing battle
Watch: Sun rises over a charred and burning LA on day three of fires
The Hurst fire has now grown to more than 700 acres, according to the Angeles National Forest, threatening the northern side of the San Fernando Valley.
The fire is in the hills above the suburban neighbourhood of Sylmar, which has a population of about 80,000 people.
Like all the other fires burning in the area, it is 0% contained.
The fire in the Pacific Palisades has become the most destructive in the history of the city of Los Angeles, and could potentially become the most destructive in the history of the state of California.
Officials say that at least 1,000 buildings have been destroyed so far.
According to the Los Angeles Regional Fire Safe Council, the most destructive fire in California's history was the Woolsey fire in 2018, which burned 1,121 structures.
Other fires in California have caused more deaths, and have burned greater areas. But the destruction of buildings happening right now is historic.
Images are continuing to come in of the absolute destruction caused by the wildfires in Los Angeles.
Firefighters are continuing to battle with the four ongoing fires in the region, as residents in evacuation zones leave their homes.
Image source, ReutersA woman reacts as she evacuates Altadena, which is being impacted by the Eaton fire
Image source, Getty ImagesBurned cars sit parked in front of a burning home as the Eaton Fire moves through the area
Image source, Getty ImagesA firefighter from Costa Mesa works to extinguish a fire burning a home on Valleylights Drive in the Hastings Ranch community of Pasadena
Image source, ReutersA burnt washing machine stands amid rubble in the Pacific Palisades neighbourhood on the west side of Los Angeles
As the fire rips through Los Angeles, it's becoming clear that many parts of the city will never be the same again.
One place which has been destroyed beyond recognition is the Wylie's Bait & Tackle store in Pacific Palisades, one of the worst affected areas.
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 AdministrationJuan 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 FeygensonMiriam Feygenson and her husband Alex Filler
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.
Watch: Biden announces he's a great-grandfather during wildfire briefing
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:
'We're prepared to do anything and everything' - Biden
Image source, US PoolVarious 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 ImagesThe 2025 Rose Parade
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 ImagesTrump visited California in 2020 and was briefed on wildfires in the state by Newsom
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 ImagesWe'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
Watch: BBC reporter surrounded by LA fire destruction