Firefighters in Los Angeles are battling a number of blazes in city suburbs, as tens of thousands of residents are forced to flee. The rapidly changing situation is compounded by Santa Ana winds and extremely dry conditions. Currently authorities say there is no possibility of bringing the fires under control.
The Palisades fire, which is closest to the coast and also the largest, has ripped through picturesque suburbs which are home to many Hollywood stars. More than 1,000 buildings have already been destroyed.
The four major fires being tackled are: the Palisades fire, the Eaton fire, the Hurst fire, and the Woodley fire.
The map above shows how rapidly the Palisades fire spread, intensifying in a matter of hours. At just after 14:00 on Tuesday it covered 772 acres and within four hours it had expanded approximately to its current size. Thousands of people have been forced to evacuate, as more than 1,400 firefighters try to tackle the blaze.
The fire is comparable in size with the central area of UK’s capital, or with large areas of lower Manhattan and Brooklyn. Another indication of the scale of the fire comes from Nasa’s Earth Observatory, which has captured images showing a huge plume of smoke emanating from California and drifting out to sea.
The Palisades fire is not the only one to have a devastating effect on neighbourhoods of Los Angeles.
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