Two killed, many injured as tens of thousands flee Los Angeles fires.

 Extract from ABC News

By Brad Ryan

48 minutes ago

'It's armageddon': Devastating wildfires tear through Los Angeles

In short:

Several fires have raged through southern California, destroying at least 1,000 properties, most in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles.

Two people have died in a fire to LA's north-east.

What's next?

Dangerous conditions are forecast to fuel "extreme fire behaviour" into Thursday, local time.

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The large wildfires burning through Los Angeles have now destroyed at least 1,000 buildings, killed two people and caused a "high number" of significant injuries, authorities say.

More than 30,000 Californians are under evacuation orders as three fires rage uncontained. Traffic jams prompted many to abandon their cars and flee.

Authorities said "hurricane-force" winds were fuelling the fires, three of which remain uncontained and out of control. 

The Palisades fire, as seen from the sky. (Reuters: Mark Viniello)

Strong winds with gusts of almost 100kph could cause "extreme fire behaviour" to continue into Thursday, local time, the LA County Fire Department said.

"Last night was one of the most devastating and terrifying nights that we've seen in any part of our city, at any part of our history," LA city council president Marqueece Harris-Dawson said.

Walkers were left by a burning building in Altadena. (Reuters: David Swanson)

More than 1,000 firefighters are battling four blazes:

• The Palisades fire, affecting the exclusive Pacific Palisades area along the coast, home to many celebrities near the Malibu and Santa Monica beach communities. This fire has burned more than 2,000 hectares, destroyed an estimated 1,000 structures and caused a "high number of significant injuries to resident who did not evacuate", authorities said. 
• The Eaton fire, in the Los Angeles national forest and the Altadena area, north of Pasadena to city's north-east. At least two people have died in that fire, which has burned at least 890 hectares.
• The Hurst fire, which erupted about 10pm Tuesday in the Sylmar region, on the city's northern outskirts in the San Fernando Valley, quickly growing to 200 hectares and prompting the evacuation of 3,000 residents.
• The Woodley fire, which has burned through at least 30 hectares in the Sepulveda Basin, north-west of downtown LA. It is now under control.

The Pacific Palisades neighbourhood of LA is one of the most expensive in the US. (Reuters: Mike Blake)

The losses include schools, businesses and mansion-style homes caught on camera collapsing into flames. 

Almost 400,000 properties in California have lost power. Others in LA have reported intermittent outages.

One of the fires has burned through the Pasadena area. (Reuters: Mario Anzuoni)

Mark Hamill, Mandy Moore and James Woods are among the Hollywood stars forced to evacuate. The Associated Press reported Adam Sandler, Ben Affleck, Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg also owned homes in the area.

The home of Vice-President Kamala Harris is among those in the evacuation zone, though nobody was there when the order was put in place, a spokesperson said.

A Christmas tree burns inside a Pacific Palisades home. (AP: Ethan Swope)

President Joe Biden, who travelled to California to open two monuments before the fires forced a change in plans, is due to be briefed by authorities in Santa Monica shortly. 

Local fire chief Anthony Marrone said the county's 29 fire departments were all "drawn down with no fire apparatus or additional personnel to spare". 

Firefighters had also been deployed from Northern California, Nevada, Oregan and Washington state, he said, and more resources had been requested.