UPDATE: Los Angeles surrounded by out-of-control wildfires, at least 5 dead

By Jackie Luna, Joe Brock and Matt Mcknight

LOS ANGELES - Raging wildfires surrounding Los Angeles spread to the Hollywood Hills on Wednesday, after five other fires in the area killed at least five people, destroyed hundreds of homes and stretched firefighting resources and water supplies to the limit.

More than 100,000 people were ordered to evacuate as dry, hurricane-force winds hindered firefighting operations and spread the fires, which have burned parched terrain almost unimpeded since they began on Tuesday.

A new fire broke out in the Hollywood Hills on Wednesday evening, Fire Chief Kristin Crowley told a press conference, forcing more evacuations and raising to six the number of wildfires burning in Los Angeles County.

All but one of them were 0% contained according to state officials, including a pair of major conflagrations on the eastern and western flanks of the city that continued to grow as night fell on Wednesday.

In between, the so-called Sunset Fire in Hollywood Hills doubled in size within minutes to 20 acres on Wednesday, Cal Fire said.

The LA Fire Department issued an evacuation order for people in an area within Hollywood Boulevard to the south, Mulholland Drive to the north, the 101 Freeway to the east and Laurel Canyon Boulevard to the west - all iconic addresses for people in the entertainment industry.

Within that area is the Dolby Theater, where the Oscars are held. Next week's Oscar nominations announcement was already postponed by two days because of the fire, organisers said.

Though relatively small compared to the others, the Sunset Fire burned just above Hollywood Boulevard and its Walk of Fame. It would need to cross the 101 Freeway to endanger the Hollywood sign and Griffith Observatory further up in the hills.

SMOULDERING RUINS

On the west side of Los Angeles, the Palisades Fire consumed 15,832 acres (6,406 hectares) and hundreds of structures in the hills between Santa Monica and Malibu, racing down Topanga Canyon until reaching the Pacific Ocean on Tuesday. It was already one of the most destructive fires in Los Angeles history.

Aerial video by KTLA television showed block after block of smouldering homes in Pacific Palisades, the smoky grid occasionally punctuated by the orange blaze of another home still on fire.

To the east, in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, the Eaton Fire claimed another 10,600 acres (4,289 hectares), another 1,000 structures, and killed at least five people, officials said.

Private forecaster AccuWeather estimated initial damage and economic loss at more than $50 billion.

"We're facing a historic natural disaster. And I think that can't be stated strong enough," Kevin McGowan, director of emergency management for Los Angeles County, told a press conference.

Even though forecasters said winds would subside briefly on Wednesday night, so-called red flag conditions were expected to remain until Friday.

Nearly 1 million homes and businesses lost power in Los Angeles County, according to PowerOutage.us. School was cancelled throughout Los Angeles County at least through Thursday, Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said.

"The wind whipped up, the flames were up about 30 or 40 feet (9 to 12 metres) high, and you hear 'pop, pop, pop'. It sounded like a warzone," Kevin Williams, an Eaton Fire evacuee, told Reuters at an evacuation centre in Pasadena, describing gas canisters at his neighbours' homes that began exploding under the heat of the flames.

WATER WOES

The scale and spread of the blazes stretched already exhausted firefighting resources.

"There are not enough firefighters in L.A. County to address four separate fires of this magnitude," said Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone.

Firefighters from six other states were being rushed to California, while an additional 250 engine companies with 1,000 personnel were being moved from Northern California to Southern California, Marrone said in a later press conference.

Water shortages caused some hydrants to run dry in upscale Pacific Palisades, officials said.

"We pushed the system to the extreme. We're fighting a wildfire with urban water systems, and that is really challenging," Janisse Quinones, chief executive of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, told a press conference.

Pacific Palisades relies on three tanks that hold about a million gallons (3.78 million litres) each, and the demand for water to fight fires at lower elevations was making it difficult to refill water tanks at higher elevations, she said.

By Wednesday afternoon, all three of those tanks and all 114 reservoirs throughout the city were refilled, Quinones said in a later press conference.

The fires struck at an especially vulnerable time for Southern California, which has yet to see significant rainfall since the start of the water year in October.

Then came the powerful Santa Ana winds, bringing dry desert air from the east toward the coastal mountains, fanning wildfires while blowing over the hilltops and down through the canyons.

Scientists said the fires, erupting well outside of the traditional wildfire season, mark the latest in weather extremes that are likely to escalate further as global temperatures continue to climb in coming decades.

President Joe Biden, who stayed put in Los Angeles after Air Force One was grounded due to high winds on Tuesday, joined California Governor Gavin Newsom at a Santa Monica fire station to get a briefing firefighting efforts.

"The impacts of (the fires include) over one thousand structures already destroyed, a hundred-plus thousand people that have been evacuated, lives lost, traditions, lifestyles, places torn asunder," said Newsom, who declared a state of emergency on Tuesday.

Biden declared a major disaster for California and pledged any help he could provide in his final days in office before handing off to President-elect Donald Trump on January 20.

"We're doing anything and everything and as long as it takes to contain these fires ... to make sure you get back to normal," Biden said. "It's going to be a hell of a long way. It's going to take time."

- REUTERS