More than 1,000 buildings have burned in fires that have broken out around America's second biggest city, forcing tens of thousands of people from their homes.
Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said his crews were overwhelmed by the scale and speed of the unfolding disasters.
The fire raging in Pacific Palisades had consumed around 16,000 acres (6,500 hectares) as of Wednesday afternoon, taking 1,000 homes and businesses with it.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said an earlier death toll of two had now increased, with more deaths feared.
“And remember, this is still a very fluid situation, there’s zero containment on this fire. I’m really praying we don’t find more, but I don’t think that’s going to be the case.”
Hydrants run dry
As a pall of dark smoke hung over Los Angeles, downed trees and broken branches were hampering movement, and residents were urged to stay off the roads.
“We’re fighting a wildfire with urban water systems, and that is really challenging,“ she said.
In fact, much of Los Angeles' water comes from the Colorado River, and farming -- rather than residential use or firefighting -- takes the lion's share of all water that flows into Southern California.
“We’re doing anything and everything, and as long as it takes to contain these fires,“ Biden told reporters.
Having razed perhaps hundreds of multimillion-dollar homes, the Pacific Palisades fire looked set to be one of the costliest blazes on record.
“We’re in a pretty urban area. We’re not like, on a hill or anything like that. I never imagined we would be affected,“ he said.
“You got the ashes to worry about in your lungs. You got your life to worry about with these 80 to 100 mile an hour gusts. We’ve just been in panic mode.”
Wildfires are part of life in the US West and play a vital role in nature.
Southern California had two decades of drought that were followed by two exceptionally wet years, which sparked furious vegetative growth -- leaving the region packed with fuel and primed to burn.
“The winds are the driver, but the real catalyst... is this incredible antecedent dryness,“ he said.
“The lack of rain and the anomalous warmth and dryness that we’ve seen the past six months. That’s something that we haven’t seen in records going back to the 1800s.”
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