Paris Hilton, Billy Crystal among celebrities who lost homes in L.A. wildfires
Out-of-control wildfires are ravaging parts of Los Angeles this week, ripping through neighbourhoods and enclaves many Hollywood stars call home, including the Pacific Palisades, Malibu and Altadena.
California firefighters are battling wind-whipped fires tearing across the area as the quick-moving flames destroy homes and critical infrastructure.
The Pacific Palisades neighbourhood is a hillside area along the coast dotted with celebrity residences and memorialized by the Beach Boys in their 1960s hit Surfin’ USA. In the frantic haste to get to safety, roadways became impassable when scores of people abandoned their vehicles and fled on foot, some toting suitcases.
As of Thursday morning, the wildfires continued to ravage Los Angeles County, with the latest blazes hitting the prestigious Hollywood Hills — home to numerous celebrities — on Wednesday evening.
Some reports claim the fires are also inching closer to the iconic Hollywood sign.
Ferocious winds that drove the flames and led to chaotic evacuations have calmed somewhat and were not expected to be as powerful during the day. That could provide an opportunity for thousands of firefighters to make progress reining in blazes that have hopscotched across the sprawling area.
Some 130,000 people have been put under evacuation orders as fires have consumed a total of about 42-square miles (108 square kilometres) — nearly the size of the entire city of San Francisco. The Palisades Fire is already the most destructive in Los Angeles history.
Approximately 2,000 structures have been destroyed, and upwards of 130,000 residents ordered to evacuate. Hundreds of thousands of people are without power in the region.
Here’s how celebrities have been impacted by the fires burning
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