Dozens of evacuated Los Angeles residents stared incredulously at the thick cloud of black smoke blotting out the sun, scarcely able to believe the scale of the wildfires, and fearing that their homes could be destroyed next.They have gathered above Santa Monica Canyon, near the upscale Pacific Palisades neighborhood where devastating flames first broke out among multi-million dollar mansions on Tuesday.Residents continue to evacuate, or return briefly to collect their belongings.Gusts are still so strong that expensive Teslas and Alfa Romeos rock on their tires. A police car with a megaphone orders bystanders to “leave the area now.””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,” Sarahlee Stevens-Shippen told AFP.”We’ve just been in panic mode.”The 69-year-old retiree has lived here since the 1970s.Clad in a mask, she returned to her home at dawn to retrieve a few cherished possessions that she had been unable to gather in her hurry to flee the night before.”When I saw the glow of the fire coming over the mountain yesterday about eight o’clock, I took off,” she said.The flames had “already jumped the coast highway nearby and some palm trees were catching on fire,” she recalled.During the night that followed, at least two more substantial fires broke out to the north of the Los Angeles urban sprawl, in Altadena and the San Fernando Valley.Two people are confirmed to have died so far. Tens of thousands have evacuated their homes. And authorities warn that the danger is far from over, with treacherous windy conditions set to remain until later in the week.”This has been a shock that is still sinking in. But we’re in survival mode, so we’re just grabbing certain necessities and getting out,” said Stevens-Shippen.- ‘Never imagined’ -Carrying a large blue plastic bag stuffed full of clothes, Martin Sansing also emerges from the canyon. A television producer, he and his wife have just fled their four-bedroom villa.When Sansing bought the home for $1.6 million 15 years ago, he thought this neighborhood below the mountains that surround Los Angeles would be safe.”We’re in a pretty urban area. We’re not like, on a hill or anything like that,” he said.”I never imagined we would be affected.”Every fall and winter, California is swept by hot, dry Santa Ana winds. For firefighters, these are a nightmare, as they greatly increase the risk of fires spreading.This week, their strength reached an intensity not seen in more than a decade, meteorologists say.To compound the disaster, South California is experiencing a very dry winter, which makes vegetation more flammable. And there is a surplus of brush and shrubs, thanks to the two previous, unusually wet winters.”It’s hard not to think it’s unrelated to what’s happening on the planet,” said Sansing, 54.”These things seem to be more frequent and more intense.”- ‘So fast’ -At an evacuation center a few miles (kilometers) away, Arlinda Henderson is still trying to come to terms with what has happened.The Pacific Palisades resident has lived in her home with her husband since 1984. Over those four decades, she has experienced evacuations, but never anything of this severity.”This time was different — the fire just came down the hill so fast because of the wind,” she said.”I’d never seen anything like it.”The former flight attendant only had time to grab a few family photos and her pet cat before leaving her home — perhaps for the final time.”I think our house is gone. I’ve tried calling home, and I’ve tried a couple of neighbors. It’s just not ringing,” sighed the 76-year-old.She fears that her home insurance will refuse to continue to cover her against wildfires if she rebuilds in the neighborhood.”I can’t believe LA is surrounded” by wildfires, she said.

A-list actors, musicians and other celebrities were among the tens of thousands of people affected by terrifying wildfires tearing through Los Angeles on Wednesday.The entertainment capital was besieged by out-of-control blazes burning on multiple fronts, with Hollywood events including a glitzy awards show and a Pamela Anderson film premiere cancelled as firefighters battled nearby flames whipped up by hurricane-force winds.Hundreds of homes were destroyed in the swanky Pacific Palisades area, a favorite spot for celebrities where multimillion-dollar houses nestle on beautiful hillsides, while another inferno devastated parts of Altadena, to the east.Mandy Moore, the singer and “This Is Us” actress, told followers on Instagram she had fled with her children and pets from the path of the Altadena fire. “Trying to shield the kids from the immense sadness and worry I feel. Praying for everyone in our beautiful city. So gutted for the destruction and loss. Don’t know if our place made it,” she wrote.Emmy-winning actor James Woods posted a video on X showing flames engulfing trees and bushes near his Pacific Palisades home as he got ready to evacuate, and shortly afterwards said all the fire alarms were going off.”I couldn’t believe our lovely little home in the hills held on this long. It feels like losing a loved one,” Woods said.”Star Wars” star Mark Hamill told his followers on Instagram that he had fled his Malibu home on Tuesday.”Evacuated Malibu so last-minute there were small fires on both sides of the road as we approached PCH,” he wrote, referring to the Pacific Coast Highway, a scenic road that connects seafront settlements.Hamill said he and his wife Marilou York, along with a pet dog, had gone to their daughter’s Hollywood home to escape what he dubbed the “most horrific fire since ’93.”- Premieres cancelled -Meanwhile, several major Hollywood events were abruptly called off due to the disaster.The annual Critics Choice Awards gala, which honors the year’s best in film and television and is attended by dozens of A-list stars, was postponed from this Sunday to January 26.Anderson’s premiere for “The Last Showgirl” was scrapped due to the unfolding disaster, while Paramount also cancelled a glitzy red-carpet screening of the Robbie Williams musical film “Better Man.”Netflix pulled the plug on a press conference for its Golden Globe winner “Emilia Perez.”A live announcement to unveil this year’s Screen Actors Guild nominations was abandoned on Wednesday morning, in favor of a simple press release.Filming of Los Angeles-based shows such as “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Hacks” and “Jimmy Kimmel Live” was paused. And the Universal Studios theme park was closed for the day due to the extreme winds and fire conditions.- ‘Burn’ -Steve Guttenberg — star of 1984 comedy “Police Academy” — was among those helping get people out of Pacific Palisades as the fire began spreading on Tuesday.The “Cocoon” actor expressed frustration at how some of those fleeing the blaze had abandoned their cars on one of the only roads in and out of the ritzy neighborhood.”If you leave your car… leave the key in there so a guy like me can move your car so that these fire trucks can get up there. It’s really, really important,” he told a live television broadcast.Reality TV personalities Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt from “The Hills,” an MTV show that ran until 2010, said they had lost their house after evacuating.”I’m watching our house burn down on the security cameras,” Pratt wrote on Snapchat.