Firefighters battle to put out blaze

Associated Press

Los Angeles: A fast-moving fire broke out in the Hollywood Hills on Wednesday night, threatening one of Los Angeles' most iconic spots as firefighters battled to get under control three other major blazes that killed five people, put 100,000 people under evacuation orders and ravaged the city from the Pacific Coast to inland Pasadena. The streets around Grauman's Chinese Theatre and Madame Tussauds were packed with stop-and-go traffic as sirens blared and low-flying helicopters soared by on their way to dump water on the flames.

People toting suitcases left hotels on foot, while some onlookers walked towards the flames, recording the fire on their phones. Winds eased up some Wednesday, a day after hurricane- force winds blew embers through the air, igniting block after block, and hundreds of firefighters from other states have arrived to help, but the four fires burning out of control showed the danger is far from over. More than half a dozen schools in the area were either damaged or destroyed, including Palisades Charter High School, which has been featured in many Hollywood productions, including the 1976 horror movie Carrie and the TV series Teen Wolf, officials said. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said air operations were dousing flames. She warned they still faced erratic winds, though not of hurricane force like Tuesday evening when much of the destruction occurred.

On the Pacific Coast west of downtown Los Angeles, a major fire leveled entire blocks, reducing grocery stores and banks to rubble in the Pacific Palisades, a hillside area along the coast dotted with celebrity homes and memorialized by the Beach Boys in their 1960s hit Surfin' USA.

Actors lost homes- The flames marched toward highly populated and affluent neighborhoods, including Calabasas and Santa Monica, home to California's rich and famous. Hollywood stars. Mandy Moore, Cary Elwes, and Paris Hilton are among the stars who said Wednesday they had lost homes.

Billy Crystal and his wife Janice lost their home of 45 years in the Palisades Fire. We raised our children and grandchildren here. Every inch of our house was filled with love. Beautiful memories that can't be taken away," the Crystals wrote in the statement.

Landmarks get scorched and studios suspend production- President Joe Biden signed a federal emergency declaration after arriving at a Santa Monica fire station for a briefing with Gov Gavin Newsom, who dispatched National Guard troops to help. Several Hollywood studios suspended production, and Universal Studios closed its theme park between Pasadena and Pacific Palisades.