Raging Fires Ravage Los Angeles

Five dead, 130,000 ordered to flee, 2,000 buildings burned as wind-whipped flames sweep neighborhoods

- By Jennifer Calfas, Gareth Vipers and Sarah Krouse

At least five people were killed and tens of thousands were forced to evacuate as wildfires devastated the Los Angeles area and stretched the region's firefighting resources to its limits.

One wind-fueled fire tore through the affluent oceanside Pacific Palisades neighborhood while another, responsible for all of the deaths, burned in and around Pasadena to the east of Los Angeles. Portions of Hollywood were ordered to evacuate Wednesday evening as a new fire broke out in the hills above the center of the city.

At least 2,000 structures were damaged or destroyed, including two elementary schools and part of a high school that were consumed by flames, officials said. Hollywood studios stopped production, movie premieres were canceled, schools and tourist attractions closed and a Los Angeles Kings hockey game was postponed.

The unprecedented scale of the fires was a result of a combination of deadly weather conditions-hurricane-force winds and tinder-dry brush.

"This is the worst one I've seen," said Tim McKeon, a 24-year veteran of the Los Angeles Fire Department, who paused for a break Wednesday morning in Santa Monica.

"By the time we got to a house and put the fire out, the fire had spread to three or four other houses," McKeon said. The wind was so strong that it blew hose streams away from their targets, he said.