California Wildfire: Apocalyptic Scenes as Los Angeles Burns

California Wildfire: Bushfires swept through plush neighbourhoods of Altadena, Pasadena, and Pacific Palisades, where many Hollywood celebrities lost their houses to the blazes. By Wednesday afternoon, the 'Santa Ana' became strong enough to carry the fire past the Hollywood Hills into the glittering city of Los Angeles in southern California, home to America's film industry.

What surfaced from Los Angeles in forms of postings on social media were heart-wrenching post-industrial scenes like those of an apocalyptic world.

Also Read: Los Angeles Wildfires Live Updates: Hollywood Hills Ablaze, Celebrity Homes Destroyed, Biden Cancels Foreign Trip

'Apocalyptic'

Unverified video showed fireballs leaping from house to house, incinerating swathes of California's most desirable real estate. Aerials showed what users labelled Hollywood Hills, looking like a gigantic bonfire as flames and thick smoke turned the iconic area into nightmare.

And then came this just purportedly a video from a single location made into the three stunningly distinct scenes-an almost-black sky over an obviously strange, orange-bathed monotone horizon arduous to glimpse sun peeking through scores of high-rises.

A post on X shared a video that was captioned: "This is by far the craziest video from the fire in Los Angeles. This guy is filming huge walls of fire surrounding a house they're in, and there's another person and a dog. I have no idea why they didn't evacuate or what happened to them. Let's hope they're okay."

This is by far the craziest video from the fire in Los Angeles. This guy is filming huge walls of fire surrounding a house they're in, and there's another person and a dog. I have no idea why they didn't evacuate or what happened to them. Let's hope they're okay. #PalisadesFire pic.twitter.com/QYtsBSKvdl

— Sia Kordestani (@SiaKordestani) January 8, 2025

Also Read: Joe Biden Shares Donald Trump’s Surprising Compliment: ‘He Thought I Was Leaving With…

A very sad scene from hard-hit Altadena showed about 100 elderly residents being rapidly evacuated from the senior care facility in hospital beds and wheelchairs just as flames closed in on them.

Many of them were left only in flimsy bedclothes as their wheelchairs were wheeled out to a parking lot roughly a block away.

Wildfires have claimed five lives, consumed hundreds of houses - including those of celebrities - and charred landmarks, among them the historic ranch house that once belonged to Hollywood legend Will Rogers and the Topanga Ranch Motel designed by newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst in 1929, according to Associated Press.

Most of those infernos started in the course of the past Tuesday, fueled up by hurricane-strength "Santa Ana" winds practically gusting more than 70 mph (112 kph). It was still blowing Wednesday, and all of that would further hinder aircraft from actually going over those sites to fight their blazes from the air. Those firefighting duties then resumed Wednesday morning and have continued since.

Also Read: Kangana Ranaut Admits Directing ‘Emergency’ Was a Mistake: ‘Thought I’d Get Away'