LA fires live tracker: Map shows where hellish California infernos are heading next – check updating view of Palisades, Kenneth, Eaton and more

with-font”>Devastating wildfires are tearing through Los Angeles, leaving apocalyptic scenes in their wake.

Enormous 120ft flames have destroyed thousands of homes, businesses, schools and places of worship, causing an estimated $49billion (£40bn) worth of damage so far in communities from the Pacific Coast to Pasadena.

Some of Hollywood’s biggest names have seen their homes razed to the ground.

In Pacific Palisades – a hillside area on the coast dotted with celebrity properties – the homes of actors Sir Anthony Hopkins, Billy Crystal, John Goodman and Anna Faris were destroyed.

Ferocious winds combined with an extensive drought created a ‘perfect storm’ for the infernos, which firefighters are struggling to contain.

Tens of thousands of residents have had to be evacuated.  

The so-called Palisades Fire between Santa Monica and Malibu on LA’s western flank and the Eaton Fire in the east near Pasadena already rank as the most destructive in Los Angeles history, consuming more than 34,000 acres (13,750 hectares) – or some 53 square miles.

While it is not clear exactly how the wildfires began, most are usually traced back to manmade errors, such as an unattended campfire or discarded cigarette.

Weather and environmental conditions then dictate how severe and widespread the fires become.

Experts claim that heavy rains from El Niño last year fueled vegetation growth in Los Angeles area, which had since dried out and become highly flammable.

Once ignited, strong winds then fanned the flames.

Southern California was battered by ‘devil winds’, known as Santa Ana winds, which are warm and gusty northeast winds that blow from the interior of region toward the coast.

They are also dryer, due to them moving in the opposite direction of the normal onshore flow that carries moist air from the Pacific into the region.

The Santa Ana winds pushed humidity levels to drop and dried out vegetation which then became susceptible to fire.

The tremendous wind speeds are capable of stoking any spark into a rapidly spreading devastating fires that engulf thousands of acres in hours.