When the air is warm and dry, transpiration and evaporation also suck water out of the plants and soil. That leaves dry vegetation that can provide fuel for flying embers to spread wildfires, as the Los Angeles area saw in early January.

Firefighters have made progress battling some of the blazes. The Palisades Fire is 6% contained after scorching nearly 20,000 acres, and firefighters have made progress tackling two others, the Hurst Fire (37% contained) and the Lidia Fire (75%) contained.

LOS ANGELES − As multiple wildfires continue to burn through Southern California, evacuation orders remain in place throughout the region through at least Thursday. Authorities continue to investigating the causes of three wildfires that began burning in Southern California on Tuesday and two fires that sparked north of Los Angeles and in Hollywood on Wednesday.

The list of celebrities who lost their homes and neighbourhoods in the worst fire in Los Angeles history reads like a Hollywood who's who. Jamie Lee Curtis, James Woods, Mandy Moore, Mark Hamill and Maria Shriver were among those who publicly described being forced to evacuate as out-of-control fires swept across some of the most lavish real estate in the world.

A group of Los Angeles residents confronted and apprehended a man they believe may be an arsonist responsible for setting a fire in their community.