Fires caused by fierce winds scorched parts of the Los Angeles area, while several wildfires destroyed homes and choked the sky with smoke.

How the Palisades Fire Spread

Calif.

Pacific Ocean

Palisade fire

Palisades Charter
High school

January 7, 2:11 pm PT

Note: Shapes show reported extent of fire, given in local Pacific time

Source: Cal Fire

Tens of thousands of residents had to evacuate, including some celebrities in the wealthy Pacific Palisades neighborhood. Since then, evacuation orders surrounding the Palisades Fire have been expanded to include areas along the Pacific Coast Highway and parts of the city of Santa Monica.

Other smaller but significant fires also burned in the region overnight.

One erupted near Pasadena in Eaton Canyon in the San Gabriel Mountains. As of Wednesday morning, the area had grown to an estimated 1,000 acres, according to the Angeles National Forest.

Another fire, the Hurst Fire, burned in Sylmar, a community in the San Fernando Valley northwest of Los Angeles.

As the Palisades Fire continues to grow, strong winds from Santa Ana are spreading smoke south across Los Angeles. Here is where it is expected to move in the coming hours:

Officials were already expecting devastating losses and warned that the worst was yet to come, with increasingly strong winds expected to fuel the out-of-control fires through Wednesday. According to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, the cause of the fires remains under investigation.