Firefighters on Jan. 11 raced to get the upper hand on blazes chewing through homes in the greater Los Angeles area, five days after powerful winds swept across a bone-dry landscape and fueled urban wildfires that have turned much of the world-famous city into a hellscape.
While firefighters made gains on the fires, the battle was far from over. From both the air and the ground, firefighters attacked the flames. Hazardous smoke, from both actively burning homes and smoldering homes, filled the skies.
Parts of Los Angeles, the city internationally known for its movie industry, now looked like the sets of war movies. Large swaths of neighborhoods were all but eliminated, with houses flattened and trees blackened.
People returning to what was left of their homes were clearly in shock. They hugged, cried and sometimes just stood in place, as if trying to take it all in.
Six simultaneous wildfires have devastated Los Angeles County neighborhoods since Jan. 7, killed at least 11 people, damaged or destroyed 10,000 structures and left thousands of people homeless. Those tolls were expected to grow once it was safe enough for firefighters to conduct house-to-house searches. (AP, Reuters)