By Martha Kelner, US correspondent in Pacific Palisades
This is one of Los Angeles’s most expensive and exclusive suburbs, home to film stars and billionaires.
The broad boulevards are framed by palm trees and gated mansions with swimming pools.
But it’s in the grips of one of mother nature’s terrifying levellers, a firestorm that is ripping through community after community, raging and unremitting.
A billowing cloud of black smoke loomed over the main shopping street with its fancy restaurants and designer shops, threatening to destroy what many here consider to be their slice of paradise.
It is a reminder of the destructive power of this sort of weather.
Reza, a lifelong resident of Pacific Palisades, was evacuating with what belongings he could fit in his SUV.
“This is surreal, this is unbelievable,” he said.
“I’ve lived here all my life but this is like nothing I’ve ever seen before. This is the worst of the worst.”
January is not normally wildfire season, but these are not ordinary circumstances, the blazes being propelled by the strongest winds in southern California for more than a decade, fuelled by drought conditions.
The authorities are warning that the winds will grow stronger overnight, meaning that conditions will likely worsen before they get better.
