Wildfires latest: Winds subside as firefighters battle devastating blazes in Los Angeles area

Firefighters are battling to control a series of major fires in the Los Angeles area that have killed five people, devastated communities from the Pacific Coast to Pasadena and sent thousands of people frantically fleeing their homes.

Firefighters worked early Thursday to bring one under control series of major fires in the Los Angeles area, it has killed five people, devastated communities from the Pacific Coast to Pasadena and sent thousands of people frantically fleeing their homes.

The fierce winds that fanned the flames and led to chaotic evacuations have calmed somewhat and were not expected to be as strong during the day. That could allow firefighters to make progress in curbing fires that have hopped through the vast region, including huge ones in Pacific Palisades and Altadena.

Here’s the latest:

The dramatic level of destruction in some places was evident from a comparison of satellite images before and after the fire.

A strip of about 250 homes in an Altadena neighborhood, dotted with the green canopies of leafy trees and aquamarine pools, was reduced to rubble. Only a few houses were still standing and some were still on fire in the Maxar Technologies footage.

In a stretch of about 70 wall-to-wall homes towering over the Pacific Ocean in Malibu, fewer than 10 appeared to be intact.