In Los Angeles’s chaparral-covered ecosystem, wildfires in the mountains are an annual ritual. But when those fires leaped ...

The largest wildfire to hit Los Angeles this week rapidly tore through homes and communities, whipped by winds that sent embers skyward.

The largest blaze, the Palisades Fire, which ranks as the most destructive in Los Angeles history, scorched over 20,000 acres, including picturesque coastal enclaves between Santa Monica and Malibu.

Ferocious wildfires are burning through the Los Angeles area for a fifth day, destroying thousands of structures and upending lives.