Southern California residents face growing uncertainty as several fast-moving wildfires continue to engulf tens of thousands of acres while destroying dozens of homes in its path.
Flames consumed the hills surrounding Interstate 405 near Los Angeles’ famed Getty Center early Wednesday, with the fire lighting up the high terrain in a horrifying, apocalyptic-like display. The blaze forced the closure of part of the heavily traveled north-south freeway.
In haunting photos, rows of homes are seen razed to the ground in Ventura County, where the largest of the fires has overtaken more than 50,000 acres since Monday night.
Overall, more than 68,000 acres are estimated to have been charred across Southern California this week. As of Wednesday morning, no deaths had been reported from the fires.
Other images show residents helplessly huddled together on a street corner, a homeowner desperately trying to smother flames with dirt and a teenager with day-old puppies evacuating a neighborhood.
Check out the slideshow below.
Luis Sinco via Getty Images
Thick smoke billows along Foothill Boulevard as the Creek Fire burns heavy brush in Los Angeles' Sylmar neighborhood on Dec. 5, 2017.
Irfan Khan via Getty Images
A structure burns on Dec. 5 in Los Angeles' Shadow Hills neighborhood.
Al Seib via Getty Images
Wearing his Christmas garb, Justin Ekback stands in front of one of the multi-million dollar homes destroyed in Ventura County by a wildfire on Dec. 5.
Luis Sinco via Getty Images
A firefighter gets into position to battle the Creek wildfire as a house is engulfed in flames in Shadow Hills.
Mike Blake / Reuters
Local residents react as numerous homes burn on a hillside in Ventura County.
Al Seib via Getty Images
Amanda Leon and her husband, Johnny Leon, watch as firefighters fight to save homes in Ventura County.
Wally Skalij via Getty Images
Carolyn Potter tries to save her house from the flames as she throws dirt on her fence in Ventura County's Casita Springs community.
Gene Blevins / Reuters
Emergency crews block a roadway as flames spread in Ventura County.
Robert Gauthier via Getty Images
Kayla Jackson, 15, cradles one-day old puppies as she rescues them from a friend's house in the Little Mountain area of San Bernardino County.
Luis Sinco via Getty Images
The Creek wildfire burns into the night in the Shadow Hills neighborhood.
Robert Gauthier via Getty Images
Horses are led from danger in Shadow Hills.
Luis Sinco via Getty Images
A structure is fully engulfed by flames in Shadow Hills.
Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Cars drive around Lake Casitas in Venture County as the Thomas wildfire crests in the surrounding mountains.
Wally Skalij via Getty Images
A house burns along the path of the Thomas wildfire in Casita Springs.
Mike Blake / Reuters
A real estate sign was barely touched by a fire that burned a home to the ground in Ventura County.
