As the crisis enters its third day, events are postponed and stars such as Paris Hilton, Billy Crystal and Mandy Moore mourn the destruction of their homes.
Oscar winner Jamie Lee Curtis donated $1 million to the relief effort on Thursday, stating Instagram post that he wants to set up a fund for the renewal of the city. She added that she is in contact with California Governor Gavin Newsom, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and Senator Adam Schiff to ensure the funds are spent appropriately.
Firefighters are currently battling four separate fires stretching from the Pacific Coast to inland Pasadena. At least five people have died and 130,000 people are under evacuation orders.
Just a few days ago, Hollywood's biggest stars walked the Golden Globes red carpet to kick off the awards season.
Now major industry events have been blown off course by wildfires. The Oscar nominations have been delayed by two days to January 19. Three awards shows, including the Critics Choice Awards, have been postponed or postponed. Instead of an in-person announcement, the Screen Actors Guild Award nominations were announced via press release on Wednesday. At least two movie premieres were canceled and filming of TV series and films was suspended in the affected area.
The largest of the fires has been burning since Tuesday morning, when it raged through the affluent Pacific Palisades neighborhood, sending residents fleeing and leaving roads filled with abandoned cars. When the worst of the flames subsided, photos of the region show that almost nothing was spared.
Los Angeles now looks like “you're in some Armageddon movie,” said Canadian voice actress Tara Strong.
“I don't remember a disaster like this to hit Los Angeles since the 1994 earthquake, which was my second week in Los Angeles,” she told CBC News on Thursday.
“We can see the flames from our house.”
Life is strong in Malibu, which is currently threatened by the same fire that ripped through the Palisades. They have been without electricity since Tuesday.
“If you just drive, we're about nine minutes from the worst fire in Malibu,” she said. “We can see flames and smoke from our house.”
Strong hasn't received an evacuation order yet, but he thinks it's only a matter of time. Members of the farm have packed their bags and are planning how to transport their animals – one dog and three reptiles, which need a certain temperature indoors.
“We definitely won't go out without our animals,” Strong said.
She said it was encouraging that the film and animation industry was uniting in the face of the crisis, with people sharing information, extending audition dates, raising money and taking other people's animals.
“It's beautiful to see that the human side of people coming together is more important than finishing an audition, casting someone, or announcing an awards show.”
Stars who lost their homes in fires
Singer and actress Mandy Moore, who evacuated with her family on Tuesday, said Wednesday she lost her home in Altadena, near Palisades.
“Honestly, I'm in shock and I feel numb,” she wrote in an Instagram post. “My children's school is gone. Our favorite restaurants have been razed to the ground. So many friends and loved ones lost everything too. Our community is broken, but we will be here to rebuild together.”
In a video posted to his Instagram on Thursday, actor Cameron Mathison showed what remained of the house where his family lived for 13 years: a smoking pile of rubble, with small flames still flickering among the rubble, just meters away from a pristine spot on the ground. tiled walkway and still green hedges.
“This is what's left of our beautiful home,” the caption read.
Mathison told CNN that when he first saw the destroyed house, it made a sound he had never heard before.
“It was kind of a sore throat, disbelief, shock and fear as I approached my property and didn't see the house.”
His block was so dilapidated that in some places it looked like “houses were never built there,” the Canadian-born actor told CNN.
He added that their family is mourning the loss of irreplaceable items such as photos of their children captured on film, their children's early art projects and family cards and decorations collected over the years.
“These are things that cannot be replaced. And that's part of such a disaster.”
On Wednesday, Paris Hilton shared a news clip on her Instagram in which she said that watching her Malibu home “burn to the ground on live television is something no one should ever have to experience.”
Her son Phoenix took his first steps in this house, and in this house he “built so many precious memories.”
Reality stars Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag are known for Hillsconfirmed on social media that their home burned down in the Palisades fire.
Montag said in an Instagram story on Wednesday that she only packed two pairs of jeans and two shirts for herself before the evacuation. Emotion crept into her voice and she added that when deciding what to take with them, they thought, “Of course, I'm coming back.”
Pratt shared a photo from cameras in their nursery taken while the house was burning, pointing out the “heart-shaped” flames and calling them “a sign of how much love there was in this house.”
Billy Crystal and his wife Janice said in a statement Wednesday that the home they lived in for 45 years was destroyed in the Palisades fire.
“Janice and I have lived in our house since 1979,” they wrote. “We raised our children and grandchildren here. Every inch of our home was filled with love. Beautiful memories that cannot be taken away. Of course we are devastated, but with the love of our children and friends we will get through this.”
On Thursday, TV presenter and actress Ricki Lake also mourned at her home. She posted photos of the property taken before it burned down, writing that she had lost her “dream house.”
“This loss is immeasurable,” she said. “This is the place where we got married three years ago.”
Singer-songwriter Jhene Aiko wrote this “Me and my children's house is gone,” in an Instagram post on Thursday, “burned to the ground with all our stuff inside.”
“Thank you that we still have each other,” she added.
Star Trek actress Denise Crosby wrote on X that her house was also destroyed in the fires. It was “the only home I ever owned,” she wrote. “Now ashes.”
Yesterday morning I had a beautiful Spanish cottage that gave me endless joy, where I met my husband and raised my son, the only house I have ever owned, with fruit trees that I grew, with a garden of native plants. Now ashes. I'm heartbroken 💔 #palisadesfire pic.twitter.com/LBYfZoTFgC
Other stars known to have homes in the area include Adam Sandler, Ben Affleck, Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg and Cary Elwes, who confirmed on Instagram that his house also burned down shortly after he posted a video of himself evacuating the road surrounded by flames.
Star Wars actor Mark Hamill evacuated from his Malibu home on Tuesday, saying “small fires” broke out on both sides of the road as they drove. Canadian actor Eugene Levy also evacuated on Tuesday Los Angeles Times. he had to escape through the dark smoke.
After the latest fire broke out in the Hollywood Hills on Wednesday evening, photos of the Hollywood sign burning began circulating on social media before they were proven to be fake.
Jeff Zarrinnam, president of the Hollywood Sign Trust, said in a statement Thursday morning that “the sign itself is unaffected and is safe.”