A large village has sprung up on the golden sands of Malibu beach, home to thousands of firefighters.
Firefighters from all over North America eat, sleep and recuperate at Zuma Beach when they are not fighting the Los Angeles wildfires.
About 5,000 first responders are crammed into trailers and tents. The camp comes alive before dawn, when thousands prepare for breakfast.
The ratings of many fire departments show the presence of workers from California and the western United States, as well as a group of recently arrived Mexicans.
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day for many, an opportunity to load up on calories before the shift starts.
The food is prepared by a group of inmates from California prisons, who were brought in to help with the biggest crisis the state has ever seen.
Warden Terry Cook, who supervises inmates at the facility, said that sometimes he sees people he knows well as firefighters, who just go back after serving their sentences.
“I've met the inmates who were in my prison two years ago, and I see them standing in line here, shaking hands, and saying 'thank you,'” he said.
Two major fires in Los Angeles they have burned 40,000 acres (16,000 hectares) since the storm made landfall last Tuesday.
At least 24 people have died in the blaze, which has destroyed more than 12,000 homes and forced 92,000 people from their homes, including the affluent Pacific Palisades, located a few miles from the fire station.
After breakfast, teams prepare their cars and have snacks, sandwiches, drinks and sweets.
With the threat of dangerous winds in the region, some units are charged with starting new outbreaks, while others are tasked with putting out the original fires.
Orders in hand, each team takes off, racing down the roads to the Pacific Palisades, or to the untamed brush of Topanga Canyon.
For some, it's their first time in the field as part of the fire service; for others, it's just one day in an already long week.
As he prepares to climb Mandeville Canyon, Jake Dean says he has never seen a fire as destructive as this in his 26 years as a firefighter.
He said: “After the first day, many people I have known for a long time in the military camps recognized me.” “My phone didn't recognize me to turn it on, I was tired and dirty.”
But with major space projects burning on all sides, Dean can feel that the job is paying off.
“Today is not going to be too bad,” he said. “We're going to take it slow and drink a lot of water and plan to do a long job here and the next fire.”