Firefighters hope a narrow window of calm will give them a chance to block Southern California wildfires that have marched on an inexorable path of destruction toward the sea.
Winds that drove the flames through bone-dry hills and canyons north and west of downtown Los Angeles were expected to die down until Sunday, when they would build again to 55km/h with even higher gusts, forecasters predicted.
In less than two days, the Hill and Woolsey fires had destroyed more than 150 homes and prompted evacuation orders for more than 250,000 people, fire officials said.
The lull on Saturday would give firefighters a chance to control the edges of the blaze and to swap fire crews, replacing firefighters who had worked for two days without rest, Los Angeles County Fire Chief Daryl Osby said.
But with the winds returning, it's likely more homes would be lost, Osby warned. "There's not going to be any relief in this firefight," he said.
By late Friday night, the smaller Hill fire's advance had halted, but the Woolsey fire continued to surge. In a matter of hours it doubled in size - turning well over 140 square kilometres into ash and fields of glowing red embers.
The two fires erupted on Thursday as much of the state found itself under red flag warnings of extreme fire danger because of dry weather and blowing winds.
In Northern California, a wildfire incinerated most of the town of Paradise, population 30,000. Nine people died - some in their cars as they tried to flee the racing flames.
In the south, flames leapt and raged from Thousand Oaks south through the northwestern San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles and appeared headed inexorably toward the Pacific Ocean.
Thousand Oaks already was reeling from a gunman's slaughter of a dozen people at a local bar only days earlier when it found itself under siege from the fire, which raged on both sides of the city and shut down part of the main freeway into town.
Three-quarters of the city of 130,000 was under evacuation orders - and that likely included people affected by the shooting.
The entire coastal enclave of Malibu also was under evacuation orders, with Lady Gaga, Kim Kardashian West and Guillermo del Toro among numerous celebrities forced to abandon their homes.
The Woolsey blaze also destroyed the historic Paramount Ranch where HBO's Westworld and many other shows have been filmed.
