Los Angeles wildfires live: Death toll rises and 130000 residents ...

Runyon Canyon residents rallied to save a home after a palm tree ignited, sending hot ash onto properties.

Locals used a ladder to climb onto the roof of a house before dousing the flames in buckets of water for more than 40 minutes, according to KABC.

The man who retrieved the ladder, known only as Tony, recounted how he and his friends were able to salvage one home in the “apocalyptic scene”.

“It’s just devastating with all of the apocalyptic scenes that we see, especially on the news, with the fire and families that were affected as well. So it’s just great that we were able to save this one house,” Tony told the news station.

“It’s one of many that are not in the path of destruction, but we know a lot of houses were lost in this.”

The Los Angeles wildfires continued to grow rapidly Thursday, engulfing homes in the Pacific Palisades and other neighborhoods, including star-studded Studio City, Calabasas and Altadena.

In under 48 hours, the fires spread across more than 28,000 acres. Flames have been fanned by a fierce windstorm known as the Santa Ana winds, and officials are warning the situation could get worse as three of the four main blazes stand at zero percent containment.

The Independent has produced a suite of maps tracking the wildfires.

LA mayor speechless as she refuses to respond to wildfire criticism in live interview

LA mayor Karen Bass was left speechless as she refused to respond to criticism over her handling of the devastating wildfires. Ms Bass was returning from her trip to Ghana when she was approached by Sky News correspondent David Blevins, who asked her if she felt she owed an apology to citizens for being absent during the fire outbreaks. Ms Bass remained silent as she stood in front of the microphone. She also stood their speechless when asked if she regretted cutting the fire department by millions.

The Palisades Fire has spread across more than 17,000 acres; the Eaton Fire 10,600 acres; the Hurst Fire 855 acres; and the Sunset Fire engulfing 43 acres.

As deadly wildfires continue to devastate Los Angeles County, the outbreak of a new inferno in the Hollywood Hills on Wednesday afternoon led to the spread of fake pictures and video across social media claiming that the iconic Hollywood sign is ablaze.

Those images are fake and, at the time of writing, the legendary landmark is safe from the flames as the fire woud have to cross over a freeway in order to impact the sign. The fire has however impacted the lights that illuminate the sign, affecting its visibility.

At least five people have been killed by the out-of-control fires so far, with more than 1,000 structures destroyed and at least 150,000 residents forced to flee their homes.

Joe Sommerlad has the story.