Wildfires burn out of control across Los Angeles area and kill 2 as thousands flee homes

By Jaimie Ding, Christopher Weber and Julie Watson

Massive wildfires roaring through the Los Angeles area left neighborhoods in ruins Wednesday, killing at least two people and threatening landmarks made famous by Hollywood as desperate residents escaped through flames, hurricane-force winds and towering columns of smoke.

Three major blazes that erupted just a day earlier blanketed the city with a dangerous, thick cloud of smoke and ash and destroyed homes across the metropolitan area, from the Pacific Coast inland to Pasadena, home of the famed Rose Parade. One of the fires was the most destructive in the modern history of the city of LA.

With thousands of firefighters already attacking the flames, the Los Angeles Fire Department put out a plea for off-duty and out-of-state firefighters to help. The strong winds had temporarily stopped aircraft from dumping water from above until they were able to resume flights.

More than 1,000 structures were destroyed and numerous people