Tens of thousands have fled their homes as a brush fire in the Pacific Palisades has burned nearly 20,000 acres as of Thursday. Fire crews are actively working to contain the flames and stop any forward progress.

The blaze began shortly after the start of a Santa Ana windstorm that the National Weather service warned could be the strongest to hit Southern California in more than a decade.

A high school used in many films, a synagogue and several well-known restaurants are among the structures that burned, while other local landmarks are endangered.

The list of celebrities who lost their homes and neighbourhoods in the worst fire in Los Angeles history reads like a Hollywood who's who. Jamie Lee Curtis, James Woods, Mandy Moore, Mark Hamill and Maria Shriver were among those who publicly described being forced to evacuate as out-of-control fires swept across some of the most lavish real estate in the world.