Dead and injured in the fires that are burning around the city of Los Angeles, with apocalyptic scenes. Thousands of people have had to leave their homes and more than a thousand homes, shops, restaurants have been destroyed while the flames remain untamed due to the most violent windstorm of the last decade.

The White House announces that US President Joe Biden has canceled his trip to Italy scheduled for today , while the Pentagon is mobilizing by sending military aircraft. The Pentagon's C-130s will be loaded with water and flame retardants and will be able to fly where helicopters and Canadairs have been unable to because of wind and smoke. Reinforcements are arriving from Northern California and Arizona; the Los Angeles Fire Department is recalling retired personnel, something that hasn't happened in 19 years.

If the outbreak that was causing the most concern Tuesday evening was developing in the hills overlooking the ocean in Pacific Palisades, the VIP oasis west of the metropolis, yesterday there was also one around Altadena that kept the inhabitants of the most populous county in America on tenterhooks. Two more fires ignited in the San Fernando Valley. During the night, California authorities ordered the inhabitants of the historic Hollywood neighborhood to evacuate the area, after a new fire broke out a few hundred meters from Hollywood Boulevard. "Immediate threat to life. This is a legal order to leave immediately. The area is legally closed to the public," the Los Angeles Fire Department said, publishing a map showing some sections of the famous movie district.

Many Hollywood stars live in this neighborhood that offers privacy and breathtaking views: Adam Sandler, Bradley Cooper, Kate Hudson, Dr Dre, Tom Hanks. Billy Crystal and Paris Hilton, the BBC reports, are among the celebrities who have seen their mega-mansions reduced to ashes.

Escaping the celebrity neighborhood is not easy: the roads that connect the villas are narrow, winding and wind through canyons engulfed in flames. The only artery that allows people to flow west or south toward Santa Monica is the Pacific Coast Highway, but it quickly became clogged, forcing many to abandon their cars and flee on foot. Rescue workers had to use bulldozers to pile vehicles on the sides of the highway and clear a path through the homes and restaurants that were burning one after the other. In Hollywood Her ex-husband and producer Ben Affleck has also been forced to leave his bachelor home. Schools are closed in the affected areas, and about 200,000 people are without electricity: the electricity is being turned off to prevent the wind from knocking down pylons, causing sparks.