Wildfires raged for the third straight day, destroying swaths of America’s most populated county and displacing tens of thousands of residents, with firefighters struggling to contain the biggest blazes.

Fierce wildfires are raging in the Los Angeles area, with fast-moving flames burning through homes and businesses. Residents are fleeing smoke-filled canyons.

"It’s hard to see, because there’s so much pain and suffering,” said one local, who dropped off toys at the Westwood Recreation Center in West Los Angeles.

Two massive wildfires menacing Los Angeles from the east and west were still burning uncontained on Thursday, but a brief respite from the fierce winds that have fanned the flames for two days allowed crews to slow their explosive spread.

Los Angeles is in the grip of unprecedented wildfires that are destroying homes and ending lives. A fire that started in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles on Tuesday morning quickly blazed out of control,

By Jorge Garcia and Rollo Ross LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -Two massive wildfires menacing Los Angeles from the east and west were still burning uncontained on Thursday, but a brief respite from the fierce winds that have fanned the flames for two days allowed crews to slow their explosive spread.

Firefighters are making progress slowing the major fires in the Los Angeles area that have killed five people, ravaged communities from the Pacific Coast to Pasadena and caused thousands of people to flee their homes.

Major fires have killed five people, ravaged communities from the Pacific Coast to Pasadena, and sent thousands of people frantically fleeing their homes.

A pair of massive wildfires - the Palisades fire and the Eaton fire - menacing Los Angeles from the east and west were still burning uncontained on Thursday (January 9), turning entire neighborhoods to ash.