live from london, this is bbc news. firefighters are battling through the night in california to contain wildfires in and around los angeles. these are the live pictures. a state of emergency has been declared. several evacuation orders are in place and 30,000 people are forced out of their homes. but i these wind gusts are at time hurricane force wind gusts, they pick up the burning hot embers and gusts, they pick up the burning hot embers— hot embers and spread them a mile or more _ hot embers and spread them a mile or more away _ hot embers and spread them a mile or more away at times. i mile or more away at times. those things are catching fire. rescue workers in tibet race against time and freezing conditions to search for survivors, after a major earthquake kills at least 126 people. france's foreign minister hits back against donald trump, who refuses to rule out using military or economic force to take control of greenland.

hello, i'm lucy hockings, welcome to bbc news now. good to have you with us. let's take you straight to california, where thousands of people have had to leave their homes in and around los angeles as devastating wildfires are moving through the city's suburbs. incredible pictures coming to us, these are lives right now at 5am in the morning there in california and we have seen burning cars, destroyed buildings. now we know there are four out—of—control wildfires. there were three, but in the past half hour so they had identified another one out in the suburbs. iii... they had identified another one out in the suburbs. 14... five fighters are working to control the blazes. you can see the limits of how it has spread. the palisades fire has almost reached down to the coast as well and currently covers

almost 2900 acres, that is almost 2900 acres, that is almost 12 square kilometres, and it stretches all the way from the mountains down to the beach city of santa monica. there is a second evacuation order as well where a fire in eaton canyon has grown to 1000 acres. we have seen some really devastating scenes in the past few hours in the pacific palisades. this is the moment on the pacific coast highway where we saw it completely collapsed, engulfed in flames as well. let's bring you the latest with our reporter, joe inward. california is used to wildfires. but not like these. thousands of acres of los angeles, engulfed in just a few hours. high winds fueled the flames, which started in the surrounding hills, but soon swept through some of the most wealthy neighbourhoods in the city. thousands of firefighters tried to push them back, but it soon became clear they would struggle to stop them spreading. the population threatened

is approximately 25,748. households threatened, approximately 10,367. structures threatened are approximately 13,208. at this point, we feel very blessed, at this point, that there is no injuries that are reported. we do have reports of multiple structures that are damaged. 0n the us pacific coast, wildfires used to be seasonal. they are now a year—round event. these ones started in a number of locations, including the eaton canyon area. a third is now said to have started in san fernando valley. as the flames spread, so did the panic. streets were gridlocked as people tried to flee, hampering the emergency services. evacuation orders were put in place for tens of thousands of residents, and shelters quickly set up. my sister called, and she was, like, "are you 0k?" at that moment, a helicopter

flew over my house and just dropped water. i thought, it's raining. she said, "it is not raining, your neighbourhood is on fire, "you need to get out." as soon as i opened my door, it was right there. the first thing i did was look at the trees to see where the wind was blowing. it hit me and blew me back. i was getting more and more frantic as the lights were getting darker and the sky was getting more red. it was scary. it took me a minute to get my uncle and my aunt, to get them to get out. a state of emergency has been declared, with the white house saying federal funding has been made available. but it could be that worse is still to come. by no stretch of the imagination are we out of the woods. you heard the chief say 10pm tonight, until 5am tomorrow will be peak winds. having just quite literally an hour or so ago gone up

the canyon and saw first—hand the impact of the swirling winds and the embers, and the number of structures that are destroyed, not a few, many structures are already destroyed, and the fact that people were still not evacuating, still did not heed the warning, are just coming down the canyon, it is a reminder of how serious this moment is and how important it is that you listen to these evacuation orders. as los angeles starts to wake up, much of the city is still burning. the pasadena synagogue, one of the latest to be lost to the flames. and still the fires spread. joe inward, bbc news. we can take you live now to santa clarita in la and show no correspondence there, peter. you have lived in california

for many years and covered many wildfires. have you seen a situation like this before? this is the worst situation i have seen in almost 30 years and it is bad because, as you havejust and it is bad because, as you have just been describing, these fires are right across these fires are right across the city, so from the first fire that started in pacific palisades, almost 2a hours ago, to 30-50 palisades, almost 2a hours ago, to 30—50 miles away to the north of the city in santa burrito, where i am speaking to you from now, is the northernmost tip of la, near the angeles national forest, which is very close to some of the fires that are burning, one of the other fires is really just down the road from here, one of the big fires that is burning and this is why it is such a problem for the firefighters and authorities to try to get a handle on this and they are really failing at the moment. it is not theirfault, it isjust the moment. it is not theirfault, it is just the conditions and the combination of the extremely dry brush we have here at the moment, we haven't had rain for about eight

months, these intense winds and i can tell you in the last few minutes, the forecast had predicted this, at around half 6:30am now, i can feel that the winds are significantly stronger, the gusts of winds which in some places have been up which in some places have been up to 100 mph, they are pretty bad at the moment, so this is the time they had really feared when those winds would kick up, making it really difficult to tackle these fires. not from the air because they still can't do that, it is still night—time, as you can see, but also life is extremely difficult on the ground as well. �* , ,., , difficult on the ground as well. �* ,,., , ., difficult on the ground as well. �* , , ., ., well. absolutely, and to give our viewers _ well. absolutely, and to give our viewers an _ well. absolutely, and to give our viewers an idea, - well. absolutely, and to give our viewers an idea, they - well. absolutely, and to give| our viewers an idea, they are describing these winds as tornado like, that is how strong they are. what about all those who have had to leave their homes, where i they heading?— their homes, where i they headin: ? , ., ., heading? they headed to either, if they have _ heading? they headed to either, if they have friends _ heading? they headed to either, if they have friends in _ heading? they headed to either, if they have friends in parts - if they have friends in parts of the city, the central part of the city, the central part of los angeles, which isn't seriously affected by this, they might have moved wind with those people were helping them

out, if they've got relatives, but there are many emergency centres open all round the city that are taking people in. and this city is built or greater los angeles, notjust one city, multiple cities, were prepared for this here because tragically these fires happen frequently, there are other tragically these fires happen frequently, there are other natural disasters that affect natural disasters that affect los angeles and there is always los angeles and there is always the fear of an earthquake, so the fear of an earthquake, so the fear of an earthquake, so the authorities are geared up the fear of an earthquake, so the authorities are geared up to take care of large numbers to take care of large numbers of people and we know some of people and we know some 30,000 have been evacuated from 30,000 have been evacuated from their homes and tragically some their homes and tragically some people, many of those people people, many of those people will be sitting in evacuation will be sitting in evacuation centres right now, not knowing centres right now, not knowing whether they have got a home to whether they have got a home to go back to. whether they have got a home to go back te— go back to. whether they have got a home to go back te— go back to. yes, a really frightening _ go back to. yes, a really frightening time - go back to. yes, a really frightening time for- go back to. yes, a reallyl go back to. yes, a really frightening _ go back to. yes, a really frightening time - go back to. yes, a really frightening time for- go back to. yes, a reallyl frightening time for many people, i'm sure. and as the frightening time for many people, i'm sure. and as the authorities and firefighters authorities and firefighters say, there is absolutely no say, there is absolutely no possibility right now is possibility right now is bringing these fires under bringing these fires under control. what is their control. what is their strategy? because hundreds of strategy? because hundreds of firefighters are out there. firefighters are out there. what are they doing? well over what are they doing? well over 1005 fighters — what are they doing? well over 1005 fighters on _ what are they doing? well over 1005 fighters on the _ what are they doing? well over 1005 fighters on the ground - 1005 fighters — what are they doing? well over 1005 fighters on _ what are they doing? well over 1005 fighters on the _ what are they doing? well over 1005 fighters on the ground - what are they doing? well over| 1005 fighters on the ground and what are they doing? well over| 1005 fighters on the ground and

their strategy is, happen their strategy is, well, it will change as the daily moves on, so in an hour's time it will be light, the sun will come up and visually they will be able to get a better grip on what is happening and as long

and this is a dire situation and that they have just got to get out of those worst affected areas. , ., , out of those worst affected areas. , ._ h, out of those worst affected areas. , , h, ., ~ areas. peter, stay safe, thank ou so areas. peter, stay safe, thank you so much _ areas. peter, stay safe, thank you so much for— areas. peter, stay safe, thank you so much for that. - areas. peter, stay safe, thank you so much for that. i - areas. peter, stay safe, thank you so much for that. i have l you so much for that. i have been speaking to tanner and... israel. as peter wasjust israel. as peter was just saying, israel. as peter wasjust saying, so many people having to evacuate, it has been perilous for them, people having to grab a few things and head out of their homes. that is what happened to them. they evacuated as wildfires engulfed the eaton canyon area. they are now safe with friends and told us about their experiences. irate us about their experiences. we are still us about their experiences. - are still kind of in shock. it has been a really long night. we still haven't really slept yet, it has beenjust we still haven't really slept yet, it has been just a we still haven't really slept yet, it has beenjust a lot going on right now. really thankful to be alive and thankful to be alive and thankful to be here, but yes, it is hard, there is a lot going on. it is hard, there is a lot going on-_ it is hard, there is a lot going on. it is hard, there is a lot uuoinon. �* , ., going on. i'm sure. can you take us — going on. i'm sure. can you take us back _ going on. i'm sure. can you take us back to _ going on. i'm sure. can you take us back to the - going on. i'm sure. can you l take us back to the beginning of the night and when you

evacuated?— of the night and when you evacuated? yes. i was 'ust cominu evacuated? yes. i was 'ust coming out i evacuated? yes. i was 'ust coming out to i evacuated? yes. i wasjust coming out to document . evacuated? yes. i wasjust. coming out to document the situation. i am a professional storm chaserfor 16 years situation. i am a professional storm chaser for 16 years and so i travel all around documenting things like this and so when i was heading up there to document the fire i actually ran into 0rly israel right here and he was in the midst ofjust packing up and everything and so i came and said, do you need help, do you want to go and check out this fire, make sure things are good, do you want to come with me? he said yes. so we went up on top of the canyon there and watch the flames, kept in check and as it got closer we were like, 0k, and as it got closer we were like, ok, so we went back to his house, which is the ridge, there are, and we did everything we could do to prepare that house, to make sure it was as fireproof as possible. you know, watering down all the bushes and the brush, taking all the flammable materials of the deck and that

kinda thing. but it proved to be too much and we had to get out of there.— out of there. orly israel, how much time — out of there. orly israel, how much time did _ out of there. orly israel, how much time did you _ out of there. orly israel, how much time did you have - out of there. orly israel, how| much time did you have when out of there. orly israel, how- much time did you have when you made that decision that you had to get out? give us a kind of timeframe. to get out? give us a kind of timeframe— to get out? give us a kind of timeframe. ~ ., timeframe. well, we were told to evacuate — timeframe. well, we were told to evacuate around _ timeframe. well, we were told to evacuate around 10am, - timeframe. well, we were told to evacuate around 10am, mayj timeframe. well, we were told i to evacuate around 10am, may be 11am: _ to evacuate around 10am, may be "am, but — to evacuate around 10am, may be 11am, but we probably didn't leave — 11am, but we probably didn't leave until 5pm because we are battling — leave until 5pm because we are battling the fire. we had garden _ battling the fire. we had garden hoses and we were fighting until we couldn't stay there — fighting until we couldn't stay there any longer. my face is still— there any longer. my face is still burnt, my eyes are still stinging _ still burnt, my eyes are still stinging. so we had a decent amount_ stinging. so we had a decent amount of time, but we did as best_ amount of time, but we did as best we — amount of time, but we did as best we could, i guess. tanner charles and — best we could, i guess. tanner charles and orly _ best we could, i guess. tanner charles and orly israel- best we could, i guess. tanner charles and orly israel who - charles and 0rly israel who asked safe now, but a really stressful difficult time for them, they are really worried about their community. them, they