a fire official says there's currently no evidence the fires were started deliberately. up to 10,000 buildings have been destroyed, with 180,000 people ordered to leave their homes. the national guard's been deployed amid reports of looting. we hearfrom residents returning to their burnt—out houses to pick through the ashes. ijust i just wanted to see ijust wanted to see if anything is left. we had everything, like, the sentimental things, everything, like, the sentimentalthings, like everything, like, the sentimental things, like my mum passed away, we only had a few things of hers left. we will bring you reaction and analysis of the fires. also coming up... new figures show that 2024 was the hottest year since records began. a warning of further travel disruption as snow and ice continue to affect many parts of the uk. the uk bond market crisis deepens — chancellor rachel reeves heads to china after the pound fell to a ill—month low.

hello and welcome, i'm martine croxall. we begin with the developing story of those devastating wildfires in los angeles. 10 people are now confirmed to have been killed — double the number reported earlier. these are live pictures from la, where it has just gone 1am. the biggest fires are burning for a third night. the los angeles county sheriff says it hasn't been safe to reach many hard—hit areas and the number people who have lost their lives is "absolutely going to change". weather forecasters are warning that more high winds may fan the flames further. residents have described the firestorm as "apocalyptic". around 180,000 people have been ordered to leave their homes. many neighbourhoods have been left unrecognisable. workers are destroying roads to stop the flow of gas fuelling the flames. this aerial footage from a local news broadcaster shows the kenneth wildfire as it approaches some homes

in the west of los angeles. police earlier said they believed it was started deliberately, and detained a man on suspicion of arson. but a fire chief has now told the bbc that — although investigations are continuing — there is, as yet, no evidience that the wildfires have been deliberately set. officials say as many as 10,000 homes and other structures have been damaged or destroyed. accuweather estimates the damage is expected to be at least $135 billion — and up to 150 billion. five fires continue to burn across los angeles. the national guard has been deployed amid reports of looting. we'll have the latest from our correspondent in la shortly. but our first report this hour is from helena humphrey. i watched this house burn down live on the news. yeah, this was a beautiful home. had a lot of good times here. it's hard to put into words the level of devastation here, but the la county sheriff put it bluntly. in some areas, he said,

it looks like a bomb had been dropped. so far, land more than twice the size of manhattan lies in ruins. and, still, these fires rage out of control. there is a new fire, unfortunately, in west hills pushing into ventura county. and we are expecting this fire to rapidly spread due to high winds. this is a reminder that this is a very dynamic situation that can change quickly. on thursday, a brief lull in those fierce santa ana winds allowed aircraft to streak across the skies, dropping water and fire retardant onto the flames. but there's no guarantee that that calm will last, with forecasters warning more winds could fan these infernos even further. the wind definitely played the biggest part, especially with the flying embers. i mean, i rememberseeing embersjust shooting over my head, like, oh, my gosh, that's somebody�*s house. that's someone�*s property.

just balls of fire. some residents have ventured back, bracing themselves for what they'd find, only to discover their homes reduced to little more than ash. many told us they're simply too devastated to speak on camera. these fires don't discriminate — tearing through every kind of neighbourhood, from lavish mansions to humble bungalows, all of them once a place of safety for someone. this looks like the apocalypse. it just doesn't feel like the normal, er, things that happen in your life. this is something very unusual. and for others, the scope of this catastrophe confirms their growing fears about the changing climate. this is obvious that stuff like this is happening because of global warming, and people just want to deny it, just don't know science and don't know how to research those things. so i think that humans are funny because they think anywhere they move in this world, they'll be safe. but the entire world

has global warming. i guess, pick your disaster and live there. what disaster makes you feel most comfortable? because that's the world we're living in at this point. here in altadena, fire crews are out battling these hot spots. you can see that many homes, like this one, are still smouldering. and you can see here that this entire neighbourhood, this entire community, has essentially been wiped out. we've been speaking to families here who have lived in these homes for generations and, in just a matter of hours, they've lost everything. and in some of the hardest—hit areas, a night—time curfew is in place as some try to profit from the chaos. looting has already led to multiple arrests. meanwhile, president biden has pledged his support for all those affected. to the families who have been impacted by this disaster, you're living through a nightmare — i know. i promise you, we're going to help you get through this and, eventually, recover and rebuild. but rebuilding is hard to imagine right now, when all these residents can do

is wait, hoping and praying that the next gust of wind won't stoke the embers back into an inferno. helena humphrey, bbc news, los angeles. there have been some incredible stories of rescues and bravery as people fled their homes. and many neighbourhoods now look like this — completely deserted for block after block. many people who escaped have talked of the speed with which the fire spread, including aaron sampson who helped this father—in—law get out — here is their story. we've just been evacuated. we've just been evacuated from this good samaritans car. you got it, dad. we're having to walk. this is crazy. there's a fire right outside our car. we got it. no, not that way. dad! my father in law has parkinson's. he can barely move. this was a heroic effort on his part. very wobbly.

here, let me try to get you some help. which way do i go? this way. to the sidewalk. i went outside. i saw smoke and fire near my father in law's house and realised we need to go. the problem is, we didn't have a car. by circumstance, we had no car in the house. iran up and down the street where he was. glen haven, finally found a neighbour who was willing to swing by and pick us up. most people had already gone at that point, and at that point, i grabbed his medicine. that's the only thing i could think to grab. turn around, dad, we got this. and at that point, wejumped in his car. this guyjeff, a neighbour we'd never met before but, you know, salt of the earth saved our lives. as we're driving down, there's fires on both sides of the car. we're driving. we're suddenly seeing fires. you can feel the heat. and then the fires were getting closer and closer. and at that point, just being stuck there, surrounded by fire, these... the policemen started running up the street. "get out of the car, get out of the car," and started screaming. you don't really realise

how serious it is. you don't think this is a life threatening situation. let's speak to jason kirkpatrick who's a climate expert and former vice—mayor of arcata in california. thank you very much forjoining us. when you look at this situation in california it must bring back memories of your time there? it bring back memories of your time there?— time there? it does, i know exactly what _ time there? it does, i know exactly what this _ time there? it does, i know exactly what this feeling - time there? it does, i know exactly what this feeling is l exactly what this feeling is like, it is terrifying. i've been stuck in these fires, my cousin lost her house in this area a few years ago when it burned down and even as a youth in this area i remember nearby fires, i was on the roof of our wooden shingled home with a garden hose, hosing down the roof so that flying embers with these big wins called santa ana winds would not catch my house, it was terrifying.— it was terrifying. when we see fires on the — it was terrifying. when we see fires on the scale, _ it was terrifying. when we see fires on the scale, the - it was terrifying. when we see fires on the scale, the worst i fires on the scale, the worst in los angeles history, and are told by climate change experts at the frequency is likely to increase, what needs to change,

first of all, in terms of how emergency responses are organised, in your view? the short-term _ organised, in your view? the short-term thing _ organised, in your view? tue: short—term thing for organised, in your view? tte: short—term thing for emergency response, there are some small things, we are learning from these lessons we are hearing in these lessons we are hearing in the news. water planning needs to be done a bit better. they have really done well but this is the worst ever fire and now there will be lessons learnt, there will be lessons learnt, there will be more water storage, better collaboration with other agencies possibly outside of california so there can be rapid reaction from nearby states like arizona, nevada, 0regon. another thing we can see dealing with evacuations, we know the firefighters are tired, they are exhausted, so having things like the national guard and reserve but maybe trained in advance to deal with mass evacuations, if they were able to be called in from early on to be called in from early on to help firefighters and police, that would free up more time for the firefighters, that

is something they could do. longer term, what do you believe needs to happen in terms of how we protect these houses, these buildings in parts of the country which are at risk? the argument is preventative measures are in —— are immensely expensive. preventative measures are in -- are immensely expensive. some thins are immensely expensive. some things are _ are immensely expensive. some things are low — are immensely expensive. some things are low level _ are immensely expensive. some things are low level and - are immensely expensive. some things are low level and i - are immensely expensive. some things are low level and i will. things are low level and i will talk about short—term and long—term, when i was a young person fighting with my garden hose on my roof top with wooden shingles, those were going up in flames like crazy. since then there are more fireproofing laws and this can be changed and improved, instead of wood shingles at all, even if i approve, they are not exactly fireproof, pale fire retardant to mortify recharging that you can change rules so there is no word on the roof but stone shingles, things like this, we see this spanish—style roofing, that is something we can change. we can

change the zoning laws so homes are not built as much in these areas. we need to be serious about the financial impact. this is costing hundreds of billions of dollars, of pounds, these extreme weather events. as you know, in britain, mostly with the floods, i would say the british equivalent of california fires its more flooding in terms of extreme weather impact caused by climate. we can save money, the financial costs that the insurance companies complain about should be taken into consideration. we have massive public costs for these extreme weather events and we should stop subsidising fossil fuels. jason kirkpatrick, there is much more we could talk about, i hope to do that another time. climate change expert and former vice mayor arcata, thank you for your time. we have a live page with the very latest on the la fires from correspondents across the area on the bbc website the app.

last year — 2024 — was the hottest year since records began, according to new figures from european climate scientists. climate monitoring body copernicus says temperatures were 1.6 degrees higher than the pre—industrial average. the agency said this showed that a warming threshold of 1.5 degrees agreed in paris in 2015 was in danger of being permanently breached. with the details here's our climate editor, justin rowlatt. remember the series of huge storms that battered the uk at the beginning of last year and left large areas flooded? scientists judge climate change has made rain and snow on stormy days here in the uk 30% more intense. and we've had it relatively easy. remember those devastating floods in spain in october? or the historic drought in the amazon basin, which reduced river levels to a 120—year low. or how about the six typhoons that hit the philippines

injust 30 days in november? these are just a few examples of the extreme weather, which affected the world last year, and which scientists say was linked to climate change. this map shows how the world has warmed since 1940. the blue shading is when temperatures are lower than average. red shows where it is getting hotter. as you can see, virtually the whole planet has got warmer over the last eight decades, with last year, 2024, the hottest ever recorded. today's figures show the last decade has included all ten of the hottest years on record. "it represents a new climate era for our species," say experts. we're living in a climate that humanity hasn't experienced before. we can say with confidence when we look at ice core records, when we look at other data sets, that this is the warmest period for at least the last 100,000 years 01’ so.

and when we look back at the ice core records, it's the highest concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere for the last 800,000 years or so. unless greenhouse gas emissions start to reduce, global temperatures will continue to rise, increasing the likelihood of extreme weather. "that presents a huge challenge for the uk," says the new head of the country's independent watchdog on climate. the climate change committee has been clear with government that we are in no way ready for the changing weather events, that this economy will face — increased flooding, increased drought, extreme heat, orjust the kind of changing seasons and what that means for our existing infrastructure. she says 7% of the new housing planned for the uk will be built on flood plains, for example. the government told the bbc, strengthening the uk's resilience to a changing climate is one

of its top priorities. it said it is investing billions in flood defences, and has launched a new climate service to help local authorities prepare for changing weather patterns. the fires in la are exactly the kind of event climate scientists have been warning about for years, and are yet more evidence of why we should all be worried about the way our climate is changing. justin rowlatt reporting. let's speak to professor elisa mogera, who is the un special rapporteur on human rights and climate change. professor, welcome. how expected is this, in your view? a thank you so much, unfortunately - a thank you so much, unfortunately this - a thank you so much, unfortunately this is l a thank you so much, l unfortunately this is not a thank you so much, - unfortunately this is not a surprise. we had warnings from the global climate science body already in 2018 about how important it was not to go beyond 1.5 degrees to provide the most long—lasting and

potentially irreversible changes to our planet and to the systems our planet has in place for ensuring human well—being and human survival. we knew already at the end of last year how we have a 40% gap between the promised climate action and the climate action we need to really prevent this crossing of the threshold. how do we prevent _ crossing of the threshold. how do we prevent at _ crossing of the threshold. how do we prevent at this - crossing of the threshold. how do we prevent at this stage this becoming a permanent crossing of the 1.5 degrees threshold? a doubt we still had to do the utmost to mitigate climate change, we have very clear indications of what needs doing in terms of phasing out fossil fuels, doing in terms of phasing out fossilfuels, we doing in terms of phasing out fossil fuels,— fossil fuels, we are still hearing _ fossil fuels, we are still hearing about - fossil fuels, we are still hearing about how- fossil fuels, we are still| hearing about how many subsidies are coming into the fossilfuel industry and subsidies are coming into the fossil fuel industry and we need to scale up adaptation action to protect people, particularly the most vulnerable, from what i know very foreseeable negative impacts of climate change on our lives and health but also food and water —— on what are

now very foreseeable. we need to look at loss and damage, what we are losing for goods about the systems and the infrastructure that needs to protect our rights.- infrastructure that needs to protect our rights. how likely is it, do protect our rights. how likely is it. do you _ protect our rights. how likely is it, do you believe, - protect our rights. how likely is it, do you believe, that - protect our rights. how likely is it, do you believe, that we| is it, do you believe, that we will see more big polluters taken to venues like the international court ofjustice? international court of justice? it will international court ofjustice? it will be quite likely, i think having that decision, the advisory opinion of the international court ofjustice, will be really important, but we have several other international human right bodies who have clarified that if states are not doing enough on climate change, whether or not it might be in line with the paris agreement, they still have other international obligations, to protect the ocean, biodiversity, to protect our human rights that are affected by that climate inaction, so we have more and more clarity about the range of international norms negatively

impacted by climate change and that it's a basis for calling states to account. professor elisa mogera, _ states to account. professor elisa mogera, the _ states to account. professor elisa mogera, the un - states to account. professor| elisa mogera, the un special rapporteur on human rights and climate change, thank you very much. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.

here in the uk, temperatures are to stay below freezing as the met office issues four fresh weather warnings across the uk. it is expected to stay cold for another couple of days with yellow warnings of ice in place in scotland, north east england and wales. there are also dozens of flood alerts due to heavy rain or melting snow. 0ur reporter thomas magill has more. high up in the yorkshire dales 1800ft above sea level, and it's a race against time forfarmer frank carr as he digs out a sheep trapped in the snowdrift. good thing about horn sheep is they've got good handles. he has more than 1300 animals spread across 2,000 acres —

many now completely cut off, such is the harsh conditions. we were predicted 40cm, and i think we definitely got that, as well, with the winds — it's the wind that makes the drifts as bad as they are. in leeds city centre, there was less snow, but icy conditions left it like a ghost town as people heeded advice and stayed away. many roads across the uk were blocked, with drivers facing some challenging conditions, and there was disruption to flights and some rail services. and in the southwest, many schools and colleges remained closed, with many taking a chance for a bit of winter fun on dartmoor. just thought we'd try to have a bit of family time, really, and enjoy the snow. we did think about the road conditions. didn't feel it was too bad, so we've come up. the met office has issued two new weather warnings for ice and snow covering parts

of northern ireland and wales, as this cold snap is expected to stick around a bit longer. 0ther yellow warnings covering most of england and parts of scotland also remain in place until later this morning, as snow continues to freeze and icy conditions persist. thomas magill, bbc news. let's speak to nickjohnson, who's in harrogate, north yorkshire. it looks absolutely freezing, what are the conditions like more widely? tt what are the conditions like more widely?— what are the conditions like more widely? it is chilly here, it was about _ more widely? it is chilly here, it was about -4, _ more widely? it is chilly here, it was about -4, minus - more widely? it is chilly here, it was about -4, minus five i it was about —4, minus five degrees, we think, overnight, probably around —2 and we think it will get to around plus two at around midday. this scene, it really is lovely, it feels like a winter wonderland and we are seeing many people enjoying it this morning but there has

not been a fresh flake of snow here since sunday, but because the temperatures have been so bitter everything has frozen over. one of these pavements here right in the middle of town, more like a skate wing, we have seen people really struggling to negotiate that this morning —— more like a skating rink. this is in the middle of town next to the shops, we have heard the snow and ice has had a real impact on businesses. we heard from somebody who speaks on behalf of local business who said that in the past week or so they have had a 75% reduction in football because people have not been able to get into town, schools have been closed, some children have not been to school since before the christmas break meaning parents have had to stay home and i have had to stay home and i have not been enough staff to work in businesses, so a real knock—on effect in harrowgate. we have 1545