LOS ANGELES --

More than a thousand homes, businesses and other buildings have burned and at least two people are dead in wildfires scorching communities across L.A. County, making this one of the most destructive firestorms to hit the region in memory.

In Pacific Palisades, the Palisades fire had charred more than 5,000 acres as of Wednesday morning, burning down to Pacific Coast Highway where it engulfed homes along the iconic stretch. About 1,000 structures, including many homes, have been destroyed in the fire, Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said during a news conference Wednesday morning.

Marrone said while there have been no fatalities in the Palisades fire, officials have seen “a high number of significant injuries to residents who did not evacuate in addition to first responders who were on the fire line.”

The Eaton fire, which broke out Tuesday evening, had burned more than 2,200 acres near Altadena and Pasadena whipped by gusts of up to 99 mph in the area. Two people have died in the Eaton fire and several others have been seriously injured. More than 100 structures have been destroyed, Marrone said.

The Hurst fire, which spread quickly during high winds overnight in Sylmar, had burned more than 500 acres. The cause of the fires is under investigation.

“We woke up to a dark cloud over all of Los Angeles, but it is darkest for those who are most intimately impacted by these fires,” said Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath. “It is difficult to process the immensity of the destruction and loss, and we extend our hearts and every resource we have to all of our impacted residents.”

On Wednesday, the roughly 1,500 firefighters assigned to the Eaton and Palisades fires were bracing for another challenging day of fire fueled by extreme winds. Red flag warnings remain in effect for Los Angeles County and much of Ventura County through Thursday with officials warning of a “life threatening, destructive and widespread windstorm.” Winds are predicted to ease through the day, but will linger through Friday, forecasters said.

The National Weather Service has warned of a “particularly dangerous situation” across the San Gabriel Mountains, Beverly and Hollywood Hills, the coastal areas adjacent to the Sepulveda Pass, the Santa Monica Mountains, Malibu and the eastern Ventura Valley. The weather service issued the same warning about a month ago— when the Franklin fire ignited and spread rapidly in the Malibu area. It went on to burn more than 4,037 acres, destroying 20 structures and damaging 28 more.

This type of red flag warning is expected to occur, on average, once every three to five years. But the National Weather Service office in Oxnard has now issued such a warning three times in just this fire season.

Wind gusts reaching nearly 100 mph in some areas swept through Los Angeles overnight, grounding firefighting aircraft and casting flurries of embers across neighborhoods. The National Weather Service reported a gust of 99 mph near Altadena at 10:20 p.m. Tuesday; 98 mph near Woodland Hills at 9:37 p.m.; and 84 mph at Hollywood Burbank Airport at 8:30 p.m.

“We are absolutely not out of danger yet,” Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Kristin Crowley said, adding that “these fires are stretching the capacity of emergency services to the maximum limits.”

NWS meteorologist Rich Thompson had said before the fires broke out that this could be the strongest such wind event since the 2011 windstorm that caused serious damage in Pasadena, Altadena and other San Gabriel Valley neighborhoods, knocking out power for days for more than 400,000 people. The 2011 windstorm caused at least $40 million in damage, according to a preliminary estimate.

In Pacific Palisades, firefighters grappled with wind gusts up to 100 mph overnight bedeviling their efforts to get the blaze — burning both east and west — under control, said Los Angeles Fire Capt. Erik Scott.

“The fire is being fueled by strong Santa Ana winds and surrounding topography, which makes it extremely challenging for us firefighters to really get a handle on it,” Scott said. “Our priority is life and structure defense.”

On Tuesday night, increasing winds made an air attack against the wildfires impossible. Fearsome winds forced crews to ground aircraft in the battle against the Palisades fire shortly before 8 p.m. Tuesday.

About two hours earlier, the Eaton fire broke out in the hills above Altadena near Eaton Canyon. Strong winds led officials to suspend air coverage of the Eaton fire for the evening, officials said at 8:45 p.m.

By sunrise Wednesday morning, much of Pacific Coast Highway remained in near total darkness as thick smoke from the Palisades fire along the iconic roadway raged. Entire structures were still actively burning with tree limbs and powerlines down between Will Rogers State Beach and Sunset Boulevard. In some areas, the fire had jumped the highway straight to the coast.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said 32,500 residents were under evacuation orders in the Eaton fire area and another 37,000 residents were ordered to be evacuated in the Palisades fire. Two people have been arrested on suspicion of looting in the evacuated zones, he said.

Damage estimates could continue to grow through the day, Luna said, adding that one sheriff patrol car had been destroyed in the blaze.

“Thank God the deputy is OK,” he said.

The lack of rain this winter has extended the fire season in Southern California. Since Oct. 1, the beginning of the water year, downtown Los Angeles has received 0.16 inches of rain — a tiny fraction of the 4.64 inches that downtown gets, on average, by this point in the season.

By contrast, Northern California hasn’t faced such fire weather, with rainfall at above-average levels. Downtown San Francisco has received 10.39 inches of rain since Oct. 1 — above the 9.29 inches of rainfall the city gets on average by this point in the season.

“Southern California has experienced a particularly hot summer, followed by almost no precipitation during what is normally our wet season,” said Alex Hall, director of the UCLA Center for Climate Science. “And all of this comes on the heels of two very rainy years, which means there is plenty of fuel for potential wildfires.”

Los Angeles Police Department Chief Jim McDonnell cautioned Los Angeles residents to remain vigilant even if they’re not currently in an evacuated area.

“These are unprecedented conditions, but also unpredictable,” he said. “As the fires continue to spread and pop up in different locations, none of us know where the next one is going to be.”

Staff writers Keri Blakinger, Brittny Mejia and Laura Nelson contributed to this report.

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