Visual explainer: why are the LA wildfires so bad?

Santa Ana winds, drought and a hotter planet have helped exacerbate the fires in California

• California wildfires - live updates

Even in a state that has become accustomed to severe conflagrations, the rapid surge of wildfire that has torched the Los Angeles area has been shocking, triggering mass evacuations that have left behind charred suburban homes.

A series of fires have consumed about 42 sq miles of land, including one raging in the western Pacific Palisades and another in the eastern mountains above Pasadena, where five deaths have been recorded.