TOPSHOT-US-WEATHER-FIRE

TOPSHOT - Fire personnel respond to homes destroyed while a helicopter drops water as the Palisades Fire grows in Pacific Palisades, California on January 7, 2025. Terrified residents caught in blazing neighbourhoods, influencers ignoring the ban on drones and the frightening unpredictability of the wildfires are just some of what journalists covering the fires ravaging Los Angeles for AFP have had to manage.The United States' second-largest city has never faced a blaze of this scale, driven by an extreme autumn drought and fierce Santa Ana winds -- the strongest since 2011 -- that have turned dry hills into kindling, fuelling a relentless inferno that has raged for more than a week. (Photo by David Swanson / AFP) (Photo by DAVID SWANSON/AFP via Getty Images)