LA fires live updates: Fires worsen across California killing five people; thousands ordered to flee; major fires burn out of control

A Sydney couple visiting their daughter in LA have had their holiday upended by the wildfires, evacuating their Altadena Airbnb and facing the possible cancellation of their flight home.

Zoe Andrikidis, 35, has lived in the US for 12 years, working as a commercial producer. Her parents Peter, a film and television director, and her mother Sue have been visiting for the past few weeks, and were “quite affected” by seeing the fire up close, Zoe said.

As they evacuated their accommodation, the family drove past the fire burning on the side of the main freeway in the area, before reaching safety at Zoe’s home in South Pasadena.

“I think being Australian, you’re familiar with the experience of bushfires, and you’re familiar with what the sun looks like and the light looks like when there’s smoke in the air, but you don’t see the fire as close up in major cities,” Zoe said.

“It was an intense experience to see it be so close to these residential areas and coming out of the Westfield [shopping centre] and seeing flames was quite jarring.”

Zoe said the regularity of wildfires in California means she has a go bag prepared and a cat carrier on standby, but she’s never been confronted with fire as close to home as this one.

“Living in Southern California, it’s just always in the back of your mind. If we had to go, where do we go?” she said.

“It’s crazy that [this is happening] in winter though, it’s something we’re used to thinking about in summer, but the fire season is year-long now.”