Swathes of the city lay eerily deserted due to the fires’ destruction and sweeping evacuation orders, with acrid smoke blanketing the sky.
A vast firefighting operation continued for a third day, bolstered by extra water-dropping helicopters thanks to a temporary lull in winds.
Amid the chaos, looting has broken out, with at least 20 arrests made so far, officials said.
The biggest fire, which has ripped through 17,000 acres (6,900 hectares) of the upscale Pacific Palisades neighbourhood, is “one of the most destructive natural disasters in the history of Los Angeles”, city fire chief Kristin Crowley told a press conference.
Another 10,000-acre fire in Altadena was also at “zero per cent containment”, although spreading had “significantly stopped” as wind gust reduced, county fire chief Anthony Marrone said.
Judy Chu, the US congresswoman representing the region, visited an evacuation centre where 1,000 displaced residents sought shelter, and said Altadena was “just devastated”.
“They are numb. They don’t know what they will return to once this fire is contained,” she told local news KTLA.
Nearly 180,000 people were under evacuation orders, as officials and meteorologists warned that “critical” windy and dry conditions, though abated, were not over.
“The winds continue to be of a historic nature... this is absolutely an unprecedented, historic firestorm,” said Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.
A National Weather Service (NWS) bulletin said “significant fire growth” remained likely “with ongoing or new fires” throughout the day into Friday.
However, there was some good news for Hollywood, the historic home of the movie industry, after evacuation orders prompted by the nearby “Sunset Fire” on Wednesday were lifted.
Fast-moving flames fanned by powerful winds have levelled more than 2,000 structures, many of them multi-million dollar homes, with aerial views on Thursday showing whole neighbourhoods burnt to the ground.
The homes of movie stars and celebrities were among those consumed by flames.
“We are heartbroken of course, but with the love of children and friends we will get through this,” said film star Billy Crystal and his wife Janice, announcing the Pacific Palisades home where they had lived since 1979 had been destroyed.
Media personality Paris Hilton said she was “heartbroken beyond words” after watching her beachfront house in Malibu “burn to the ground on live TV.”
Millions of Angelenos have watched in horror as blazes have erupted around America’s second biggest city, sparking panic and fear.
Winds with gusts up to 100mph (160kph) spread the fire around the ritzy Pacific Palisades neighbourhood with lightning speed.
Crowley said a preliminary estimate of destroyed structures was “in the thousands”.
Around a thousand more buildings have been destroyed in Altadena, north of the city, where flames tore through suburban streets.
Officials pledged to crack down on looters hitting areas deserted due to the fires and evacuations.
A sunset-to-sunrise curfew has been declared in evacuated areas of the coastal city of Santa Monica.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said 20 arrests had been made so far, with that number expected to rise.
“It’s absolutely unacceptable,” he said.
Among those who died was 66-year-old Victor Shaw, whose sister said he had ignored pleas to leave as the fire swept through Altadena because he wanted to protect their home.
“When I went back in and yelled out his name, he didn’t reply back,” Shari Shaw said. “I had to get out because the embers were so big and flying like a firestorm that I had to save myself.”
Shaw’s body was found on the driveway of his razed home, a garden hose in his hand.
William Gonzales got out alive, but his Altadena home was gone.
“We have lost practically everything; the flames have consumed all our dreams,” he told AFP.
“I had just come from my family home where my mother lives that was burned to a crisp... and then I came up to my home and – same thing. It’s completely dust,” said Oliver Allnatt, 36, wearing ski goggles and a filtered face mask as he took pictures of the ruins. “Basically just a chimney stack and a pile of ash. I mean, it’s something out of a movie.”
Kevin Williams, at an evacuation centre in Pasadena, said he knew it was time to run when gas canisters at his neighbours’ homes began exploding under the heat.
“The wind whipped up, the flames were up about 30 or 40 feet high, and you hear ‘pop, pop, pop.’ It sounded like a war zone.”
President Joe Biden, who cancelled a trip to Italy this week over the crisis, is due to give public remarks about the fires later.
He was due to meet with top administration officials in the afternoon to discuss the federal response, the White House told reporters.
His incoming successor Donald Trump meanwhile blamed California Governor Gavin Newsom for the devastation and calling on the Democrat to resign.
“This is all his fault,” Trump said on his Truth social platform.
Wildfires are part of life in the US West and play a vital role in nature.
However, scientists say human-caused climate change is causing more severe weather patterns.
Southern California had two decades of drought that were followed by two exceptionally wet years, sparking furious vegetative growth.
That has left the region, which has had no significant rain for eight months, packed with fuel and primed to burn.
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