LOS ANGELES (AP) — Firefighters battled to control a series of major fires in the Los Angeles area early Thursday that have killed five people, ravaged communities from the Pacific Coast to Pasadena and sent thousands of people frantically fleeing their homes.

Scientists said the wind-whipped wildfires tearing across the arid Los Angeles landscape mark the latest in climate-fuelled weather extremes that are likely to escalate further as global temperatures continue to climb.

Santa Ana winds are one of the nation's most notorious wind events and an ongoing weather hazard in Southern California.

Devastating fires in the Los Angeles region are driven by Santa Ana winds blowing from California and Nevada’s interior deserts to the Pacific Ocean.