President Joe Biden scrapped a planned trip to Rome and Vatican City as California races to contain several fires burning in and around Los Angeles.

At least five people are dead and nearly 2,000 structures have been destroyed as fierce wildfires rage in the Los Angeles area.

Two wildfires still burning in Los Angeles have torched more urban area than any other fire in California since at least the mid-1980s, an Associated Press analysis shows.

The Eaton and Palisades fires that erupted last week have collectively burned almost 4 square miles of highly dense parts of Los Angeles, more than double the urban acreage consumed by the region's Woolsey fire in 2018,