Fast-moving wildfires raged across large swaths of Los Angeles for a third day, burning down neighborhoods, killing at least five people and upending the lives hundreds of thousands of residents. The county’s sheriff said some areas “look like a bomb was dropped in them,” adding that he expected the death toll to rise.

The photographs from the area are devastating. These maps show the current state of the blazes.

Officials expressed hope this afternoon that decreased winds would finally give firefighters a chance to try to gain control of the roaring wildfires. Helicopters and planes dropped water from the sky.

However, forecasters warned that winds — which have fueled the fires and made them challenging to contain — were expected to pick up this evening, and that heavy winds could return over the weekend or next week. Read more on the latest forecast.

President Biden said that the federal government would pay for 100 percent of the firefighting needs in the Los Angeles area for the next 180 days. He urged victims to begin contacting federal officials to request funds to help cover essentials like shelter, prescription drugs and food.

For more: Many residents blamed Mayor Karen Bass for failing to sufficiently prepare. She defended the city’s response.

On the ground: Several of the deaths caused by the wildfires occurred in Altadena, a neighborhood known for its racial diversity and bohemian history.