The catastrophic wildfires in Los Angeles are likely to become the most costly in American history.

Thousands of people have been forced to evacuate as the deadly flames have decimated entire neighbourhoods.

Here is everything we know about the latest wildfires in California.

How many fires are there?

There are at least six fires currently burning in the Los Angeles area. The most significant ones are:

• Palisades
• Eaton
• Hurst
• Lidia
• Sunset
• Kenneth

When did the fires start?

The first fire to start was the Palisades blaze, which began on Tuesday morning at about 10.30am. The Hurst and Eaton fires started later the same day, while the Woodley fire began on Wednesday morning.

By Wednesday night, there were three more fires: Olivas, Lidia and Sunset, the latter burning in the Hollywood Hills.

The Kenneth fire, on the border of LA and Ventura counties, started on Thursday afternoon.