A deadly combination of hot winds and a lack of rain created the conditions for wildfires to rip through Los Angeles this week.

The first blaze started in the Pacific Palisades area – home to countless Hollywood A-listers – on Tuesday morning, initially burning an area of around 1,200 acres.

Fast-forward four days and the blaze was consuming 19,000 acres of land and was just 6 per cent contained. Several other major wildfires had also popped up across the city.

Here’s how the wildfires started and turned into the most destructive ever experienced in LA.

Tuesday

On Tuesday morning a small bush fire started up on the ridgeline of the Santa Monica Mountains, which border the Palisades on one side and the Pacific Ocean on the other.

Within minutes the fire had rapidly progressed to another ridgeline, with large flames and plumes visible from the nearby residential neighbourhoods.