Across Los Angeles, a series of wildfires fanned by the powerful Santa Ana winds have been leveling homes in the area for nearly a week, leaving a path of record-breaking destruction in their wake. The largest of the fires,

As fires raged from the seaside enclave of Pacific Palisades to the hillsides above Pasadena — with at least five dead and thousands of homes and other buildings leveled or damaged — residents accustomed to radiant sunshine and balmy weather reckoned with an unsettling reality.