Former Arsenal striker Carlos Vela has become the latest star to suffer from the devastating bushfires sweeping through Los Angeles.
Vela's wife revealed on Thursday that their $4 million (£3.3 million) Malibu home went up in flames that caused extensive damage in the affluent LA suburb of Palisades.
On the morning of January 7, severe drought conditions and wind speeds of up to 100 miles per hour sparked forest fires. Since then, the infernos have killed at least ten people, destroyed thousands of homes and forced more than 130,000 residents to evacuate.
“Our beautiful house in Malibu burned down yesterday… We are still in shock from everything that happened,” Saioa Canibano wrote on Instagram.
'It's very sad and scary to see everything burning. We are safe from all worrying messages sent to us. I send lots of love to all those affected and hopefully they will soon manage to extinguish the fire.”
Vela, who has been a star for MLS side LA FC since arriving in 2018, showed off the family's lavish home in a Christmas post on Instagram last month.
The luxurious abode reportedly featured five bedrooms, more than five bathrooms, a chef's kitchen with breakfast bar and center island, as well as a dining room, living room, main room, cinema room, wine cellar and a guest suite.
In addition, the house reportedly included a spa, a multimedia room and three suites with bathrooms and a laundry room.
The property was located on a site of almost 6,500 square meters and included a swimming pool.
Vela and his family moved to LA ahead of his first season with the team in 2018. The Mexican proved to be somewhat of a hit in the country, winning the 2019 MLS MVP, an MLS Cup trophy and two Supporters' Shields titles.
The 32-year-old left the club after the 2023 season before rejoining them for the remainder of their season at the end of 2024. Both he and the party remain in discussions about his future.
A number of famous California residents saw their homes go up in flames during the massacre. The homes of Paris Hilton, Anthony Hopkins, Tina Knowles, John Goodman, Candy Spelling, Milo Ventimiglia and Miles Teller are among those destroyed, while dozens of other stars now have to wait anxiously alongside their neighbors to hear if anything can be saved.
Hilton emotionally returned to the charred remains of her Malibu beach house, which she bought for $8.2 million, after it was destroyed by the catastrophic fires.
The 43-year-old shared a heartbreaking video on her Instagram page on Thursday as she discovered what was left of the property and said she was in 'complete shock'.
She filmed the segment while walking through the remains of the entrance that was still standing, but then revealed that the rest of the house had been reduced to a pile of rubble after it was destroyed by the Pacific Palisades fire.
She wrote: 'I'm standing here in what used to be our house, and the heartbreak is truly indescribable.'
'When I first saw the news I was completely shocked; I couldn't process it. But now that I'm standing here and seeing it with my own eyes, I feel like my heart has been broken into a million pieces.”
Hilton added that her heart continues to break “knowing this isn't just my story.”
'So many people have lost everything. It's not just walls and roofs; it's the memories that made those houses a home. They are the photos, the memories, the irreplaceable pieces of our lives.'
But despite the “pain” over losing the home, Paris shared that she still felt “incredibly happy,” adding, “My loved ones, my babies and my pets are safe.”
The remains of Paris Hilton's Malibu beach house can also be seen in shocking footage taken on Thursday.
The modern property had three bedrooms, three bathrooms and floor-to-ceiling windows. Part of the wall at the main entrance still stands while the rest of the house has completely burned down.
Neighboring properties adjacent to the star's beach house along the highway also burned.
A few scattered trees can be seen standing, but are withered and black after being charred by the flames. Smoke was still rising from the carnage inside the building as the sun set in the distance.
The vacation home also contained numerous balconies that offered picturesque views of the Pacific Ocean just a few feet away, but were also destroyed.
Candy Spelling and Diane Warren are other celebrities who lost their beach homes in the Palisades fire — which claimed the lives of two people, according to CBS News.
According to the Los Angeles Times, approximately 5,300 structures were destroyed in the Palisades fire alone.
The Eaton Fire near Altadena and Pasadena destroyed between 4,000 and 5,000 buildings Thursday.
Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley said, “The Palisades fire is one of the most destructive natural disasters in Los Angeles history.”
The catastrophic fires — which started Tuesday amid strong Santa Ana winds — have forced about 180,000 people from their homes in Southern California, according to NBC News.
Residents including Anthony Hopkins, Tina Knowles, Jeff Bridges, Miles Teller and John Goodman also lost their homes to the fires.
On Thursday, satellite images showed the fires spreading to more than 27,000 hectares in just three days.
When the fire broke out on Tuesday, the European Space Agency's Sentinel-2 satellite spotted the first plumes of smoke stretching across the Pacific Ocean.
In images taken just hours later, NASA's Aqua satellite showed how the fire had already spread to the winding streets of the Pacific Palisades neighborhood.
And in time-lapse footage taken by the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA), you can see how powerful Santa Ana winds caused the infernos to quickly spread through the city.
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After the Palisades Fire came to life Tuesday morning, the first satellite images were captured at 10:45 a.m. local time.
The rotating camera clearly shows how the fire started as a forest fire in a forested region just west of Santa Monica.
By the time NASA captured an image of the fire later that day, the fire had grown out of control and had burned more than 27,000 acres by the afternoon of January 8.
Satellite images also show how several fires quickly broke out in the city.
A timelapse shared by CIRA shows the glow of a second wildfire appearing to the north in the Eaton neighborhood.
In the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, the Eaton Fire claimed another 10,600 acres, another 1,000 structures, and killed at least five people, officials said.
Two new fires broke out overnight in the Hollywood Hills and Studio City, prompting a mandatory evacuation order in the celebrity hub.
The National Guard has been deployed and could send military personnel to help, amid revelations that firefighters are “triaging” homes and neighborhoods.
As of 8:45 PM local time (0400 GMT) on Friday morning, five fires are actively burning in the city, of which 0% are under control.
Firefighters have managed to fully control two smaller fires, while an additional fire in the Acton area has now been partially brought under control.
The incredible speed at which the fires can spread is due to a dangerous combination of low rainfall and strong winds.
The Santa Ana winds are an annual period of high wind speeds that occur between October and January as a pressure gradient develops between the Great Basin to the east and the cooler Pacific Ocean to the west.
These winds drive dry, gusty winds along the inland mountain ranges, through the narrow canyons and out to sea, right through Los Angeles.
This year, Santa Ana winds are blowing at about 40 miles per hour (65 km/h) with gusts up to 100 miles per hour (160 km/h) in some areas.
These winds fanned the fires and caused them to spread much faster than they normally would.
While these winds are not unusual, matters are made worse by the fact that LA is currently experiencing its driest start to the year since records began in 1944.
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