By the staff of The Morning

• Location: Wildfires are normally contained to Southern California’s dry hills. These fires have burned out of control and spread into the city, and two are the most destructive in Los Angeles’s history. The flames are visible for miles down the city’s famous coastline, a half-moon crescent of sand that is usually domed by blue sky. “I’ve lived here my whole life and never seen anything like this,” a 71-year-old resident said.
• Extreme winds: Intense winds, known as Santa Anas, have spread these fires into the city. The winds also made it unsafe for aircraft to douse the flames from above, which slowed firefighting. Santa Anas are notorious for aiding California wildfires in the fall, after the landscape dries in the summer. But the impact is often less dramatic by winter, when the hills are more moist from rain. That hasn’t been true this year.
• Dry conditions: It hasn’t rained much in Los Angeles for months. As a result, the fires spread more quickly across a dry landscape. Water supplies were also limited. Firefighters sprayed water faster than tanks could be refilled, and hydrants ran dry. Some residents stood and watched as their homes burned away. On Sunset Boulevard, one man fell to his knees and begged firefighters to save his house. Without water, they were helpless to stop the flames.

• If you live in Southern California, here are steps you can take to stay safe. And here’s where to find shelters.
• Officials have warned residents of Pasadena and Pacific Palisades about unsafe drinking water.
• Pet rescues and shelters are straining to care for hundreds of animals left behind as people fled.
• The fires destroyed several Los Angeles landmarks, including several popular restaurants. Paris Hilton and Adam Brody are among the celebrities who have lost their homes, the BBC reports.
• An N.H.L. game between the Los Angeles Kings and Calgary Flames was postponed last night. So were the Critics Choice Awards, which had been scheduled for Sunday.
• Listen to The Daily podcast explain the fires.

• The Justice Department will delay releasing the special counsel’s report on Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents. That likely means Trump will bury it when he takes office.
• Trump asked the Supreme Court to halt sentencing in his New York criminal case, which is scheduled for tomorrow.
• Not long before Trump’s filing, Justice Samuel Alito spoke with the president-elect. Alito said the call was a job reference for one of his former clerks.
• Trump has raised a record amount of money for his inauguration, a haul so big that some seven-figure donors will not receive V.I.P. tickets.
• Fani Willis has asked the Georgia Supreme Court to review a decision that disqualified her from prosecuting Trump’s election interference case.

• Biden told USA Today that he might issue pre-emptive pardons for political figures Trump has attacked.
• Jimmy Carter’s state funeral will take place today, bringing together all five living presidents. Biden will give a eulogy.
• Daniel Lurie, an heir to the Levi Strauss fortune, was inaugurated as San Francisco’s mayor. In his speech, he detailed an emergency plan for the city’s fentanyl crisis.
• Tim Walz endorsed Ken Martin, a fellow Minnesotan, to lead the Democratic National Committee.

• Egypt says refugees from Sudan, Syria and Gaza are straining its resources. It has tightened its immigration policies, hoping for Western support.
• The Israeli military said it found the body of a hostage in a tunnel in Gaza.
• Iran released an Italian journalist after arresting her on vague charges last month.
• National Rally, the French far-right party, spent years trying to distance itself from its founding father, Jean-Marie Le Pen. After his death this week, it hailed him as a visionary.
• Russia bombed the city of Zaporizhzhia in southeastern Ukraine, killing at least 13 people. Ukraine had attacked an oil depot deep inside Russia hours earlier.
• The Chinese government is separating Tibetan children from their families and placing them in boarding schools, where they are indoctrinated in loyalty to Beijing.

• The dockworkers’ union on the East and Gulf coasts reached a tentative deal with employers, averting a potentially damaging strike.
• TikTok, which faces a possible ban in the U.S., is also waging legal battles in at least 20 other countries.
• America’s efforts to cut pollution stalled last year, with greenhouse emissions dropping just a fraction. Demand for electricity surged, in large part because of a hot summer.

• The house in Albuquerque that played Walter White’s on “Breaking Bad” is on sale for nearly $4 million.
• Jamie Lee Curtis became teary while talking about the Pacific Palisades fires on “The Tonight Show.”