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Mathison said he evacuated Tuesday night and when he returned to his home Wednesday morning, he recorded and posted to Instagram a video of his home completely leveled by the fire.

\"The video is muted because I'm crying uncontrollably. I didn't even know those sounds could come out of me,\" Mathison said. \"I was struggling to breathe because of the smoke and ash. It was so surreal.\"

Mathison added, \"Right now, all I have in my possession is a T-shirt, a hoodie, two pairs of pants, one of which is a workout pair, two pairs of sneakers and my toiletries.\"

At least six fires were burning simultaneously Wednesday over a 42-square-mile area of Los Angeles County. On Thursday, aerial video footage showed block after block of destroyed homes in Pacific Palisades, with little other than brick chimneys left standing.

In Pasadena and Altadena, both about 11 miles east of downtown Los Angeles, similar scenes of damage played out. The Hurst Fire, the second-largest blaze of the unprecedented firestorm, leveled at least 1,000 structures, including homes, and burned more than 10,600 acres total in both communities.

\"PHOTO:
Jae C. Hong/AP
PHOTO: Josh Lederer wears a mask to protect him from fumes as he retrieves his children's clothes from his fire-ravaged property in the aftermath of the Palisades Fire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Jan. 9, 2025.
>

\"All the stuff here is replaceable; people are not,\" Altadena resident Mark Simington, who lost his home, told ABC News.

Simington said he and his wife and children returned to their home on Wednesday and found it in ruins.

\"Having the family is the most important thing,\" Simington said as he and his family joined for an emotional group hug amid the rubble of their home.

At least five people are known to have died in the fires. Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said Thursday that the death toll from the fires could rise.

\"PHOTO:
Damian Dovarganes/AP
PHOTO: The sun rises after the Palisades Fire ravaged a neighborhood amid high winds in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Jan. 9, 2025.
>

Looters were making matters worse for residents whose homes were destroyed, Luna said at a Thursday morning news conference, adding arrests had been made for looting homes in the multiple fire zones.

“I’m going to make this crystal clear to everybody out there. We are up to 20 individuals who chose to go into our areas and deprive these poor people, who have been through so much, of their property,\" Luna said, adding that anyone not authorized to be in an evacuated fire zone would be arrested, regardless of whether they're caught looting.

Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman echoed Luna's outrage.

\"These acts are despicable and we will prosecute them with maximal punishment,\" Hochman said.

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