A spiral staircase stands amidst the smoldering skeleton of a house destroyed by the Palisades fire along the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, California, on January 9, 2025. Massive wildfires that engulfed whole neighborhoods and displaced thousands in Los Angeles remained totally uncontained January 9, 2025, authorities said, as US National Guard soldiers readied to hit the streets to help quell disorder. Swaths of the United States' second-largest city lay in ruins, with smoke blanketing the sky and an acrid smell pervading almost every building. (Photo by Cecilia SANCHEZ and Cecilia Sanchez / AFP)