Afternoon Update: LA fires spread to Hollywood Hills; hiker’s survival skills praised; and drinking at Tolstoy’s house

Smoke from the Palisades fire billows over Los Angeles. Photograph: Getty Images

Los Angeles residents are staring down the city’s most destructive fire on record, with five people dead and a federal disaster declaration signed off by Joe Biden.

A sixth fire front was declared in the Hollywood Hills at about 6pm local time, heaping pressure on overwhelmed fire crews who had already seen water tanks run dry early in the fight against the catastrophic Pacific Palisades blaze.