Firefighters are battling to control major fires in the Los Angeles area that have killed five people, ravaged communities from the Pacific Coast to Pasadena and caused thousands of people to frantically flee their homes.

Risk models identified the Palisades — along with Silicon Valley’s Los Altos Hills and the Moraga and Orinda area east of San Francisco — because of problematic commonalities: the highest value homes, difficult topography for fighting blazes, and increased susceptibility to the kind of windy, dry weather conducive to fires.