'From here on my rooftop, it was just flames': Aussie man's LA home now a haven

As fires began to destroy homes in the Pacific Palisades neighbourhood at the Los Angeles foothills, Mr Hodge's thoughts were with his friends losing everything they own.

But he didn't expect to be able to see flames from his own house in the Hollywood Hills.

"From here on my rooftop, it was just flames, it was right there," he said.

"When people say there's a wall of flames, you're like 'what does that mean?', but when you see it you're like 'it's a wall of flames."

Mr Hodge grew up in Wagga and moved to the heart of Los Angeles in 2012 to pursue his entertainment career.

He spent Christmas back home before flying back to the United States where he showed a group of Wagga friends the Runyon Canyon a week before fires tore through the area.

The wildfires have killed at least 16 people and destroyed more than 12,000 homes.

From his rooftop, Mr Hodge watched the Sunset fire which began on January 8 and was contained the next morning.

But many of his close friends and colleagues living in the worse-affected Pacific Palisades area were not so fortunate.

"It's friend after friend after friend that we keep hearing about and talking to that have just lost everything," he said.

"Some of them are in Australia, so they weren't even here when it happened."

The Californian authorities warned the community about strong Santa Ana winds forecast for early January and people began preparing their homes for gusts up to 120 kilometres per hour.

But Mr Hodge said nobody was expecting fires.

"I took the furniture off the rooftop, I moved furniture from the pool and put it in the hallway," he said.

"Any time anybody starts to talk about fire and you know there are winds, there's sheer panic."

The Pacific Palisades fire began on January 7 and has burned more than 23,000 acres.

The area contains many multimillion-dollar mansions and is the home of many celebrities, but Mr Hodge said many working-class people also live in the neighbourhood.

"There's very normal homes there, very normal families," he said.

"Yes, there's a lot of people who have got money but then there's everyday people."

As firefighters from across the United States, Mexico and Canada work to contain the fires, Mr Hodge described the city as sad and eerily quiet.

"Today when I was driving facing west and you see all the smoke plumes, but if you turn your car around and look to the east it looks like nothing is happening," he said.

"It's weird because it's business as usual in some parts but other parts it's pure devastation."

More than 100,000 people have been displaced and many people have left the city.

Mr Hodge flew to New York City on January 12 to escape the poor air quality.

But he has opened his home to friends who have been left homeless and need a home to stay in while the fires rages.

"I am a very empathetic person and I love to always have a solution for everything," he said.

"It's tough to sit back and feel a little helpless at this stage."

But Mr Hodge is already confident the city will bounce back and rebuild after the fires.

"LA is very strong, we definitely rally behind each other, that's definitely an American thing," he said.

"It will get back on its feet sooner rather than later."

Australians are among many people who have already made donations to help those affected in the fires.