Firefighters hoping for break from fierce winds that have fuelled LA wildfires

Water is dropped by helicopter on the Kenneth Fire in the West Hills section of Los Angeles (Ethan Swope/AP)

Firefighters are hoping for a break from fierce winds that have fuelled massive blazes in the Los Angeles area, killing 10 people, obliterating whole neighbourhoods and setting the nation’s second-largest city on edge.

The fires have burned more than 10,000 homes and other structures since Tuesday, when they first began popping up around a densely populated, 25-mile expanse north of central Los Angeles in California.