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Beyoncé has pledged to donate $2.5m (£2m) through her non-profit organisation to help support families who have lost their homes in the Los Angeles fires.
Hundreds of families have been displaced by the fires that have claimed 24 lives since breaking out in the Altadena and Pasadena areas.
The “Love on Top” singer’s non-profit BeyGOOD, which was established in 2013, will help those who lost their homes and possessions. Deadline reports that the pledge will also assist churches and community centres in other impacted areas.
Beyoncé’s announcement comes after her mother, Tina Knowles, lost a home in Malibu alongside numerous Hollywood stars, including Anthony Hopkins, Billy Crystal and Paris Hilton.
Find all live updates on the California fires here
Soon after the fires broke out, Tina posted a video of a sea view on Instagram alongside the caption: “This is what I was looking at on my birthday this past weekend from my tiny little bungalow on the water in Malibu! It was my favorite place, my sanctuary, my sacred Happy Place. Now it is gone !!”
Stoked by strong Santa Ana winds, the fires have destroyed thousands of structures including homes, businesses and vehicles.
At least 24 people have died, including former child star Rory Sykes; the death toll is expected to rise as search efforts continue.
The British-born Sykes, who featured in the Australian TV series Kiddy Kapers, was at his family’s home in Malibu when he died aged 32. His mother wrote that he was living in a cottage on his family’s large Malibu estate when the fires broke out.
The BeyGOOD donation is the latest commitment from a number of organisations stepping up to assist those in need, alongside celebrities such as Hilton, Jamie Lee Curtis, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, Kylie Jenner, Oprah Winfrey and Dwayne Johnson.
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On Friday (10 January), the Walt Disney Company pledged $15m to relief and rebuilding efforts while studios Paramount and Fox Corp donated $1m apiece.
Promoter Live Nation is planning a benefit concert in Inglewood, CA. Dubbed “FireAid”, it is set to take place at the Intuit Dome on 30 January.
Meanwhile the Grammy Awards, which will be held in Los Angeles on 2 February, will likely include a number of tributes and fundraising efforts for the city and its music community.
Pop stars and Hollywood actors are among the many people whose homes have been lost in what California governor Gavin Newsom described as the worst natural disaster in US history.
Hilton shared her heartbreak after watching news footage of her $8.4m Malibu oceanfront home “burn to a crisp”, describing it as a place where she and her family built “so many precious memories”.
Milo Ventimiglia, star of This is Us and Gilmore Girls, choked up on live TV while visiting the rubble where his home had stood days before. The actor revealed that his wife was imminently due to give birth to their first child, saying they had everything “ready to go” before the blaze destroyed their house.
Firefighters are bracing for the fierce Santa Ana winds to return and fan the flames of wildfires still raging across southern California.
To date, the catastrophic fires have torched more than 40,000 acres; as of Monday morning (13 January), just 13 per cent of the Pacific Palisades fire was contained.
The Eaton Fire, which has burnt more than 14,000 acres in Altadena and Pasadena, is 27 per cent contained.
