Rupert Murdoch's $30m ranch in path of wildfire raging though greater Los Angeles

The wildfire devastating the Los Angeles area is threatening a $30m ranch owned by Rupert Murdoch.

The house and vineyard property bought by the Fox News and News Corp mogul in 2013 is understood to be in an evacuation zone heavily threatened by the 125-acre Skirball fire.

Murdoch owns the Moraga Estate vineyard, near the 405 Freeway, which has been partially closed on Wednesday (6 December) as the fires threatened the famous Getty Centre.

No casualties have yet been reported but thousands of homes are threatened by the fires, including in the luxury Bel Air area.

The Bel Air blaze is only one of four other wildfires currently being tackled around Southern California. Social media users shared apocalyptic scenes of hills covered in flames as they drove along the busy 405 on morning commutes.

Heavy winds that have helped the fires spread have also reportedly made it harder to tackle with some aircraft useful to fighting the flames having to be grounded thanks to the strong weather.

The Associated Press reported that the evacuation orders affected around 200,000 people and that nearly 200 homes had already been destroyed.

"The prospects for containment are not good," Ventura County Fire Chief Mark Lorenzen said on Tuesday. "Really, Mother Nature's going to decide when we have the ability to put it out." On its website the Getty Center said it would be closed "to protect the collections from smoke from fires in the region".

The largest of the fires is in Ventura County, covering 101 square miles. That fire has already claimed 150 structures but the incident commander, Todd Derum, told the Associated Press that he thinks hundreds of homes have likely been destroyed.

The entertainment and sports worlds have also been affected, with the NFL's Los Angeles Rams cancelling practice due to the fire and the sets of 'Westworld' and 'S.W.A.T.' halting production.