Jamie Lee Curtis pledges $1.6m for LA wildfire relief

"Where I live is on fire right now," Jamie Lee Curtis said on The Tonight Show. (AP PHOTO)

Actor Jamie Lee Curtis, one of many Hollywood celebrities who lived in the California neighbourhoods ravaged by wildfires, says her family will donate $US1 million to relief efforts.

The Oscar winner said she and her husband, actor and director Christopher Guest, and their children had pledged $US1 million ($A1.6 million) to support "our great city and state and the great people who live there."

Curtis said she was in contact with officials about "where those funds need to be directed for the most impact".

Her post featured a picture of smoke billowing above the famed Santa Monica Pier.

On Wednesday night, Curtis choked back tears as she described the devastation in the neighbourhood of Pacific Palisades during an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

"Where I live is on fire right now, literally the entire city of Pacific Palisades is on fire," she said. 

"This is literally where I live - everything, the market I shop in, the schools my kids go to. Friends, many, many, many, many, many friends, now have lost their homes."

Beachfront properties destroyed by the Palisades Fire in Malibu
"Many, many, many, many, many friends" have lost their homes, Jamie Lee Curtis said.

"It's just a catastrophe," Curtis said.

Other celebrities such as Mel Gibson, Jeff Bridges, Billy Crystal, Anthony Hopkins, James Woods, Paris Hilton, Milo Ventimiglia, Mandy Moore and married actors Leighton Meester and Adam Brody said their homes had been destroyed.

Gibson said the home he had lived in for more than a decade had burned while he was appearing on an episode of the Joe Rogan podcast.

The Mad Max star described the loss as "emotional" and "devastating", but said his family were "happy and healthy and out of harm's way".

Mel Gibson
Mel Gibson said he returned from Teax to find his Malibu home was "completely toasted".

Appearing on cable network NewsNation, Gibson said he returned from recording the interview in Austin, Texas, to find his Malibu home was "completely toasted".

The owner of another Malibu property, Oscar-winning actor Bridges, said the family home his parents bought years ago was destroyed.   

The Palisades fire, and another to the east of Los Angeles, was still burning on Thursday.

CORE, an aid organisation co-founded by Sean Penn, said it was distributing masks and other supplies to help people in areas with poor air quality because of wildfire smoke.

Hacks star Jean Smart called on TV networks to drop plans to televise upcoming Hollywood awards shows and instead donate to wildfire relief and first responders.

"ATTENTION," the Emmy winner wrote on Instagram. 

"With ALL due respect during Hollywood's season of celebration, I hope any of the networks televising the upcoming awards will seriously consider NOT televising them and donating the revenue they would have garnered to victims of the fires and firefighters."

One upcoming show, the Critics Choice Awards, was postponed by two weeks because of the fires, and next week's Oscar nominations were delayed by two days. 

Several film premieres have been cancelled, and some TV productions have been paused.

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