LOS ANGELES — A new fire prompted evacuations Thursday in and around Los Angeles even as firefighters aided by calmer winds saw the first signs of successfully beating back the region’s deadly and devastating wildfires, while the enormity of the devastation started to emerge.

The fast-growing Kenneth Fire started in the late afternoon in the San Fernando Valley near the West Hills neighborhood and close to Ventura County. The evacuation order covered parts of Ventura and Los Angeles counties.

The orders came as Los Angeles County officials announced the Eaton Fire near Pasadena that started Tuesday night has burned more than 4,000 structures, a term that includes homes, apartment buildings, businesses, outbuildings and vehicles. To the west in Pacific Palisades, the largest of the fires burning in the LA area has destroyed thousands of structures.

All of the large fires that have broken out this week in the Los Angeles area are located in a roughly 25-mile band north of downtown.

The Kenneth Fire started in the late afternoon in the San Fernando Valley near the West Hills neighborhood and close to Ventura County. The evacuation order covered parts of Ventura and Los Angeles counties.

Dozens of blocks were flattened to smoldering rubble in scenic Pacific Palisades. Only the outlines of homes and their chimneys remained. In Malibu, blackened palm strands were all that was left above debris where oceanfront homes once stood.

At least five churches, a synagogue, seven schools, two libraries, boutiques, bars, restaurants, banks and groceries were lost. So too were the Will Rogers’ Western Ranch House and Topanga Ranch Motel, local landmarks dating to the 1920s. The government has not yet released figures on the cost of the damage or specifics about how many structures burned.

AccuWeather, a private company that provides data on weather and its impact, on Thursday increased its estimate of the damage and economic loss to $135-$150 billion.

City leaders were encouraged Thursday after firefighters made significant gains at slowing the spread of the two biggest fires that had ignited block after block from Pacific Palisades to inland Altadena, a community near Pasadena.

Crews also knocked down a blaze in the Hollywood Hills, allowing an evacuation to be lifted Thursday. The fire that sparked up late Wednesday near the heart of the entertainment industry came perilously close to igniting the famed Hollywood Bowl outdoor concert venue.

Water dropped from aircraft helped fire crews quickly seize control of the fires in the Hollywood Hills and Studio City, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said. Much of the widespread destruction occurred Tuesday after those aircraft were grounded due to high winds.

Wind gusts were expected to strengthen Thursday evening through Friday morning, with another round of strong winds expected early next week, raising concerns that the conditions could worsen, the National Weather Service said.

But Thursday’s daytime forecast provided a window for firefighters — including crews pouring in from neighboring states and Canada — to make progress in reining in blazes that have forced thousands of people to flee their homes.

Fire officials said Thursday that they don’t yet know the cause of the fires but are actively investigating.

Earlier in the week, hurricane-force winds with gusts up to 80 mph blew embers, igniting block after block in the coastal neighborhood of Pacific Palisades and in Altadena, a community near Pasadena.

Thousands of homes, businesses and other structures have been destroyed in those blazes, known as the Palisades and Eaton fires. Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley said the Palisades Fire alone has burned thousands of coastal structures, and that the damage is still being calculated.

The five deaths recorded so far were from those two fires. Cadaver dogs and search crews are searching through rubble and the death toll is expected to rise, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said.

Anthony Mitchell, a 67-year-old amputee, and his son, Justin, who had cerebral palsy, were waiting for an ambulance to come, but they did not make it out, Mitchell’s daughter, Hajime White, told The Washington Post.

Shari Shaw told KTLA that she tried to get her 66-year-old brother, Victor Shaw, to evacuate Tuesday night but he wanted to stay and fight the fire. Crews found his body with a garden hose in his hand.

On Thursday, recovery crews pulled a body from rubble of what was a beachfront residence in Malibu on the scenic Pacific Coast Highway. A charred washer and dryer were among the few things that remained.

While those two fires were no longer spreading significantly, both remained at 0% containment, officials said.

In Pacific Palisades, a hillside area along the coast dotted with celebrity homes, block after block of California Mission-style homes and bungalows were reduced to charred remains.

Roughly 180,000 people are under evacuation orders, and the fires have consumed about 45 square miles — roughly the size of San Francisco. The Palisades Fire is already the most destructive in Los Angeles’ history.

The main fires grew rapidly in different areas that had two things in common: densely packed homes in places that are choked with dry vegetation that was primed to burn.