This year's Oscars ceremony could reportedly be cancelled entirely as the devastating wildfires continue to rage across California.
The death toll from the fires, which began over a week ago, has now risen to 25, while tens of thousands of homes and businesses have been destroyed.
As Hollywood struggles to deal with the ongoing chaos, numerous events have been either cancelled or postponed - including the Critics Choice Awards, which have shifted from January 12 to January 26.
Awards season's most prestigious ceremony, the Academy Awards, is scheduled to take place on March 2 in Los Angeles, but The Sun says that contingency plans are now being discussed that at a worse case could see the awards scrapped for the first time in their 96-year history.
A source told the publication: "While the Californian dream is not yet dead, it is incrementally dying. These wildfires have absolutely devastated the state, uniting everyone - from A-lister to waiter.
"And the very thought of having a waiter, a poorly-paid innocent who has lost their home, serving delicate Wagyu burgers and sliced cucumber sandwiches to multi-millionaire movie stars doesn't exactly sit right.
"Homelessness is on the rise and there is an opioid epidemic. Right now Los Angeles is at an absolutely critical time in its history. It's a nadir.
"After 9/11, the committees and executive teams brought in an effective contingency strategy on how to deal with a world, or city-wide, life-changing event.
"Terror threats were the priority for many years with discussions with Homeland Security, the FBI, CIA and LAPD task force officers, and many of those templates are still in place, albeit out of the public domain to avoid alarm.
"The Oscars' committees - there are 17 separate branches - realise that in a worst case situation, the fires could continue for weeks, prompting disastrous and cataclysmic issues for LA and Hollywood, where the awards are staged.
"These matters are being monitored, with some well-known faces consulted, because everything is so up in the air that anything could happen."
Nominations for this year's Oscars were due to be revealed this Friday, January 17, but have now been rescheduled to Thursday, January 23, while the annual Oscars Nominees Luncheon has been cancelled for this year.
Neil Wilkes
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