Ed Balls was clearly moved as a breaking news segment suddenly came to a halt on ITV’s Good Morning Britain.

Ed Balls and Ranvir Singh presented GMB (Image: ITV)

A “very upsetting” segment was interrupted on Good Morning Britain this morning (January 9). Reporter Noel Phillips had been live at the “apocolyptic” scenes in Los Angeles, where five people have lost their lives and many more lost their homes to wild fires.

He had been telling ITV viewers and hosts Ed Balls and Ranvir Singh about the devastation that the “uncontrollable” flames had caused so far – with hundreds of thousands of people, including some celebrities, having to leave thier homes behind in emergency evacuations.

The reporter had been explaining that the fire service are unable to keep up with the raging flames as the live link became unstable and he disappeared from screen. Ranvir cut in as she explained: “As he was saying, the phone lines and signals are all gone and it’s clearly effected the camera signal there for Noel.”

Ed added his own thoughts, as he was clearly moved by the report, saying: “It is very upsetting.” His co-star replied: “Well, yes, exactly.” She added: “Our hearts go out to every body who is there.”

The ITV show halted earlier in the episode to announce that five people had died in the fires. Noel explained that the fires are continuing to burn “uncontrollably.” He added: “To put it into simple words, it is hell.”

The fires have devastated Los Angeles (Image: ITV)

“Every single street, every single home is burning right now. The smell around us is unbearable,” he continued. “What is happening here in Los Angeles is catastrophic. The fire officials themselves have admitted they do not have enough personell to tackle these fires.”

He went on to explain that there are four fires in total and “zero percent of them are contained”. More than 70,000 residents have been evactuated from the “unpredictable” and “ferocious” fires.

The TV presenter described the scenes as “apocolyptic” and “unbelievable”. The show then cut to clips of roaring flames burning through properties.

Noel Phillips reported from the scene (Image: ITV)

Tom Hanks, Paris Hilton and Reese Witherspoon are some of the famous faces among the thousands who have had to leave thier homes behind.

Hilton said her home in Malibu, where her young son took his first steps, was among those lost to the flames, but she and her loved ones had made it out safely.

“The devastation is unimaginable. To know so many are waking up today without the place they called home is truly heartbreaking,” she said.