Tens of thousands are fleeing as homes burn and wildfires rage in the LA hills
A wildfire fanned by strong winds ripped through a Los Angeles neighborhood of celebrity homes on Tuesday, burning homes and forcing the evacuation of tens of thousands. In this frenzy to get to safety, the roads were congested and many people abandoned their cars and fled on foot, some carrying suitcases.
Traffic on Palisades Drive prevented emergency vehicles from entering and a bulldozer was brought in to push the abandoned vehicles to the side and create a road, according to the LA Fire Department.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who was in Southern California to attend the dedication of the national monument by US President Joe Biden, made a detour into the canyon to see “firsthand the impact of these strong winds and the coal,” and said that “a few – many buildings have been destroyed.”
Officials did not provide an exact number of buildings damaged or destroyed in the Pacific Palisades wildfire, but said about 30,000 residents are under evacuation orders and more than 13,000 buildings are at risk.
And the worst is yet to happen. The fire started around 10:30 a.m. local time, shortly after the start of the Santa Ana storm that the US National Weather Service warned was “potentially life-threatening” and the strongest to hit Southern California in more than a decade. The cause of the fire was not yet known and no injuries were reported, officials said.
Winds were expected to pick up overnight and continue for days, causing isolated gusts of up to 160 km/h in the mountains and highlands – including areas that hadn’t seen heavy rain in months.
“We can’t think we’re out of the woods,” Newsom warned residents, saying the worst winds are expected between 10 p.m. Tuesday and 5 a.m. Wednesday. He declared a state of emergency on Tuesday.
Firefighters worked to contain wildfires raging in the Los Angeles hills dotted with celebrity homes as a storm swept through Southern California on Tuesday, dousing the blaze. People’s movement is crowded in this area as residents are trying to escape, and forecasters have warned that the worst is likely to happen as the storm is said to last for several days.
As of Tuesday evening, 28,300 households were without power due to the strong winds, according to the Mayor’s office. About 15,000 utility customers in Southern California had their power shut off to reduce the risk of equipment fires. A total of half a million customers were at risk of losing power prior to operation.
The fire quickly burned an area of more than 11 square kilometers in the Pacific Palisades area west of Los Angeles, giving rise to a dramatic plume of smoke that could be seen across the city. Residents of Venice Beach, 10 kilometers away, reported seeing flames. It was one of many flames in the universe.
Sections of Interstate 10 and the Pacific Coast Highway are closed to all non-essential vehicles to assist in evacuation efforts. But some roads were closed. Some residents got out of their cars to escape the accident and waited to be picked up.
Resident Kelsey Trainor said the only road in or out of her neighborhood is completely closed. Ashes surrounded them while fires burned on both sides of the road.
“We looked across and the fire was jumping from one side of the road to the other side of the road,” Trainor said. “People were getting out of their cars with dogs and children and bags, crying and screaming. The road was closed for an hour.”
An Associated Press reporter saw the roof and chimney of one house on fire and another area where the walls were on fire. Pacific Palisades, located on the border of Malibu about 32 kilometers west of downtown LA, consists of hilly streets packed with houses on winding roads that border the Santa Monica Mountains and extend to the beaches near the Pacific Ocean.
An AP photographer saw multimillion-dollar mansions on fire as helicopters flew overhead and dropped water. The roads were blocked on both sides as those who were leaving fled towards the Pacific Coast Highway while others asked for a ride back home to rescue their pets. The two homes that burned were within special gated communities.
Residents flee on foot
Palisades resident Will Adams said he was downtown when the fire started and went to pick up his two children from St. Matthews Parish when he heard that the fire was near. Meanwhile, he said coals flew into his wife’s car when she tried to get out.
“He left his car running,” Adams said. He and many other villagers went down towards the sea until it was safe.
Adams said he has never seen anything like this in his 56 years living there. He watched the sky turn brown and then black as the houses began to burn. He heard a loud noise and a “small explosion,” which he said he believed was the transformers exploding.
“It’s crazy, it’s all over the place, all over the Palisades. One home is safe, one is on fire,” Adams said.
Actor James Woods posted pictures of flames burning through the woods and over palm trees on a hill near his home. High orange flames were burning in the courtyards built between the houses.
“I’m standing in my driveway, getting ready to go out,” Woods said in a short video on X.
Actor Steve Guttenberg, who lives in Pacific Palisades, urged people who left their cars to leave their keys to move to fire trucks.
“This is not a parking lot,” Guttenberg told television station KTLA. “I have friends up there and they can’t get out. I go up there when I can move cars.”
The inclement weather caused Biden to cancel plans to travel to the heart of Riverside County, where he was to announce the establishment of two new national monuments in the state. He stayed in Los Angeles, where smoke could be seen from his hotel, and he was told about the wildfires.
The US Federal Emergency Management Agency has approved funding to help reimburse California for firefighting costs.
Some trees and vegetation on the grounds of the Getty Villa were burned late Tuesday, but staff and the museum’s collection remained safe, Getty president Katherine Fleming said in a statement. The museum east of Pacific Palisades is a separate campus of the world-renowned Getty Museum that focuses on the art and culture of ancient Greece and Rome.
Film studios canceled two movie screenings because of the fire and windy weather, and the Los Angeles Unified School District said it temporarily evacuated students from three campuses in the Pacific Palisades area.
Recent dry winds, including the infamous Santa Anas, have contributed to warmer-than-average temperatures in Southern California, where there has been very little rain so far this season.
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