- Strong, dry winds fuel fire forecasts.
- The evacuations cause traffic jams, with residents fleeing on foot.
- The National Weather Service warns of extreme fire conditions.
More than 30,000 people evacuated their homes as a wildfire ravaged a coastal area of Los Angeles in just a few hours, and a second fire about 30 miles inland spread rapidly on Wednesday.
Many buildings were destroyed and nearly 3,000 acres (1,200 hectares) were burned in the upscale Pacific Palisades area between the beach towns of Santa Monica and Malibu, officials said. The region is home to many film and music stars.
Highways were clogged with people fleeing the inferno as plumes of smoke and flames rose into the Los Angeles sky Tuesday evening. The fires remained uncontained as of Wednesday morning and Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency.
Pacific Palisades resident Cindy Festa said that during her evacuation, the fires were “this close to the cars,” demonstrating with her thumb and index finger.
“People left their cars on Palisades Drive. They’re burning on the hillside. Palm trees, everything,” Festa said from his car.
A fire official told the local television station KTLA that several people were injured in the Palisades fire, some with burns to their faces and hands. A female firefighter suffered a head injury.
Hollywood actor James Woods told X that he was able to evacuate his Pacific Palisades home, but added, “I don’t know right now if our house is still standing.”
The second fire, dubbed the Eaton Fire, started about 30 miles inland in Altadena, near Pasadena, and grew in size from 200 acres to 1,000 acres (400 hectares) in a few hours, according to Cal Fire.
Nearly 100 residents of a Pasadena nursing home were evacuated. CBS News said. The video showed elderly residents, many in wheelchairs or on stretchers, crowded into a smoky, windswept parking lot as fire trucks and ambulances arrived.
Firefighters said a third fire, called the Hurst Fire, broke out in Sylmar, in the San Fernando Valley, northwest of Los Angeles, prompting the evacuation of some nearby residents.
More than 220,000 homes and businesses in Los Angeles County were without power Tuesday evening, according to data from PowerOutage.us.
Palisade fire
Witnesses reported that a number of homes were on fire and that flames nearly burned their cars as people fled the hills of Topanga Canyon as the fire spread from there to the Pacific Ocean.
Local media reported that the fire also spread north, burning homes near Malibu. Parts of Malibu and Santa Monica are under evacuation orders.
Several burn victims were treated after walking to Duke’s restaurant in Malibu in the evening, the Los Angeles Times reported, citing a fire official.
Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley said earlier at a news conference that more than 25,000 people in 10,000 households were at risk.
Firefighting planes collected water from the sea to throw on the flames as they engulfed homes. Bulldozers cleared abandoned vehicles from roads so emergency vehicles could pass, television footage showed.
The fire burned some trees on the grounds of the Getty Villa, a museum filled with priceless works of art, but the collection remained safe largely because nearby bushes were cut back as a preventative measure, the fire said. the museum.
Before the fire started, the National Weather Service had issued its highest alert for extreme fire conditions across much of Los Angeles County from Tuesday through Thursday.
With low humidity and dry vegetation due to lack of rain, conditions were “about as bad as they can get in terms of fire weather,” the service said.
Governor Newsom said the state has positioned personnel, fire trucks and aircraft elsewhere in Southern California because of the fire risk throughout the region.
Powerful winds changed President Joe Biden’s travel plans, grounding Air Force One in Los Angeles. He had planned to take a short flight inland to the Coachella Valley for a ceremony to create two new national monuments in California.
“I have offered whatever federal assistance is necessary to help put out the terrible Pacific Palisades fire,” Biden said in a statement.
A federal grant had already been approved to help reimburse the state of California for its response to the fires, Biden said.
Actor Steve Guttenberg told KTLA television that his friends were unable to evacuate because others abandoned their cars on the road.
“It’s really important for everyone to come together and not worry about your personal belongings. Just get out,” Guttenberg said.
“Collect your loved ones and go out.”
