A wildfire sparked by high winds swept through a Los Angeles hillside dotted with celebrity homes on Tuesday, destroying homes in Pacific Palisades and forcing tens of thousands of people to evacuate. In the frantic rush to get to safety, roadways became clogged, and scores of people abandoned their vehicles and fled on foot, some carrying suitcases.
According to the LA Fire Department, the traffic jam on Palisades Drive prevented emergency vehicles from passing through, so a bulldozer was dispatched to push the abandoned cars to the side and clear a path.
California Governor Gavin Newsom, who was in Southern California to attend President Joe Biden’s naming of a national monument, took a detour to the canyon to see “firsthand the impact of these swirling winds and the embers,” and said he discovered “not a few — many structures already destroyed.”
Officials did not provide an exact number of structures damaged or destroyed in the Pacific Palisades wildfire, but they did say that approximately 30,000 residents were under evacuation orders and more than 13,000 structures were threatened.
The worst could be yet to come. The fire started around 10:30 a.m., shortly after the start of a Santa Ana windstorm that the National Weather Service warned could be “life-threatening” and the strongest to hit Southern California in more than ten years. The exact cause of the fire was unknown, and no injuries were reported, officials said.
Another fire in Altadena, only about 25 miles (40 kilometers) northeast, had spread to about 400 acres (about 162 hectares) by Tuesday evening, prompting evacuation orders, according to the Angeles National Forest on the social platform X.
Winds were expected to pick up overnight and last for days, with isolated gusts reaching 100 mph (160 kph) in mountains and foothills, including areas that hadn’t seen much rain in months.
“By no stretch of the imagination are we out of the woods,” Newsom warned residents, with the strongest winds expected between 10 p.m. Tuesday and 5 a.m. Wednesday. He declared a state of emergency on Tuesday.
The mayor’s office reported that as of Tuesday evening, 28,300 households were without power due to the strong winds. About 15,000 Southern California utility customers had their power turned off to reduce the risk of equipment igniting a fire. A total of half a million customers were at risk of losing power prematurely.
The Pacific Palisades fire quickly consumed approximately 4.6 square miles (11.6 square kilometers) of land in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of western Los Angeles, resulting in a dramatic plume of smoke visible throughout the city.
Residents of Venice Beach, about 6 miles (10 kilometers) away, reported seeing the flames. It was one of several blazes in the area.
Sections of Interstate 10 and the scenic Pacific Coast Highway were closed to non-essential traffic to aid in the evacuation efforts. However, other roads were blocked. Some residents jumped out of their vehicles to escape danger and waited to be picked up.
The Los Angeles Fire Department requested that all off-duty members call to confirm their availability for recall Tuesday evening.
Kelsey Trainor, a resident, reported that the only road in and out of her neighborhood was completely blocked. Ash fell all around them, and fires burned on both sides of the road.
“We looked across and the fire had jumped from one side of the road to the other side of the road,” Trainor told us. “People were crying and screaming as they got out of their cars, carrying their dogs, babies, and bags. “The road was completely blocked for an hour.”
An Associated Press video journalist witnessed one home’s roof and chimney on fire, as well as another’s burning walls.
The Pacific Palisades neighborhood, which borders Malibu about 20 miles (32 kilometers) west of downtown Los Angeles, features hillside streets of densely packed homes along winding roads nestled against the Santa Monica Mountains and stretches down to beaches on the Pacific Ocean.
An Associated Press photographer witnessed multi-million dollar mansions on fire as helicopters overhead dropped water loads. Roads were clogged in both directions as evacuees fled down to the Pacific Coast Highway, while others begged for rides back to their homes to retrieve pets. Two of the burning homes were located in exclusive gated communities.
Will Adams, a long-time Palisades resident, said he immediately went to pick up his two children from St. Matthews Parish School when he heard the fire was nearby. Meanwhile, he claimed embers flew into his wife’s car as she attempted to flee.
“She vacated her car and left it running,” Adams said. She and several other residents walked down to the ocean until it was safe.
Adams claimed he had never seen anything like this in the 56 years he has lived there. He watched as the sky turned brown, then black, and homes began to burn. He heard loud popping and bangs, “like small explosions,” which he believes were transformers exploding.
“It is insane; it is everywhere, in all the nooks and crannies of the Palisades.” “One home is safe, and the other is on fire,” Adams said.
Actor James Woods shared video of flames burning through bushes and palm trees on a hill near his house. The towering orange flames billowed across the landscaped yards between the homes.
“Standing in my driveway, getting ready to evacuate,” Woods said in the brief video on X.
Actor Steve Guttenberg, who lives in the Pacific Palisades, urged those who abandoned their vehicles to leave their keys behind so that they could be moved to make room for fire trucks.
“This is not a parking lot,” Guttenberg informed KTLA. “My friends up there are unable to evacuate.” I’m walking up there as far as I can, moving cars.”
Biden’s planned trip to inland Riverside County, where he was to announce the establishment of two new national monuments in the state, was canceled due to the erratic weather.
He stayed in Los Angeles, where smoke could be seen from his hotel, and was briefed on the wildfires. The Federal Emergency Management Agency approved a grant to help California cover the cost of firefighting.
Biden said in a statement that he and his team are in contact with state and local officials and have offered “any federal assistance that is needed to help suppress the terrible Pacific Palisades fire.”
Some trees and vegetation on the Getty Villa grounds had been burned by late Tuesday, but Getty President Katherine Fleming said in a statement that staff and the museum collection were safe.
The museum, located on the eastern end of the Pacific Palisades, is a separate campus of the world-renowned Getty Museum dedicated to ancient Greek and Roman art and culture. The fire also destroyed Palisades Charter High School classrooms.
Due to the fire and windy weather, film studios canceled two movie premieres, and the Los Angeles Unified School District announced that students would be temporarily relocated from three campuses in the Pacific Palisades.
Recent dry winds, including the notorious Santa Anas, have contributed to warmer-than-average temperatures in Southern California, which has received very little rain this season. Southern California has not received more than 0.1 inches (0.25 centimeters) of rain since early May.
