Palisades Fire devastates LA County as winds batter Southern California
Tens of thousands fled their homes as a brush fire in the Pacific Palisades quickly spread to nearly 3,000 acres Tuesday, a blaze that authorities said could grow further as even stronger winds are expected through the night.
Click here for an evacuation map.
The Los Angeles Fire Department said the Palisades Fire started at 10:30 a.m. near 1190 North Piedra Morada Dr. With winds reaching at least 40 mph, the flames quickly spread to about 200 acres and grew exponentially.
It continued to spread rapidly through the hillsides. As of 6:30 p.m., the fire had burned 2,921 acres. Authorities evacuated about 30,000 people as flames threatened more than 10,000 homes.
Exact numbers have not been released but footage from the scene showed multiple homes as they were engulfed by the massive flames.
Early Wednesday morning, evacuation orders expanded well into Malibu, creeping into the same area that was just devastated by the Franklin Fire in December.
"We're not out of the woods by any stretch of the imagination," Gov. Gavin Newsom told reporters Tuesday afternoon, saying that the state dispatched 110 fire engines to Southern California in anticipation of the high winds.
LAFD said they received reports of multiple burn victims. One firefighter sustained serious head injury while trying to douse the flames. She recevied treatment at the scene and taken to a local hospital for evaluation, according to LAFD.
Forecasters say gusts could reach up to 100 miles per hour in some parts of the region — likely the worst conditions seen since a windstorm in 2011 left behind $40 million in damage in Los Angeles County.
The Pacific Coast Highway was completely shut down near Topanga Canyon Boulevard, according to the California Department of Transportation.
With the flames moving quickly, some drivers abandoned their cars on Sunset near where the main LA roadway meets the PCH. Some said firefighters told them to get out and flee on foot. About 30 vehicles were left abandoned, according to the LA Fire Department.
Meanwhile, thousands of residents escaped their homes as firefighters continued battling the Pacific Palisades blaze.
Krishan Chaudry, a resident in the LA coastal community, said he could see flames burning from his backyard, which he said appeared suddenly. Thick, billowing plumes of black smoke were seen rising over the PCH as flames tore through hillsides.
"This happened just spur of the moment," Chaudry said. "We were just looking at the smoke, and then all of a sudden, we saw fire everywhere."
The Westwood Recreation Center has opened as an evacuation center and overnight shelter for evacuees and small animals, according to fire authorities.
Evacuation orders and warnings have been issued for the neighborhoods near the Santa Monica Mountains, Topanga State Park and as far south as Santa Monica.
The latest information from Cal Fire on evacuations and resources for those affected can be found here.
The following closures of the PCH have been announced by authorities while the latest updates can be found here.
The Los Angeles Unified School District canceled classes for Wednesday at the following four schools:
Classes at the Topanga Elementary Charter School have been relocated to Woodland Hills Academy.
"Affected schools are communicating directly with families. Please visit lausd.org for updates. If families need additional support, please contact our Family Hotline at (213) 443-1300," LA City officials wrote in a statement.
The Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District closed closed its four schools in Malibu.
"We plan for our Santa Monica schools to be open unless conditions change overnight," Superintendent Antonio Shelton wrote in a statement. "Thank you for your continued attention and preparedness as we navigate these conditions together. Please continue to take care of yourself and each other."
RELATED: Eaton Fire closes schools in Pasadena
Glendale Unified School District also closed all of its schools, childcare and district offices on Wednesday.
"This decision was made to prioritize the safety of our students, employees, and families, as wind and fires have significantly impacted the accessibility of roadways and the air quality in our area," said Superintendent Dr. Darneika Watson.
Many parts of Los Angeles and Ventura counties, including the area where the wildfire started, are facing a "Particularly Dangerous Situation" red flag warning this week. It's a relatively rare advisory the National Weather Service issues in more extreme cases, and it's the same warning that was issued just before the Mountain Fire tore through nearly 20,000 acres in neighboring Ventura County last year.
Forecasters have warned of a "life-threatening" windstorm that is likely the most powerful one to hit the region since 2011, which left behind millions of dollars in damage and led to 400,000 people losing power.
Santa Ana winds are expected to strengthen later in the evening, peaking from 10 p.m. Tuesday through 5 a.m. Wednesday — potentially complicating firefighting efforts and carrying flames even further.
Gusts could up to around 60 to 70 mph in many areas and up to 100 mph in a few parts of Southern California, according to forecasters.
"This will likely be a life-threatening, destructive, and widespread windstorm," the National Weather Service said Monday, noting that the "Particularly Dangerous Situation" warning will be in effect from noon Tuesday through 4 p.m. Wednesday for areas of LA including Malibu.
In December, the coastal community faced the Franklin Fire, which destroyed more than two dozen structures, including a number of homes, as it burned through over 4,000 acres.
Firefighting resources were already being stretched thin with the massive response to the Palisades Fire, which prompted Los Angeles Fire Department to request all of their off-duty firefighters contact them and report if they're available to assist with the firefight.
LAFD Public Information Officer Margaret Stewart says this is the first time the department has had to make such a request in the last 19 years.
With the powerful winds still battering the region, all firefighting aircraft were ordered to be grounded on Tuesday evening due to the dangerous conditions. Typically water-dropping aircraft are key in assisting ground units while working to battle wildfires.
In response to the blaze, California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a State of Emergency in regards to the response from local emergency departments.
The emergency declaration will allow "local, state, and tribal agencies responding to the fire to apply for 75 percent reimbursement of their eligible fire suppression costs," said a statement from the governor's office.
President Joe Biden, who was also briefed on the incident, shared a statement as well, noting that FEMA had already approved a Fire Management Assistance Grant.
"My team and I are in touch with state and local officials, and I have offered any federal assistance that is needed to help suppress the terrible Pacific Palisades fire," said the president's statement, in part. "Earlier tonight, FEMA approved a Fire Management Assistance Grant to support areas that are impacted and help reimburse the state of California for the immediate firefighting costs. My Administration will do everything it can to support the response."
All three fires currently burning in Southern California have had their requests for federal funding through FMAG approved.
Vice President Kamala Harris, a California native, also shared a statement on the Palisades Fire and Eaton Fire, which is burning near Pasadena.
"As a proud daughter of California, I know the damage that wildfires have on our neighbors and communities. I also know that the impact is often felt long after the fire is contained," her statement read, in part. "As we respond and as Californians recover, I will ensure that our administration is in constant contact with state and local officials."
At the same time, about 40 miles inland, a second large brush fire erupted in the Eaton Canyon area above Altadena.
The blaze quickly grew to engulf more than 400 acres, threatening some structures in the area and forcing evacuations for people living in both Altadena, Pasadena and Sierra Madre.
At around 10 p.m., another blaze dubbed the Hurst Fire was reported in the San Fernando Valley. At the time, it was said to be about 100-acres, burning just north of the Olive View-UCLA Medical Center and forcing evacuations for those living in the area.
Check back for updates on this developing story.
Thousands flee as wildfires burn out of control in and around Los Angeles and homes are destroyed
LOS ANGELES (AP) — California firefighters battled wind-whipped wildfires that tore across the Los Angeles area, destroying homes, clogging roadways as tens of thousands fled and straining resources as the fires burned uncontained early Wednesday.
The flames from a fire that broke out Tuesday evening near a nature preserve in the inland foothills northeast of LA spread so rapidly that staff at a senior living center had to push dozens of residents in wheelchairs and hospital beds down the street to a parking lot. The residents waited there in their bedclothes as embers fell around them until ambulances, buses and even construction vans arrived to take them to safety.
Another blaze that started hours earlier ripped through the city’s Pacific Palisades neighborhood, a hillside area along the coast dotted with celebrity residences and memorialized by the Beach Boys in their 1960s hit “Surfin’ USA.” In the frantic haste to get to safety, roadways became impassable when scores of people abandoned their vehicles and fled on foot, some toting suitcases.
The traffic jam on Palisades Drive prevented emergency vehicles from getting through and a bulldozer was brought in to push the abandoned cars to the side and create a path. Video along the Pacific Coast Highway showed widespread destruction of homes and businesses along the famed roadway.
Pacific Palisades resident Kelsey Trainor said the only road in and out of her neighborhood was blocked. Ash fell all around them while 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 said. “People were getting out of the cars with their dogs and babies and bags, they were crying and screaming.”
A third wildfire started around 10:30 p.m. and quickly prompted evacuations in Sylmar, a San Fernando Valley community that is the northernmost neighborhood in Los Angeles. The causes of all three fires were under investigation.
Flames were being pushed by Santa Ana winds topping 60 mph (97 kph) in some places. The winds were expected to increase overnight, producing isolated gusts that could top 100 mph (160 kph) in mountains and foothills — including in areas that haven’t seen substantial rain in months.
The situation prompted the Los Angeles Fire Department to take the rare step of putting out a plea for off-duty firefighters to help. It was too windy for firefighting aircraft to fly, further hampering the fight.
Gov. Gavin Newsom posted on X early Wednesday that California had deployed more than 1,400 firefighting personnel to combat the blazes. “Emergency officials, firefighters, and first responders are all hands on deck through the night to do everything possible to protect lives,” Newsom said.
The erratic weather caused President Joe Biden to cancel plans to travel to inland Riverside County, where he was to announce the establishment of two new national monuments in the state. He remained in Los Angeles, where smoke was visible from his hotel, and was briefed on the wildfires. The Federal Emergency Management Agency approved a grant to help reimburse California for the firefighting cost.
Officials didn’t give an estimate of structures damaged or destroyed in the Pacific Palisades wildfire, but they said about 30,000 residents were under evacuation orders and more than 13,000 structures were under threat. Gov. Gavin Newsom visited the scene and said many homes had burned.
By evening the flames had spread into neighboring Malibu and several people there were being treated for burn injuries and a firefighter had a serious head injury and was taken to a hospital, according to Los Angeles Fire Department Capt. Erik Scott.
By early Wednesday, the Eaton fire, which started around 6:30 p.m. the day before, had quickly burned 1.6 square miles (4 square kilometers), according to fire officials. The Hurst fire jumped to 500 acres (202 hectares) and the Palisades fire, which started around around 10:30 a.m. Tuesday and sent up a dramatic plume of smoke visible across Los Angeles, had destroyed 4.5 square miles (11.6 square kilometers) according to Angeles National Forest. The fires were at 0% containment as of early Wednesday.
“By no stretch of the imagination are we out of the woods,” Newsom warned residents, saying the worst of the winds were expected between 10 p.m. Tuesday and 5 a.m. Wednesday. He declared a state of emergency.
As of Tuesday evening, nearly 167,000 people were without power in Los Angeles county, according to the tracking website PowerOutage.us, due to the strong winds.
Recent dry winds, including the notorious Santa Anas, have contributed to warmer-than-average temperatures in Southern California, where there’s been very little rain so far this season. Southern California hasn’t seen more than 0.1 inches (0.25 centimeters) of rain since early May.
The neighborhood, which borders Malibu about 20 miles (32 kilometers) west of downtown LA, includes hillside streets of tightly packed homes along winding roads nestled against the Santa Monica Mountains and stretches down to beaches along the Pacific Ocean.
Long-time Palisades resident Will Adams said he immediately went to pick his two kids up from St. Matthews Parish School when he heard the fire was nearby. Meanwhile, he said embers flew into his wife’s car as she tried to evacuate.
“She vacated her car and left it running,” Adams said. She and many other residents walked down toward the ocean until it was safe.
Adams said he had never witnessed anything like this in the 56 years he’s lived there. He watched as the sky turned brown and then black as homes started burning. He could hear loud popping and bangs “like small explosions,” which he said he believes were the transformers exploding.
“It is crazy, it’s everywhere, in all the nooks and crannies of the Palisades. One home’s safe, the other one’s up in flames,” Adams said.
Actor James Woods posted footage of flames burning through bushes and past palm trees on a hill near his home. The towering orange flames billowed among the landscaped yards between the homes.
“Standing in my driveway, getting ready to evacuate,” Woods said in the short video on X.
Some trees and vegetation on the grounds of the Getty Villa were burned by late Tuesday, but staff and the museum collection remain safe, Getty President Katherine Fleming said in a statement. The museum located on the eastern end of the Pacific Palisades is a separate campus of the world-famous Getty Museum that focuses on the art and culture of ancient Greece and Rome. The fire also burned Palisades Charter High School.
Film studios canceled two movie premieres due to the fire and windy weather, and the Los Angeles Unified School District said it temporarily relocated students from three campuses in the Pacific Palisades area.
Watson reported from San Diego. Associated Press writers Janie Har in San Francisco, Hallie Golden in Seattle and video journalist Eugene Garcia in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
Wildfires Around Los Angeles Continue To Spread Rapidly As Tens Of Thousands Are Ordered To Evacuate (Photos)
The Pacific Palisades wildfire, affecting one of Los Angeles’ affluent residential neighborhoods, continued to grow rapidly on Tuesday night—covering nearly 3,000 acres—while another wildfire burning in the San Gabriel Mountains above Pasadena grew to cover a 1,000 acres, triggering evacuation orders for tens of thousands of people as authorities warned the situation will likely worsen on Wednesday due to fast-moving winds.
Officials have expressed concern that fast moving winds in the area could worsen the wildfires on Wednesday. Wind gusts of up to 99 mph were reported near Altadena and other nearby areas early on Wednesday. In its late night update, the National Weather service forecast wind gusts of 50 to 80 mph in parts of southern California and up to 100 mph gusts in mountains and foothills into Wednesday night. The conditions are the result of a wind pattern called the Santa Ana winds or “devil winds” which are often fast moving, dry and warm winds that originate inland, around Nevada and Utah, and blow towards the coastal regions of Southern California.
Several schools across the affected region will remain closed on Wednesday. This includes six schools under the Los Angeles Unified Schools District including Palisades Charter Elementary School. All schools under the Pasadena Unified School District will remain closed on Wednesday as well to “allow our crews time to evaluate and repair damages” caused by the Eaton fire. Several other school districts in the region have also announced cancelation of classes for Wednesday, including the Glendale Unified School District, the Alhambra Unified School District, South Pasadena Unified School District, South Pasadena Unified School District and Burbank Unified School District.
According to PowerOutage.US, more than 208,000 homes and businesses in Los Angeles County were without power early on Wednesday morning. The LA Department of Water and Power said its crews were responding to the impact of the windstorms and wildfires.
Los Angeles International Airport, which is about 19 miles south of the Pacific Palisades, has not experienced significant flight delays or cancellations as of Tuesday afternoon, according to FlightAware.
The National Weather Service’s fire outlook warns of elevated to critical fire weather Tuesday across much of southern California. The range of the critical fire weather alert will expand by 278 square miles Wednesday to a total of 5,035 square miles in the region. The NWS also issued an extreme fire weather alert—its highest designation for fire potential—from Wednesday to Thursday for a 1,463-square mile stretch of land that includes areas such as Santa Clarita, Simi Valley, Altadena, Moorpark and Santa Paula.
“California has deployed 1400+ firefighting personnel & hundreds of prepositioned assets to combat these unprecedented fires in LA. Emergency officials, firefighters, and first responders are all hands on deck through the night to do everything possible to protect lives,” Newsom said on X.
The appearance of weather conditions suggestive of La Niña, a climate phenomenon linked to drier conditions and drought in southern parts of the U.S., have likely contributed to prime fire conditions across southern California. Los Angeles in particular has seen an underwhelming amount of rain in the last eight months alongside a dry winter. The last time the city recorded over a tenth of an inch of rainfall was last May, according to the Los Angeles Times, contributing to drought. The mix of dry conditions and strong winds are the main catalysts of Tuesday's fires and also contributed to another fire in the Pacific Palisades in 2021 that burned more than 1,200 acres.
With negligible rain in 8 months, Southern California swings toward drought (LA Times)
Residents flee on foot as Palisades Fire torches hillside homes (LAist)
California governor says Pacific Palisades wildfire has destroyed many structures as winds kick up
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A wildfire whipped up by extreme winds swept through a Los Angeles hillside dotted with celebrity residences Tuesday, burning homes in Pacific Palisades and prompting evacuation orders for tens of thousands. In the frantic haste to get to safety, roadways were clogged and scores of people abandoned their vehicles and fled on foot, some toting suitcases.
The traffic jam on Palisades Drive prevented emergency vehicles from getting through and a bulldozer was brought in to push the abandoned cars to the side and create a path, according to the LA Fire Department.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who was in Southern California to attend the naming of a national monument by President Joe Biden, made a detour to the canyon to see “firsthand the impact of these swirling winds and the embers,” and he said he found “not a few — many structures already destroyed.”
Officials did not give an exact number of structures damaged or destroyed in the Pacific Palisades wildfire, but they said about 30,000 residents were under evacuation orders and more than 13,000 structures were under threat.
And the worst could be yet to come. The blaze began 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 a decade. The exact cause of the fire was unknown and no injuries had been reported, officials said.
Only about 25 miles (about 40 kilometers) northeast in Altadena, another fire spread to more than 200 acres (81 hectares) by Tuesday evening, prompting evacuation orders, the Angeles National Forest posted on the social platform X.
The winds were expected to increase overnight and continue for days, producing isolated gusts that could top 100 mph (160 kph) in mountains and foothills — including in areas that haven’t seen substantial rain in months.
“By no stretch of the imagination are we out of the woods,” Newsom warned residents, saying the worst of the winds are expected between 10 p.m. Tuesday and 5 a.m. Wednesday. He declared a state of emergency on Tuesday.
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 sparking a blaze. A half a million customers total were at risk of losing power preemptively.
The Pacific Palisades fire quickly consumed about 4.6 square miles (11.6 square kilometers) of land in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood in western Los Angeles, sending up a dramatic plume of smoke visible across the city. Residents in Venice Beach, some 6 miles (10 kilometers) away, reported seeing the flames. It was one of several blazes across the area.
Sections of Interstate 10 and the scenic Pacific Coast Highway were closed to all non-essential traffic to aid in evacuation efforts. But other roads were blocked. Some residents jumped out of their vehicles to get out of danger and waited to be picked up.
Resident Kelsey Trainor said the only road in and out of her neighborhood was completely blocked. Ash fell all around them while 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 said. “People were getting out of the cars with their dogs and babies and bags, they were crying and screaming. The road was just blocked, like full-on blocked for an hour.”
An Associated Press video journalist saw a roof and chimney of one home in flames and another residence where the walls were burning. The Pacific Palisades neighborhood, which borders Malibu about 20 miles (32 kilometers) west of downtown LA, includes hillside streets of tightly packed homes along winding roads nestled against the Santa Monica Mountains and stretches down to beaches along the Pacific Ocean.
An AP photographer saw multi-million dollar mansions on fire as helicopters overhead dropped water loads. Roads were clogged in both directions as evacuees fled down toward the Pacific Coast Highway while others begged for rides back up to their homes to rescue pets. Two of the homes on fire were inside exclusive gated communities.
Long-time Palisades resident Will Adams said he immediately went to pick his two kids up from St. Matthews Parish School when he heard the fire was nearby. Meanwhile, he said embers flew into his wife’s car as she tried to evacuate.
“She vacated her car and left it running,” Adams said. She and many other residents walked down toward the ocean until it was safe.
Adams said he had never witnessed anything like this in the 56 years he’s lived there. He watched as the sky turned brown and then black as homes started burning. He could hear loud popping and bangs “like small explosions,” which he said he believes were the transformers exploding.
“It is crazy, it’s everywhere, in all the nooks and crannies of the Palisades. One home’s safe, the other one’s up in flames,” Adams said.
Actor James Woods posted footage of flames burning through bushes and past palm trees on a hill near his home. The towering orange flames billowed among the landscaped yards between the homes.
“Standing in my driveway, getting ready to evacuate,” Woods said in the short video on X.
Actor Steve Guttenberg, who lives in the Pacific Palisades, urged people who abandoned their cars to leave their keys behind so they could be moved to make way for fire trucks.
“This is not a parking lot,” Guttenberg told KTLA. “I have friends up there and they can’t evacuate. … I’m walking up there as far as I can moving cars.”
The erratic weather caused Biden to cancel plans to travel to inland Riverside County, where he was to announce the establishment of two new national monuments in the state. He remained in Los Angeles, where smoke was visible from his hotel, and was briefed on the wildfires. The Federal Emergency Management Agency approved a grant to help reimburse California for the firefighting cost.
Biden said in a statement that he and his team are communicating with state and local officials and he has offered “any federal assistance that is needed to help suppress the terrible Pacific Palisades fire.”
Some trees and vegetation on the grounds of the Getty Villa were burned by late Tuesday, but staff and the museum collection remain safe, Getty President Katherine Fleming said in a statement. The museum located on the eastern end of the Pacific Palisades is a separate campus of the world-famous Getty Museum that focuses on the art and culture of ancient Greece and Rome.
Film studios canceled two movie premieres due to the fire and windy weather, and the Los Angeles Unified School District said it temporarily relocated students from three campuses in the Pacific Palisades area.
Recent dry winds, including the notorious Santa Anas, have contributed to warmer-than-average temperatures in Southern California, where there’s been very little rain so far this season. Southern California hasn’t seen more than 0.1 inches (0.25 centimeters) of rain since early May.
Watson reported from San Diego and Har from San Francisco. Associated Press writers Christopher Weber and video journalist Eugene Garcia in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
Photos: Flames engulf Southern California as crews battle to control Palisades Fire
Tens of thousands of Southern Californians were ordered to flee their homes Tuesday after a brushfire exploded in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles.
Fueled by powerful Santa Ana winds and dry conditions, the Palisades Fire ignited Tuesday morning as a brush fire and had grown to nearly 3,000 acres by Tuesday evening.
Dramatic images showed pillars of smoke looming over the coastal neighborhood. Flames could be seen advancing toward, and people were captured fleeing the area on foot.
A resident described the scene to NBC Los Angeles after her escape as “apocalyptic.”
More than 10,000 homes are under threat, Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin M. Crowley told reporters Tuesday, and roughly 30,000 residents are under evacuation orders.
Palisades Fire Spreads to Malibu as Homes Burn Unchecked Along PCH
The Palisades Fire reached Malibu late Tuesday night, bringing devastation along the Pacific Coast Highway with no sign of slowing down as it moves west and north. It’s a disaster likely to only get far worse overnight, thanks to the worst Santa Ana winds in more than a decade.
The full extent of damage now being inflicted by the fire isn’t known, and likely won’t be for days. But in Malibu, the flames leaped from side to side of PCH, burning homes and businesses, and at least three historic institutions are now gone: Reel Inn, Cholada Thai and Rosenthal Winery.
In a post to Instagram, the owners of Reel Inn said they are “heartbroken” and “are unsure what will be left.”
Several miles west of Reel Inn, burn victims and other evacuees gathered at the iconic Duke’s Malibu restaurant, which is closed but as of this writing not reported damaged by the fire.
In harrowing video obtained by TheWrap, eyewitnesses captured the destruction in Malibu firsthand:
In a cruel convergence, the Palisades Fire that began late Tuesday morning is just one serious threat besieging the region. Early Tuesday evening, another fire erupted in Eaton Canyon near Altadena that as of this writing has burned more than 400 acres and sparked its own mandatory evacuations. And around 10:15 p.m., a wildfire erupted in Sylmar, burning at least 50 acres and spreading.
A growing number of school districts in the afflicted areas are now closed on Wednesday, among them Los Virgenes Unified, Santa Monica-Malibu Unified, Pasadena Unified, Arcadia Unified, Glendale Unified and Burbank Unified.
In a statement posted to social media Tuesday night, President Joe Biden said, “I am being frequently briefed on the wildfires in west Los Angeles. My team and I are in touch with state and local officials, and I have offered any federal assistance that is needed to help suppress the terrible Pacific Palisades fire. Earlier tonight, FEMA approved a Fire Management Assistance Grant to support areas that are impacted and help reimburse the state of California for the immediate firefighting costs. My Administration will do everything it can to support the response.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency earlier in the day, as did officials from the city and county of Los Angeles.
The post Palisades Fire Spreads to Malibu as Homes Burn Unchecked Along PCH appeared first on TheWrap.
Untamed wildfires are tearing through LA, torching homes and displacing thousands
A major fire is blazing across thousands of acres of an affluent neighborhood of Los Angeles into the early hours of Wednesday, threatening tens of thousands of homes and forcing people to flee on foot.
The Palisades Fire broke out around 10:30 a.m. Pacific Time on Tuesday, and quickly spread.
It had burned over 2,921 acres at 0% containment as of 7.30 p.m. local time Tuesday, according to California's Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
The worst of the fire is expected to occur between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. local time on Wednesday, fire ecologist Chad Hanson told the BBC.
"It's going to be quite a rough night," he added.
At least 30,000 residents have been ordered to evacuate. The cause of the fire is still being investigated.
Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin M. Crowley said more than 25,700 people were threatened by the fire, as well as around 10,367 homes and 13,208 structures.
No injuries or deaths were reported as of Tuesday afternoon.
The median home price in Pacific Palisades, an affluent area, was $3.2 million as of November, according to Redfin.
Crowley said the fire was being fueled by strong winds and the surrounding topography, which were "making it extremely challenging" for firefighters on the scene.
Mandatory evacuation orders were issued for the area all the way down to the Pacific Ocean.
Evacuation orders and warnings have also been issued for two further fires. The Hurst fire, in the north of the region, covered 1,000 acres, and the Eaton fire, in the north-east, covered 500 acres, both as of 2.30 a.m. local time.
California's Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency on Tuesday.
"There's no fire season, it's fire year," Newsom said at a press conference on Tuesday afternoon, noting other fires California has faced in recent months, including the Franklin and Mountain fires. "It's year-round."
Newsom encouraged residents to heed the evacuation orders. He also announced Tuesday that the state had secured federal assistance from FEMA to support the fire response.
Westwood Recreation Center was open to evacuees and their small animals as of Tuesday afternoon.
Live footage on ABC7 showed houses burning Tuesday afternoon.
The fire could spread further and grow stronger as extreme winds in the area are forecast to peak in the evening through Wednesday morning.
As winds pick up, humidity is set to decrease.
"Just about everything is going to get worse before it gets better," Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at UCLA, said in a video update Tuesday afternoon.
Palisades Drive, the major road out of the neighborhood, was packed with slow-moving lines of cars shortly after noon Tuesday, as people evacuated beneath a smoky haze and bright-orange flames licked the hillside in the distance, shown live on ABC7.
The state agency CalFire reported that the fire was on both sides of Palisades Drive.
ABC7 spoke to multiple people who were evacuating on foot, including some who had abandoned their cars on the road.
One resident told the news channel that "a whole bunch of neighbors" were stuck in their homes on Palisades Drive.
"This is apocalyptic. We've had small fires, nothing like this," they added.
Jonathan Vigliotti, a CBS News correspondent who was on the ground as a neighborhood went up in flames, said on X that there was "mass panic in the streets."
Officials have not yet determined how the fire started, but it erupted during a high-risk major windstorm that created extreme fire conditions in the area.
Warm, dry Santa Ana winds from the deserts of Nevada and Utah are expected to bring gusts up to 100 mph to Southern California through Wednesday morning.
The National Weather Service called the windstorm "life-threatening and destructive" and warned that these could be the strongest north winds in 14 years.
With low humidity and dry vegetation in the region, the winds created a perfect storm for fire ignition.
The NWS urged residents to be ready to evacuate, as such winds can rapidly spread any fire that breaks out.
"This is pretty much the worst possible scenario for a firefight," David Ortiz of the LAFD told local news station KTLA.
