Thousands of people are fleeing as winds fan wildfires across the affluent enclave of Los Angeles
Wildfires fanned by high winds ripped through Los Angeles’ affluent Pacific Palisades neighborhood on Tuesday, burning homes and prompting the city to issue an evacuation order for 30,000 people.
Nearly 1,200 acres were burning in the hills surrounding the Palisades, an affluent coastal community with some of the most expensive real estate in the US, the Los Angeles Fire Department said Tuesday. There have been no reports of how he is doing flame started.
Smoke blackened the sky over the area as winds reached speeds of up to 60 miles per hour. Wind gusts are expected to pick up by Wednesday and could reach as high as 100 mph, the strongest in a decade for Southern California.
Firefighters said about 13,000 structures were threatened in the Palisades, home to Hollywood stars such as Tom Hanks and James Woods. Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, said “many structures [are] already destroyed”.
After the fires broke out on Tuesday morning, the roads winding through its canyons quickly piled up with traffic jams as residents tried to evacuate. Many cars were abandoned by drivers who fled on foot towards the coast, witnesses said.
Firefighters sent trucks to tow away the cars to make it easier for them to access the flames.
“They evacuated us three times [from previous fires] but this is the worst we’ve seen,” said Susan Vash, who evacuated Tuesday afternoon and is staying with family in Santa Monica, a coastal city to the south.
He has lived in the Mandeville Canyon area of the Palisades since 1998. “Every time this happens we say we have to move, but we never do.”
The fire threatened the Getty villa, and some trees and plants on the top of the hill were also burnt. But the collection remained safe, said the president of the museum.
Helicopters and “super scooper” planes dropped water on the fires, although high winds proved a problem for the planes. Utilities shut off power to more than 8,000 homes to prevent live electrical wires from increasing the risk of fires.
Evacuees said the fires were spreading rapidly by mid-morning, forcing parents to rush to schools to pick up their children. Witnesses said they could not be sure if the houses they fled from were still standing.
It could be days before firefighters can bring the blaze under control, and even longer before residents are allowed to return, firefighters said.
The National Weather Service warned of “life-threatening storms,” which accelerated the fire’s spread across a parched landscape that had seen very little rain for months.
Firefighters warned that the winds would only get worse overnight. “Please know that we are not out of danger,” said Anthony Marrone, LA County Fire Chief.
