Massive wildfire rages through Los Angeles hillside, forces 30,000 to evacuate

Los Angeles,UPDATED: Jan 8, 2025 07:54 IST

A wildfire raged across an upscale section of Los Angeles on Tuesday, destroying homes and creating traffic jams as 30,000 people evacuated beneath huge plumes of smoke that covered much of the metropolitan area.

At least 1,262 acres (510 hectares) of the Pacific Palisades area between Santa Monica and Malibu had burned, officials said, after they had already warned of extreme fire danger from powerful winds that arrived following extended dry weather.

The fire grew rapidly in a matter of hours as officials warned the worst wind conditions were expected to come overnight, leading to concerns that more neighbourhoods could be forced to flee. Flying embers set alight a palm tree at the intersection of Sunset Boulevard and Pacific Coast Highway.

Witnesses reported a number of homes on fire with flames nearly scorching their cars when people fled the hills of Topanga Canyon, as the fire spread from there down to the Pacific Ocean.

"We feel very blessed at this point that there are no injuries that are reported," Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley told a press conference.

Firefighters in aircraft scooped water from the sea to drop it on the nearby flames. Flames engulfed homes and bulldozers cleared abandoned vehicles from roads, so emergency vehicles could pass, television images showed.

With only one major road leading from the canyon to the coast, and only one coastal highway leading to safety, traffic crawled to a halt, leading people to flee on foot.

One man said he was attempting to retrieve items from his home when he was stopped by firefighters as flaming debris landed in the road.

"So it seemed to me, let's get out of here. Whatever I lose, I lose. There's nothing I can do about it," said the man who identified himself only as Peter.

Cindy Festa, another Pacific Palisades resident, said that as she evacuated out of the canyon, fires were "this close to the cars," demonstrating with her thumb and forefinger.

"People left their cars on Palisades Drive. Burning up the hillside. The palm trees - everything is going," Festa said from her car.

Before the fire started, the Weather Service had issued its highest alert for extreme fire conditions for much of Los Angeles County from Tuesday through Thursday, predicting wind gusts of 50 to 80 mph (80 to 130 kph) with isolated gusts of 80 to 100 mph (130 to 160 kph) in the mountains and foothills.

Combined with low humidity and dry vegetation due to a lack of rain, conditions were extremely dangerous, authorities said.

"In other words, this is about as bad as it gets in terms of fire weather," the Los Angeles office of the Weather Service said on X.

Governor Gavin Newsom said the state began moving fire resources from northern to southern California as early as Saturday because of the weather warning. Many of those personnel, firetrucks and aircraft remained in position elsewhere in Southern California because of the fire danger to the wider region, he added.

"Hopefully, we're wrong, but we're anticipating other fires happening concurrently. And that's exactly the previous experience we've had with these kinds of wind events," Newsom told the press conference.

Known as Santa Ana winds, the strong, dry westerly winds originating in inland deserts are more common in the fall but can affect Southern California any time of year.

Pacific Palisades is home to several Hollywood stars. Actor James Woods said on X he was able to evacuate but added, "I do not know at this moment if our home is still standing."

More than 25,000 people in 10,000 homes were threatened, Crowley said, equal to nearly the entire population of the Pacific Palisades. Nearly 5 per cent of the Pacific Palisades' 23,431 acres (9,482 hectares) had burned.