A fast-growing wildfire raged in the inland foothills northeast of Los Angeles on Tuesday, just hours after another blaze swept through the Pacific Palisades neighborhood near the city’s coast, destroying many homes and killing thousands of people. Had to give evacuation orders.
The Eaton fire in Altadena broke out near a nature preserve just before 6:30 p.m. local time. The flames spread so quickly that staff at a senior care center had to push dozens of residents in wheelchairs and hospital beds down the street to a parking lot, where they waited in their beds for ambulances and other vehicles to transport them. Can be taken to a safe place.
To the west, a fire that started Tuesday morning in Pacific Palisades was out of control by nightfall.
The Los Angeles Fire Department appealed for off-duty firefighters to help fight the flames, which were spreading as winds gusted up to 97 km per hour in some places and caused chaotic scenes as residents fled. Were being born.
The wind was too strong for firefighting planes to fly, which hampered the fight.
The Pacific Palisades fire spread into the celebrity-lined Los Angeles hills on Tuesday, burning homes and prompting evacuation orders. In the rush to get to safety, roads were blocked and many people abandoned their vehicles and fled on foot, some carrying suitcases.
According to the Los Angeles Fire Department, a traffic jam on Palisades Drive prevented emergency vehicles from getting through, and a bulldozer was brought in to move the abandoned cars to the side and make way.
California Governor Gavin Newsom, who was in Southern California to attend the naming of a national monument by President Joe Biden, drove through the valley to “see firsthand the impact of these swirling winds and embers,” and he said that they found “nothing – many structures have already been destroyed.”
Officials did not provide the exact number of structures damaged or destroyed. Pacific Palisades wildfire, but he said about 30,000 residents were ordered to evacuate and more than 13,000 structures were at risk.
And the worst may be yet to come. The fire here started late in the morning local time, shortly after Santa Ana The National Weather Service warned that the storm could be “life-threatening” and the strongest to hit Southern California in more than a decade. Officials said the exact cause of the fire was unknown and no injuries were reported.
Only about 40 kilometers northeast, in Altadena, the Eaton Fire was burning.
Winds are expected to increase overnight and continue for several days, causing isolated gusts of up to 160 kilometers per hour in the mountains and foothills – including areas that have not received adequate rainfall for months.
“We are by no means out of the woods,” Newsom warned residents. He said that there is a possibility of strong winds throughout the night. He declared a state of emergency on Tuesday.
According to the mayor’s office, 28,300 homes were without power as of Tuesday evening due to the strong winds. About 15,000 utility customers in Southern California had power off To reduce the risk of equipment fire. A total of half a million customers were already at risk of losing power.
The Pacific Palisades fire quickly destroyed about 11.6 square kilometers of land in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood in western Los Angeles, sending a dramatic plume of smoke visible across the city. Residents of Venice Beach, about 10 kilometers away, reported seeing flames. It was one of several fires throughout the region.
Sections of Interstate 10 and the Scenic Pacific Coast Highway were closed to all non-essential traffic to assist 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. Ashes fell around them while fires burned on both sides of the road.
“We looked and the fire had spread from one side of the road to the other,” Trainor said. “People were coming out of their cars with their dogs, children and bags, they were crying and screaming. The road was completely blocked for an hour, like completely blocked.”
An Associated Press video journalist saw the roof and chimney of one house on fire and the walls of another house burning. The Pacific Palisades neighborhood, which borders Malibu about 32 kilometers west of downtown LA, consists of hilly streets of tightly packed homes along winding roads facing the Santa Monica Mountains and extending to beaches along the Pacific Ocean .
An AP photographer watched as the multi-million dollar mansion caught fire as helicopters dropped water from above. Roads were blocked in both directions as evacuees fled toward the Pacific Coast Highway, while others begged for rides back to their homes to rescue pets. The two houses that caught fire were inside special gated communities.
Longtime Palisades resident Will Adams said he immediately went to pick up his two children from St. Matthews Parish School when he heard there was a fire nearby. Meanwhile, he said that when his wife tried to get out, embers flew into their car.
“He emptied his car and left it running,” Adams said. He and several other residents headed out to sea until it was safe.
Adams said he had never seen anything like it in the 56 years he had lived there. He watched as the sky turned brown and then black and houses began to burn. He could hear loud popping and bangs “like little explosions”, he said, adding that he believed the transformer was exploding.
“It’s crazy, it’s everywhere, in all the nooks and crannies of the Palisades. One home is safe, the other is on fire,” Adams said.
Actor James Woods posted footage of a fire burning among bushes and palm trees on a hill near his home. Tall orange flames rose from the landscaped courtyards between the houses.
“I’m standing in my driveway, getting ready to vacate,” Woods said in the short video on X.
Actor Steve Guttenberg, who lives in Pacific Palisades, urged people abandoning their cars to leave their keys behind so they can be turned in to make way for fire trucks.
“This is not a parking lot,” Guttenberg told KTLA. “I have friends over there and they can’t get out of there. …I’m walking as far as I can drive the car.”
The inclement weather forced Biden to cancel plans to travel inland to 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 informed about the wildfire. The Federal Emergency Management Agency approved a grant to help California reimburse firefighting costs.
Biden said in a statement that he and his team have been communicating with state and local officials and have offered “any federal assistance needed to help suppress the devastating Pacific Palisades fire.”
Some trees and vegetation on the grounds of the Getty Villa burned late Tuesday night, but staff and the museum collection were safe, Getty president Catherine Fleming said in a statement. Located at the eastern end of Pacific Palisades, the museum is a separate complex of the world-renowned Getty Museum that focuses on the art and culture of ancient Greece and Rome. The fire also destroyed classrooms at Palisades Charter High School.
Film studios canceled two movie premieres because of the fire and windy weather, and the Los Angeles Unified School District said it had temporarily relocated students from three campuses in the Pacific Palisades area.
Recent dry winds, including Notorious Santa AnasThis has contributed to warmer-than-average temperatures in Southern California, where little rain has fallen so far this season. Southern California has not seen more than 0.25 centimeters of rain since the beginning of May.