Firefighters scrambled to extinguish a fast-moving wildfire in the Los Angeles foothills filled with celebrity homes, as a severe storm battered Southern California on Tuesday, fanning a blaze that forced thousands of residents to flee.
The fire that quickly consumed part of the Pacific Palisades neighborhood in West Los Angeles sent residents fleeing onto the clogged Pacific Coast Highway. About 30,000 residents have been issued evacuation orders, and more than 13,000 buildings are threatened by fire, said Christine Crowley, fire chief of the Los Angeles Fire Department.
California Governor Gavin Newsom says many buildings have already been destroyed.
One resident described seeing people crying and screaming as they fled, carrying their children and pets.
Forecasters warned that the worst may be yet to come, with the storm expected to last for several days, bringing isolated wind gusts that could reach 160 km/h in mountains and hills – including areas that have not seen heavy rain in months. Nearly half a million utility customers were at risk of having their power cut off to reduce the risk of equipment fires.
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 closed. Some residents jumped out of their cars out of danger and waited to be transported.
Firefighters worked to contain a fast-moving wildfire in the Los Angeles foothills filled with celebrity homes, while a wind storm battered Southern California on Tuesday, fanning the blaze. Traffic congested outside the area as residents tried to flee, and meteorologists warned that the worst may be yet to come, with the storm expected to continue for several days.
Kelsey Trainor, a resident of the area, said the only way in and out of her neighborhood was completely blocked. Ashes fell around them as fires burned on both sides of the road.
“We looked to the other side and the fire had jumped from one side of the road to the other side of the road,” Trainor said. He added: “People were getting out of cars with their dogs, children and bags, and they were crying and screaming. The road was completely closed for an hour.”
An Associated Press journalist saw the roof and chimney of one home engulfed in flames and another residence with its walls burning. The neighborhood, which borders Malibu about 20 miles west of downtown Los Angeles, includes hillside streets filled with homes crowded along winding roads that set against the Santa Monica Mountains and stretch to beaches along the Pacific Ocean.
Residents flee on foot
Longtime Palisades resident Will Adams said he was in town when the fires broke out and immediately went to pick up his two children from St. Matthews Parish School, which is now in the fire line.
His wife, who was home, was driving on the main evacuation road for residents of the upper part of the neighborhood when embers flew into her car.
“She cleared her car and left it running,” Adams said. She and several other residents walked toward the ocean until it was safe.
Adams said he has never seen a fire this low in the neighborhood in the 56 years he has lived there.
Actor James Woods posted footage of flames burning among bushes and palm trees on a hill near his home. Towering orange flames rose between the landscaped yards between the houses.
“I’m standing in my driveway, getting ready to evacuate,” Woods said in a short video on Channel X.
Actor and area resident Steve Guttenberg urged people who abandoned their cars to leave their keys behind so they can be moved to make room for fire engines.
“This is not a parking lot,” Guttenberg told TV station KTLA. “I have friends there and they can’t evacuate. I’m walking there as far as I can move cars.”
The volatile weather conditions prompted US President Joe Biden to cancel his plans to travel to inland Riverside County in California, where he was scheduled to announce the establishment of two new national monuments in the state. Biden will deliver his remarks in Los Angeles instead.
The wind pushes the flames upward
The winds, which are expected to peak early Wednesday, could be Santa Ana’s strongest wind storm in more than a decade across Los Angeles and Ventura counties, the National Weather Service said.
The winds will act as an “atmospheric dryer” for plants, leading to an extended period of fire danger, said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles and the National Center for Atmospheric Research.
“We’ve never really had a dry season like this one following a wet season like the previous season,” Swain said Monday.
Recent dry winds, including the notorious Santa Anse, have contributed to above-average temperatures in Southern California, where there has been little rain so far this season.
Southern California hasn’t seen more than 0.25 cm of rain since early May. Much of the region has fallen into moderate drought conditions, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. Meanwhile, in the north, there were multiple heavy storms.
Areas where storms could produce severe fire conditions include the charred footprint of the wind-swept Franklin Fire last month, which damaged or destroyed 48 structures, mostly homes, in and around Malibu.
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