Wildfire rages in Los Angeles, forcing tens of thousands to flee

LOS ANGELES - A rapidly growing wildfire raged across an upscale section of Los Angeles on Jan 7, destroying numerous buildings and creating traffic jams as more than 30,000 people evacuated, while a second blaze doubled in size some 50km inland.

At least 2,921 acres or about 1,200ha of the Pacific Palisades area between the coastal towns of 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.

A fire official told local television station KTLA that several people were injured, some with burns to faces and hands. The official added that one female firefighter had sustained a head injury.

The second blaze, dubbed the Eaton Fire, broke out some 50 km inland near Pasadena and doubled in size to 400 acres or 162ha in a few hours, according to Cal Fire.

Almost 100 residents from a nursing home in Pasadena were evacuated, according to CBS News. Video showed elderly residents, many in wheelchairs and on gurneys, crowded onto a smokey and windswept parking lot as fire trucks and ambulances attended.

Fire officials said a third blaze named the Hurst Fire had started in Sylmar, in the San Fernando Valley northwest of Los Angeles, prompting evacuations of some nearby residents.

Palisades fire

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.

Local media reported the fire had spread north, torching homes near Malibu.

Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley had earlier told a press conference that more than 25,000 people in 10,000 homes were threatened.

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 that emergency vehicles could pass, television images showed.

The fire singed some trees on the grounds of the Getty Villa, a museum loaded with priceless works of art, but the collection remained safe largely because of preventive efforts to trim brush surrounding the buildings, the museum said. It will remain closed at least for the rest of the week.

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.

Pacific Palisades resident Cindy Festa 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,” she said from her car.

Before the fire started, the National Weather Service had issued its highest alert for extreme fire conditions for much of Los Angeles County from Jan 7 through Jan 9, predicting wind gusts of 80 to 130 kmh.

Strong, dry Santa Ana winds originating from inland deserts combined with low humidity and dry vegetation due to a lack of rain. The conditions were “about as bad as it gets in terms of fire weather”, the Los Angeles office of the National Weather Service said on X.

Governor Gavin Newsom, who declared a state of emergency, said the state positioned personnel, fire engines and aircraft elsewhere in Southern California because of the fire danger to the wider region, he added.

The winds changed President Joe Biden’s travel plans, grounding Air Force One in Los Angeles. He had planned to make a short flight inland to the Coachella Valley for a ceremony to create two new national monuments in California, but the event was rescheduled for a later date at the White House.

“I have offered any federal assistance that is needed to help suppress the terrible Pacific Palisades fire,” Mr Biden said in statement. A federal grant had already been approved to help reimburse the state of California for its fire response, Mr Biden said.

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.”

Actor Steve Guttenberg told KTLA television that his friends were impeded from evacuating because others had abandoned their cars in the road.

“It’s really important for everybody to band together and don’t worry about your personal property. Just get out,” Guttenberg said. “Get your loved ones and get out.” REUTERS