Celebrities flee as fast-moving wildfire threatens homes in Los Angeles
Residents of Pacific Palisades told to evacuate homes as blaze accelerates across part of southern California
A rapidly growing wildfire is threatening homes in an upscale section of Los Angeles, forcing evacuations after officials had already warned of extreme fire danger from dry, powerful winds.
Residents of Pacific Palisades between Santa Monica and Malibu, including numerous A-list celebrities, were told “don’t wait, evacuate” as the blaze grew to 300 acres within four hours.
“Immediate threat to life. This is a lawful order to LEAVE NOW,” read one notice posted by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
About 30,000 residents are under evacuation orders and more than 13,000 structures are under threat, authorities said.
California Governor Gavin Newsom said he saw “many structures already destroyed.”
The cause of the fire was not immediately known, and no injuries had been reported, officials said at a news conference on Tuesday afternoon.
The PA news agency reported that the Hollywood premiere of Unstoppable starring Jennifer Lopez was cancelled as residents were ordered to evacuate their homes.
Huge billows of smoke could be seen blowing from the hills from miles away as flames encroached on nearby homes.
The fire was fueled by Santa Ana winds that blow warm and dry winds from the inland deserts toward the coast.
Among the stars evacuating was US actor James Woods, who shared security camera footage of flames engulfing a nearby home and at the bottom of his balcony on X.
“We were blessed to have LA fire and police depts doing their jobs so well. We are safe and out…Can not speak more highly of the LA fire and LAPD,” the Golden Globe and two-time Emmy-winning actor said.
Actor Steve Guttenberg, who lives in the Pacific Palisades, urged people who abandoned their cars to leave their keys behind so he can move them out of the way for firetrucks.
“This is not a parking lot,” Guttenberg told KTLA. “I have friends up there and they can’t evacuate — I’m walking up there as far as I can moving cars.”
Some evacuees walked away from the fire, while others got stuck in traffic in their cars.
Before the fire started, the National 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 80 to 130 kph with isolated winds of 80 to 100 kph in the mountains and foothills.
That combined with low humidity and dry vegetation due to a lack of rain.
“In other words, this is about as bad as it gets in terms of fire weather,” the Los Angeles office of the National Weather Service said on X.
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said that southern California is facing a “critical” weather event as “strong Santa Ana winds and low humidity” were causing “extreme wildfire risks”.
It comes less than a month after residents in Malibu were evacuated from a wind-driven blaze dubbed the Franklin Fire, which saw more than 4,000 acres burn and stars including Dick Van Dyke, Cher and Jane Seymour forced to leave their homes.
The erratic weather prompted President Joe Biden to cancel plans to travel to inland Riverside County, California, where he was to announce the establishment of two new national monuments in the state.
With agencies
