Untamed wildfires are tearing through LA, torching homes and displacing thousands
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- A major brush fire is making its way through the Pacific Palisades and looks set to get stronger.
- The Palisades Fire had burned over 2,921 acres at 0% containment as of 5:16 a.m. local time Wednesday.
- One climate scientist said it was the worst wildfire in Southern California since 2011.
A major fire is blazing across thousands of acres of an affluent neighborhood of Los Angeles into the early hours of Wednesday, threatening tens of thousands of homes and forcing people to flee on foot.
The Palisades Fire broke out around 10:30 a.m. Pacific Time on Tuesday, and quickly spread.
It had burned over 2,921 acres at 0% containment as of 5.16 a.m. local time Wednesday, according to California's Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at UCLA, said in a BlueSky post on Tuesday that it's the worst wildfire in Southern California since 2011.
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The National Weather Service said that "extreme" fire weather conditions were set to continue until mid-afternoon Wednesday.
The worst of the fire is expected to occur between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. local time on Wednesday, fire ecologist Chad Hanson told the BBC.
"It's going to be quite a rough night," he added.
At least 30,000 residents have been ordered to evacuate, while residents not under an evacuation order in the coastal city of Malibu — home to many celebrities — were told by city officials to prepare to leave.
More than 300,000 Californians were out of power as of 4 a.m. local time, according to a tracking site.
Electricity provider Southern California Edison said that it had cut power to almost 26,000 homes and was considering cuts to a further 133,000 "due to heightened wildfire risk" in Los Angeles County.
The cause of the fire is still being investigated.
Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin M. Crowley said more than 25,700 people were threatened by the fire, as well as around 10,367 homes and 13,208 structures.
No injuries or deaths were reported as of Tuesday afternoon.
The median home price in Pacific Palisades, an affluent area, was $3.2 million as of November, according to Redfin.
Crowley said the fire was being fueled by strong winds and the surrounding topography, which were "making it extremely challenging" for firefighters on the scene.
Mandatory evacuation orders were issued for the area all the way down to the Pacific Ocean.
Evacuation orders and warnings have also been issued for two further fires. The Hurst fire, in the north of the region, covered 1,000 acres, and the Eaton fire, in the north-east, covered 500 acres, both as of 2.30 a.m. local time.
California's Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency on Tuesday.
"There's no fire season, it's fire year," Newsom said at a press conference on Tuesday afternoon, noting other fires California has faced in recent months, including the Franklin and Mountain fires. "It's year-round."
In a post on X on Wednesday, Newsom said that 1,400 firefighters were involved, with more on their way.
During the press conference, Newsom encouraged residents to heed the evacuation orders. He also announced Tuesday that the state had secured federal assistance from FEMA to support the fire response.
Live footage on ABC7 showed houses burning Tuesday afternoon.
AP Photo/Etienne Laurent
The fire could spread further and grow stronger as extreme winds in the area are forecast to peak in the evening through Wednesday morning.
As winds pick up, humidity is set to decrease.
"Just about everything is going to get worse before it gets better," Swain, the UCLA scientist, said in a video update Tuesday afternoon.
Evacuees abandoned cars as traffic stalled
Palisades Drive, the major road out of the neighborhood, was packed with slow-moving lines of cars shortly after noon Tuesday, as people evacuated beneath a smoky haze and bright-orange flames licked the hillside in the distance, shown live on ABC7.
The state agency CalFire reported that the fire was on both sides of Palisades Drive.
ABC7 spoke to multiple people who were evacuating on foot, including some who had abandoned their cars on the road.
One resident told the news channel that "a whole bunch of neighbors" were stuck in their homes on Palisades Drive.
"This is apocalyptic. We've had small fires, nothing like this," they added.
AP Photo/Etienne Laurent
Jonathan Vigliotti, a CBS News correspondent who was on the ground as a neighborhood went up in flames, said on X that there was "mass panic in the streets."
Historic windstorm is 'worst possible scenario'
Officials have not yet determined how the fire started, but it erupted during a high-risk major windstorm that created extreme fire conditions in the area.
Warm, dry Santa Ana winds from the deserts of Nevada and Utah are expected to bring gusts up to 100 mph to Southern California through Wednesday morning.
The National Weather Service called the windstorm "life-threatening and destructive" and warned that these could be the strongest north winds in 14 years.
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With low humidity and dry vegetation in the region, the winds created a perfect storm for fire ignition.
The NWS urged residents to be ready to evacuate, as such winds can rapidly spread any fire that breaks out.
"This is pretty much the worst possible scenario for a firefight," David Ortiz of the LAFD told local news station KTLA.
