Multiple massive wildfires tore across the Los Angeles area with devastating force early Wednesday, destroying more than 1,000 structures and killing at least two people as desperate residents escaped through flames, ferocious winds and towering clouds of smoke.
At least four separate blazes were burning in the metropolitan area, from the Pacific Coast inland to Pasadena, home of the famed Rose Parade. With thousands of firefighters already battling the flames, the Los Angeles Fire Department put out a plea for off-duty firefighters to help. Weather conditions were too windy for firefighting aircraft to fly, further hampering the fight. Fire officials said they hoped to get the flights up later Wednesday.
In addition to the two deaths, Los Angeles County fire chief Anthony Marrone said at a news conference Wednesday morning that many others were hurt in the fires, which threatened at least 28,000 structures.
Images of the devastation that emerged overnight showed luxury homes that had collapsed in a whirlwind of flaming embers. The tops of palm trees whipped against a glowing red sky.
“This morning, we woke up to a dark cloud over all of Los Angeles. But it is darkest for those who are most intimately impacted by these fires. It has been an immensely painful 24 hours,” Los Angeles County supervisor Lindsey Horvath said Wednesday.
At least 70,000 residents were ordered to evacuate — that number kept changing because evacuation orders were continually being issued, officials said. The flames marched toward highly populated and affluent neighbourhoods home to California’s rich and famous. Hollywood stars, including Mark Hamill, Mandy Moore and James Woods, were among those forced to flee.
About 400,000 customers were without power in southern California Wednesday afternoon, with about 260,000 of them in Los Angeles County, according to PowerOutage.us, which tracks outages nationwide.
The home of Vice President Kamala Harris in Los Angeles was included in one of the evacuation zones, although no one was there, according to a spokesperson.
“We are prioritizing life over everything else,” Sheriff Robert Luna said.
‘They were crying and screaming’
Jennie Girardo, a 39-year-old producer and director from Pasadena, said she was alarmed when her neighbour came to check on her. “When I opened my door, it smelled like I was living inside of a fireplace,” she said. “Then I also started to see the ash. And I’ve never seen that in my life. Like raining ash.”
Flames that broke out Tuesday evening near a nature preserve in the foothills northeast of Los Angeles spread so rapidly that staff at a senior living centre had to push dozens of residents in wheelchairs and hospital beds down the street to a parking lot. Residents — one as old as 102 — waited in their bedclothes as embers fell around them until ambulances, buses and construction vans arrived to take them to safety.
Emergency crews around Los Angeles are fighting four separate wildfires, a crisis that is stretching firefighters to the limits as they try to tackle multiple fires in tough conditions.
Another blaze that started hours earlier ripped through the city’s Pacific Palisades neighbourhood, a hillside area along the coast dotted with celebrity residences. In the frantic haste to get to safety, roadways became impassable when scores of people abandoned their vehicles and fled on foot, some toting suitcases.
Sheriece Wallace was unaware there was a fire burning around her until her sister called at the moment a helicopter made a water drop over her house.
“I was like, ‘It’s raining,'” Wallace told The Associated Press. “She’s like, ‘No, it’s not raining. Your neighbourhood is on fire. You need to get out.'”
A traffic jam prevented emergency vehicles from getting through, and a bulldozer was brought in to push the abandoned cars to the side and create a path. Video along the Pacific Coast Highway showed widespread destruction of homes and businesses along the famed roadway.
Pacific Palisades resident Kelsey Trainor told the AP the only road in and out of her neighbourhood was blocked. Ash fell all around while fires burned on both sides of the road.
“People were getting out of the cars with their dogs and babies and bags,” Trainor said. “They were crying and screaming.”
A third wildfire started Tuesday evening and quickly prompted evacuations in Sylmar, a San Fernando Valley community that is the northernmost neighbourhood in Los Angeles.
Fires close 100 schools, film premiere cancelled
California’s wildfire season typically begins in June or July and runs through October, according to the Western Fire Chiefs Association, but January wildfires are not unprecedented. There was one in 2022 and 10 in 2021, according to Cal Fire.
The season is beginning earlier and ending later due to rising temperatures and decreased rainfall tied to climate change, according to recent data. Rains that usually end fire season are often delayed, meaning fires can burn through the winter months, the association said.
“This will likely be the most destructive windstorm seen [since a] 2011 windstorm that did extensive damage to Pasadena and nearby foothills of the San Gabriel Valley,” the weather service said in a red-flag warning issued early Wednesday.
Gov. Gavin Newsom posted on X that California had deployed more than 1,400 firefighting personnel to combat the blazes. He also dispatched National Guard troops to help.
Steve Futterman, reporting from the Pacific Palisades area of L.A., says high winds are driving raging wildfires — and causing issues for fire crews trying to contain the dangerous fires.
Pasadena Fire Chief Chad Augustin said much of the city was under evacuation orders as his department waited for winds to die down so aircraft could start dousing the flames. Fire departments across California sent extra firefighters because crews in the Los Angeles area were stretched to the limit, he told KABC television, the ABC affiliate.
The premiere of The Last Showgirl starring Pamela Anderson was called off as severe conditions continued impacting parts of the city. It was originally scheduled to premiere at the Chinese Theatre in Hollywood on Thursday.
The fire burned through Temescal Canyon, a popular hiking area surrounded by dense neighbourhoods of multimillion-dollar homes. Flames also jumped the famous Sunset Boulevard and burned parts of the Palisades Charter High School, which has been featured in many Hollywood productions, including the 1976 horror movie Carrie, as well as the 2003 remake of Freaky Friday and the TV series Teen Wolf.
By early Wednesday, the Eaton Fire, which started the day before, had quickly burned nine square kilometres, according to fire officials. The Hurst Fire jumped to 2.6 square kilometres, and the Palisades Fire had burned 11.6 square kilometres, according to Angeles National Forest. All fires were at zero per cent containment.
More than 100 schools were closed Wednesday due to fire risk.
‘It’s everywhere,’ longtime resident says
Recent dry winds, including the notorious Santa Anas, have contributed to warmer-than-average temperatures in Southern California, where there’s been very little rain so far this season. Southern California hasn’t seen more than 0.25 centimetres of rain since early May.
The winds increased to 129 km/h in some areas by early Wednesday, according to reports received by the National Weather Service in Los Angeles. They could top 160 km/h in mountains and foothills — including in areas that haven’t seen substantial rain in months.
Longtime Palisades resident Will Adams said he was down in town when the fires started and immediately went to pick up his two kids from St. Matthews Parish’s school when he heard the fire was nearby. Meanwhile, he said embers flew into his wife’s car as she tried to evacuate.
“She vacated her car and left it running,” Adams said. She and many other residents walked down toward the ocean until it was safe.
Adams said he had never witnessed anything like this in the 56 years he’s lived there.
“It is crazy, it’s everywhere, in all the nooks and crannies of the Palisades. One home’s safe, the other one’s up in flames,” Adams said.
