Vice President Kamala Harris said that she is praying for all Californians who have had to evacuate or been affected by wind-whipped wildfires that are creating a fire emergency in the Los Angeles area.
“Doug and I are praying for our fellow Californians who have evacuated, and we are thinking of the families whose homes, businesses, and schools remain in harm’s way,” Harris said in a statement. “We are deeply grateful for the heroic first responders who are risking their own safety to fight the flames and help keep communities safe.”
Harris’ Los Angeles home is in the eastern part of the evacuation zone from the Palisades Fire, which was nearly 3,000 acres tonight after breaking out at around 10:30 a.m.
Harris said that the Biden administration is committed to helping the victims and the state.
“As a proud daughter of California, I know the damage that wildfires have on our neighbors and communities,” Harris said. “I also know that the impact is often felt long after the fire is contained. As we respond and as Californians recover, I will ensure that our administration is in constant contact with state and local officials.”
The number of homes and businesses in the Los Angeles area that were without power amid fierce Santa Ana winds has risen to almost 220,000, according to tracking website poweroutage.us.
There were 219,903 customers without electricity in Los Angeles County as of 10:50 p.m. Tuesday, according to the website.
The winds, expected to peak overnight and into Wednesday morning, have caused wildfires to spread rapidly, including in Pacific Palisades and near Altadena and Pasadena.
A 50-acre brush fire has broken out in the Sylmar area of Los Angeles, the LAFD said tonight, triggering evacuation orders.
The fire reported at 10:10 p.m. was “approximately 50 acres with a rapid rate of spread” and broke out at around 15986 W Yarnell St., the LAFD said in an incident report.
Evacuation orders were in effect for an area north of Interstate 210 from Roxford Street to where Interstate 5 splits with CA-14, the LAFD said.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency tonight approved assistance to battle the Eaton Fire, which broke out in the Altadena area.
FEMA granted a “Fire Management Assistance Grant” in combating the Eaton Fire, it said.
The Eaton Fire, which, like the Palisades Fire in Pacific Palisades, is also being whipped by extreme Santa Ana winds, was threatening around 8,200 homes in and around Altadena and Pasadena, it said.
FEMA earlier today approved federal aid in fighting the Palisades Fire.
The Arcadia and Glendale unified school districts became the latest to announce fire-related public school closures.
The Arcadia Unified School District said all schools will close tomorrow and all events and services — including sports and after-school programs — will be canceled.
“We encourage you to take precautions at your own home, securing all outdoor furniture and ensuring windows and areas possibly vulnerable to strong winds are secured,” the district said in a news release. “Please charge your phones, Chromebooks, and other devices as power outages may increase throughout the night.”
The district said it would provide an update about operations for the rest of the week at 3 p.m. tomorrow.
The Glendale Unified School District cited the high winds and fires in the region as reasons for closing all schools, child care operations and district offices tomorrow.
“This decision was made to prioritize the safety of our students, employees, and families, as wind and fires have significantly impacted the accessibility of roadways and the air quality in our area,” Superintendent Darneika Watson said in a statement.
The Screen Actors Guild has canceled its planned in-person awards nomination ceremony because of extreme fire conditions in Los Angeles and the area, the organization announced tonight.
The SAG Awards nominations were supposed to be held in an in-person ceremony tomorrow. Instead, the nominations will be announced in a news release and on the SAG Awards website at 7:30 a.m.
“In the meantime, we urge everyone to stay safe, and thank you for your continued support,” the guild said in a statement.
The awards will be held Feb. 23.
A 25-year-old firefighter battling the Palisades Fire sustained a serious head injury, the LAFD said, and other people were found suffering from burns.
The firefighter was injured at about 8:30 p.m., a spokesperson for the Fire Department said.
At around 9 p.m., “multiple burn victims were reported walking toward a nearby restaurant,” the spokesperson said. Medical resources were directed toward them. Their conditions were not immediately available.
A train line traveling from central Los Angeles south to Long Beach had problems caused by high winds and broken gates as Santa Ana winds continued to pound the area, LA Metro said.
Service was suspended between Highland Park and South Pasadena completely because of lack of power, LA Metro said on X, and there were other problems between Azusa and Long Beach, where train service was running but taking longer than normal, it said.
“If you don’t need to be out, pls stay home,” the agency said on X.
Vice President Kamala Harris’ Los Angeles residence is now in the eastern part of the evacuation zone from the Palisades Fire.
An area with around 30,000 people was put under evacuation orders after the fire broke out at 10:30 a.m. in Pacific Palisades and quickly grew, driven by high Santa Ana winds. Evacuation zones later grew.
The vice president is in Washington, D.C.
The peak of the high winds is expected tonight and into tomorrow morning.
Dramatic video showed patients from a senior facility in the Pasadena area, not far from the Eaton Fire that broke out tonight, being evacuated amid high winds and heavy smoke.
Those loaded into ambulances included people in wheelchairs. NBC Los Angeles reported it was a senior wellness center.
An NBC Los Angeles reporter said it was hard to breathe in the area because of the smoke.
A facility believed to be the one involved did not immediately respond to a request for comment tonight about the situation there.
Malibu’s four public school campuses, which closed today amid dangerous winds and the the Pacific Palisades fire to the city’s southeast, will remain closed tomorrow, officials said.
The Pasadena Unified School District also said its campuses would be closed tomorrow as the Eaton Fire rages on the edge of the city and its leaders pondered an emergency declaration.
“The City of Pasadena is assessing whether to declare a state of emergency due to the impacts of the weather,” the district said in a statement.
The Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District so far has not shut down Santa Monica schools, even as the nearby Palisades Fire prompted authorities to issue mandatory evacuation orders for the very north end of the city.
In a letter to families and employees tonight, that district said, “Due to safety concerns, road closures, power shut offs, high winds and fire threat, our four Malibu schools will be closed Wednesday.”
Regarding its campuses to the south, it said, it planned for Santa Monica schools to be open, barring changing conditions overnight.
With the northernmost sections of its North of Montana neighborhood under mandatory evacuation orders, Santa Monica’s Big Blue Bus public transit system is offering free rides to evacuees.
The system said buses would run hourly from two locations on San Vicente Boulevard, the southern boundary for the city’s evacuations. Those stops are at Ocean Avenue at the coast and Seventh Street a few blocks inland, it said on X tonight.
The buses will take riders to the Palisades Fire’s evacuation center a few miles away at the Westwood Recreation Center in the L.A. community of Westwood.
The evacuation zone runs from San Vicente to the city boundary with Pacific Palisades to the north.
The number of homes and businesses without power in the Los Angeles area has risen to more than 96,000, according to tracking website poweroutage.us.
There were 96,013 customers without electricity at around 8:35 p.m., up from around 42,000 earlier in the evening, according to data from the site.
The region is being lashed by high Santa Ana winds, which are fueling wildfires and creating what officials say is an extreme wildfire risk.
The Eaton Fire is now estimated at 400 acres, according to CalFire.
The fire broke out near Eaton Canyon tonight, near Altadena and Pasadena. It is being fueled by high winds, according to fire agencies, and it has resulted in orders to evacuate.
“Firefighters are working aggressively to slow the spread and protect critical infrastructure under extreme conditions,” CalFire said in an update.
Angeles National Forest said on X, “If you are in an evacuation order area, please leave now.”
California Attorney General Rob Bonta tonight warned against excessive price increases by retailers who may see an opportunity to overcharge evacuees and others affected by the Palisades Fire.
Price gouging for shelter, gas, food and other essential supplies during a state of emergency is illegal under state law.
“If you see price gouging — or if you’ve been the victim of it — I encourage you to immediately file a complaint with my office,” Bonta said in a statement.
His office said it’s generally illegal to boost prices on essential needs by 10% or more during such an emergency.
Earlier this evening, Gov. Gavin Newsom proclaimed a state of emergency that removes barriers to lateral help from local governments and empowers him to deploy National Guard troops as needed.
Los Angeles declared a state of emergency tonight as the city fights a large wind-fueled fire in the Pacific Palisades and braces for even more Santa Ana winds that are creating a dangerous risk over the region.
“The City is working AGGRESSIVELY to confront this emergency,” Mayor Karen Bass wrote on X.
She said the city’s state of emergency will help “amplify” its response to the fire and aid in recovery.
Structures have been destroyed in the Palisades Fire, but an exact count was not immediately known. The blaze grew from 10 acres when it started as a brushfire reported at around 10:30 a.m. to more than 2,900 acres tonight.
Gov. Gavin Newsom has also declared a state of emergency, and FEMA has approved a grant to help with firefighting costs and support areas affected by the fire, Newsom’s office and the White House said. President Joe Biden said he has offered any federal assistance needed to fight the blaze.
Connor Benavides, who lives near the Eaton Fire in Altadena, described the moment he evacuated ahead of the fast-moving wildfire, which has burned more than 200 acres.
Evacuation orders from the Palisades Fire spread to northern parts of the coastal city of Santa Monica tonight, officials said.
The city issued an evacuation order for all areas north of San Vicente Boulevard at around 7:30 p.m.
Up the coast, the Palisades Fire broke out at around 10:30 a.m. as a brushfire fueled by what officials have called extreme winds. It has grown to almost 3,000 acres.
“Immediate threat to life. This is a lawful order to LEAVE NOW. The area is closed to public access,” Santa Monica’s government said on X.
Santa Monica had issued evacuation warnings telling people to be ready to leave, and it told residents to avoid nonessential travel in the northern parts of the city.
As the Palisades Fire continues to burn and even worse winds are forecast overnight, the Los Angeles Fire Department put out word asking all off-duty members to check in.
Firefighters are being asked to notify the department of their availability for a recall, the LAFD posted on X.
Santa Ana winds have been creating what the fire chief called “extreme” fire conditions.
Evacuations were ordered as a fire raged in the foothills of Angeles National Forest near Pasadena and Altadena, state fire officials said.
The Close Fire, which has been renamed the Eaton Fire, has grown to 200 acres, CalFire said.
Mandatory evacuation zones can be found on CalFire’s incident page for the blaze and at the Angeles National Forest X account.
Steve Gutierrez of the National Federation of Federal Employees said the U.S. Forest Service was sending firefighters to help battle the blaze.
The fire was first reported at 6:23 p.m. near Altadena and Midwick drives, an area where Pasadena and Altadena meet, CalFire said.
The foothills stand between the San Gabriel Valley and Angeles National Forest.
President Joe Biden said tonight that he has been briefed on the wildfires and that “I have offered any federal assistance that is needed to help suppress the terrible Pacific Palisades fire.”
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has approved a fire management assistance grant, he said, which will help the state pay for immediate firefighting costs.
“My Administration will do everything it can to support the response,” Biden said in a statement.
“I urge the residents of the Pacific Palisades and the surrounding areas of Los Angeles to stay vigilant and listen to local officials,” he said.
A bulldozer was used to ram vehicles out of the way after they were abandoned while residents sought to escape the fast-moving Palisades Fire, officials said.
About 30 vehicles were cleared at Sunset Boulevard and Palisades Drive, the LAFD said.
The vehicles needed to be moved to ensure access to the fire, which as of tonight had burned more than 1,200 acres, fire officials said.
No deaths or serious injuries in the fire have been reported, which officials at a news conference called a blessing. But structures have been destroyed, and video from the scene showed some homes burning.
The strong winds that have fueled the Palisades Fire are expected to get worse tonight and into tomorrow morning, Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone warned.
“We are not out of danger,” Marrone said at a news conference. “The National Weather Service has predicted that the winds are going to pick up and get worse.”
“We’re going to have the most significant wind event between 10 p.m. this evening and 5 a.m.,” Marrone said.
The LAFD, the Los Angeles County Fire Department and CalFire are working to battle the Palisades Fire, which has burned more than 1,200 acres.
Marrone said anyone who lives in an area with brush should have a “wildfire action plan.”
There were 42,032 homes and businesses without electricity in Los Angeles County tonight as the region has been battered by Santa Ana winds, according to the tracking site poweroutage.us.
The utility Southern California Edison warned that the high winds, which are set to continue through tomorrow, could bring down trees and power lines.
The winds have caused the Palisades Fire to rapidly increase in size since it broke out around 10:30 a.m. A cause has not been determined.
A new fire has started this evening in the hills above Pasadena.
The Close Fire, near the entrance to Eaton Canyon, is estimated to have consumed 10 acres, city spokesperson Lisa Derderian said tonight.
A Los Angeles County fire captain told NBC Los Angeles that the fire had quickly grown to 20 acres and that it had the potential to explode to 500 acres.
Derderian described the blaze as “spreading quickly.”
The location — the foothills of Angeles National Forest, about 37 miles east-northeast of Pacific Palisades — could provide ample fuel for the blaze.
Air quality in parts of Los Angeles County will be unhealthy because of the Palisades Fire, the South Coast Air Quality Management District said.
The biggest impact will be in northwestern coastal Los Angeles County, including Malibu, which is near the fire, the county Public Health Department said.
“Predicting where ash or soot from a fire will travel, or how winds will impact air quality, is difficult, so it’s important for everyone to stay aware of the air quality in your area, make plans, and take action to protect your health and your family’s health,” Dr. Muntu Davis, health officer for Los Angeles County, said in a statement.
“Smoke and ash can harm everyone, even those who are healthy. However, people at higher risk include children, older adults, pregnant individuals, and those with heart or lung conditions or weakened immune systems,” Davis said.
As the Palisades Fire continued to spread, it claimed more structural victims, including buildings on the area’s high school campus and the adjacent Theater Palisades.
NBC Los Angeles was on scene with live coverage as flames roared from multiple structures at Palisades Charter High School and seemed to all but destroy the theater.
Both are in the center of the community that’s home to roughly 24,000 people, all of whom have been ordered to evacuate.
On its website today, the school said, “Due to the ongoing Palisades fires, PCHS is currently closed. Students and families are advised to avoid the area and adhere to all evacuation orders.”
Reporting from Los Angeles
The Palisades Fire, which has exploded to nearly 3,000 acres tonight, has jumped Pacific Coast Highway.
The Palisades Fire, which began as a brushfire this morning during high winds and extreme wildfire risk, has grown to more than 2,900 acres, the state fire agency said.
The fire was 2,921 acres at around 6:30 p.m. local time, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said on its website about the incident.
Fire officials last gave the size of the fire at more than 1,200 acres at an afternoon news conference.
The fire was reported at around 10:30 a.m., and first fire crews found a 10-acre brushfire in winds of around 40 mph, Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin M. Crowley has said.
Daryn Simons, a producer, rushed to her Pacific Palisades home from work this morning to grab her animals — Harper, a yellow lab, and Maeve, a cat — before she fled the fire.
“If you were looking toward the ocean, on the left it was bright blue, and on the right it looked like an inferno,” Simons said. “I’ve never seen anything so scary.”
Simons was in the process of downsizing; She had picked up keys to a new condominium yesterday.
By this afternoon, she sat in an empty, echoing condominium unit alongside her daughter, scanning the web for snippets of new information.
“We’re just sitting here looking at the fire map, just waiting to see if our house is going to make it,” Simons said. “My mom just got here. She’s bringing us blow-up mattresses. I ordered food.”
Her daughter peppered her with brief snippets of news, and she relayed them to a reporter.
“We just heard our friends got out. They got the Torahs out of the Chabad. Thank God,” Simons said, adding that she was concerned the local temple might burn.
A neighbor had lost his dream home, she learned. She was awaiting news of others.
“I’m worried about my 80-year-old neighbors across the way,” she said. “I just hope and pray everybody gets out OK. Property can be replaced. Humans and animals can’t.”
The Palisades Fire was more than 1,200 acres this evening. It’s burning northwest of Santa Monica.
Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency early this evening “to further support the communities impacted by this fire,” his office said in a statement.
The proclamation seeks to ease the use of local government resources and empowers the governor to call up the National Guard if necessary.
Earlier, Newsom announced that his request for emergency federal funds that would cover 75% of local firefighting costs had been approved.
Despite ominous imagery from the scene, the Los Angeles Fire Department said this evening that while flames have reached the famed Getty Villa property, the museum is not on fire.
Firefighters were defending the structure as the Palisades Fire continued to spread amid winds of greater than 50 mph, fire spokesperson Margaret Stewart said.
“The Villa itself is not burning, but vegetation around the building is burning,” she said. “The structure is not damaged.”
In a statement just after 5 p.m., the Getty Villa Museum and the Getty Center said flames had reached the grounds on the coast in Pacific Palisades.
“Some trees and vegetation on site have burned, but staff and the collection remain safe,” spokesperson Alexandria Sivak said in the statement.
Citing brush clearance and construction, the institution expressed some confidence that the Villa, which houses Greek and Roman antiquities, would survive.
“Museum galleries and library archives were sealed off from smoke by state-of-the-art air handling systems,” Sivak said. “The double-walled construction of the galleries also provides significant protection for the collections.”
Stephanie Libonati was at home in Pacific Palisades this morning when she glanced out the window.
“I just saw smoke and some orange and red flames — and I screamed, ‘Fire, fire, we have to go,’” said Libonati, who said she believes she was one of the first to call authorities about the fire.
She warned neighbors, got hoses and “started putting water everywhere we could,” she said.
“It was just moving so fast,” Libonati said of the flames. “It was just all a blur, kind of, we were running around just trying to get out of there.”
The fire grew from a brushfire at about 10:30 a.m. to a blaze that had burned more than 1,200 acres this evening.
A driver who was one of more than two dozen people who abandoned their vehicles fleeing the Pacific Palisades wildfire said he was given a stark warning.
“The flames started, like palm trees near us started catching on fire,” Adam Handler told NBC Los Angeles by phone. “And then some flames came down the hill to the point where they maybe were 115 feet away.
“And either a fireman or a policeman, I think it was a policeman, started telling everybody: Get out of your car if you want to live,” he said.
Handler, his wife and their dog left their black Audi, which was later seen being shoved out of the way along with other abandoned vehicles.
“It was pretty terrifying,” Handler said. “And the smoke was really thick, and there were, like, burning embers on the ground. It was pretty scary.”
Around 30 cars abandoned on Sunset Boulevard and Palisades Drive were later cleared by dozers to provide access, the fire department said.
Kelsey Trainor, an attorney who lives in Pacific Palisades, said she fled her neighborhood around 11:30 a.m., only to get stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic on Palisades Drive.
“It was all smoke around us, fire everywhere. People are just honking their horns,” Trainor said. She felt stuck, with flames on both sides of the only road out. “Gridlock — nowhere to go.”
Trainor briefly left her car to offer help and a mask to an elderly woman who was having difficulty breathing. Ash was pelting her face, driven by intense winds, she said.
Trainor said it took more than an hour to get to safety.
“What’s really scary is that it felt really unsafe for people who were doing what they’re supposed to be doing,” Trainor said, noting that she had a stockpile of supplies and a “fire bag” packed and had left before her phone chimed with an emergency alert.
“It felt really helpless,” she said.
The Santa Ana winds fueling the fire that has damaged homes in Pacific Palisades hit the Los Angeles area with gusts of more than 60 mph today, according to the National Weather Service.
Along the Malibu coast, Escondido Canyon recorded a gust of 62 mph at 10 a.m., and Pacific Coast Highway had a 44-mph gust, the agency said in a public information statement.
Magic Mountain, in a different mountain range from Pacific Palisades, had a gust of 86 mph, and other areas of greater Los Angeles had gusts in the 50s and high 40s.
When the brushfire that exploded in the Pacific Palisades was about 10 acres, winds were around 40 mph as firefighters arrived, Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley said.
She said the Santa Ana winds were creating extreme fire conditions. The dangerous high winds are expected to continue overnight and through much of tomorrow, according to the weather service.
As the wildfire rages in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood, President Joe Biden is staying in Century City, which is nearby but not in the immediate fire area.
Smoke from the fire is visible from the hotel where Biden is staying, and it was visible from Air Force One on the tarmac earlier today.
Biden has been briefed on the wildfires, and his team is in contact with state and local officials to offer federal assistance as needed, the White House said this evening. In response to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s request, the Federal Emergency Management Agency approved a grant to support the affected area and reimburse California for firefighting costs, the White House added.
Biden’s event in Thermal was canceled earlier today because of high winds and the fire.
Vice President Kamala Harris’ home in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles is around a couple of miles from the evacuation zone.
The Los Angeles fire chief said officials will look later at whether residents could have been evacuated from the Palisades Fire more efficiently.
Residents in the area were warned to be prepared to leave because of the dangerous Santa Ana wind event, which fueled the fire that broke out today, Fire Chief Kristin Crowley said at a news conference.
“People did evacuate. It was slow to evacuate. What I have been briefed on is that the evacuations were slow, but they did occur,” she said.
“We will follow up on that, if there’s anything better in the future that we can communicate to the constitutions and continue to train to that — because the evacuation order, we can never do it early enough,” she said.
Around 30 cars and other vehicles were abandoned on a roadway in the rush to escape the fire, and they had to be cleared by dozers.
No deaths or injuries from the fire have been reported.
Gov. Gavin Newsom said the state has procured federal money to help fight the growing Palisades Fire.
Newsom expressed satisfaction with the speed of the federal government’s approval, saying there was “no handwringing.”
In a subsequent statement, his office said the Federal Emergency Management Agency approved a Fire Management Assistance Grant that will cover 75% of eligible firefighting costs.
“Californians are urged to remain vigilant and follow the instructions of local authorities during critical fire weather conditions expected in many areas of Santa Barbara, Ventura, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Orange, Riverside, and San Diego counties through Thursday,” the governor’s office said.
Mallory Sobel, who lives in the highlands of Pacific Palisades, said it took her two and a half hours to drive out of the neighborhood, where homes were shadowed by plumes of thick smoke.
“I can feel it in my lungs right now. My throat is sore. My car was full of soot as I was making this slow, slow climb down. I wore a mask because it was that potent,” Sobel said.
She added that she left with just a bag of emergency supplies and her family’s passports.
“Good Samaritans are everywhere on the street, helping people navigate down the hill and helping people with their cars,” she said.
A reporter at the scene of today’s Palisades Fire captured firefighters working to save a resident’s mementos, stacking up photo albums pulled from a home damaged by the blaze.
NBC Los Angeles reporter Karma Dickerson captured the moment with cellphone video posted to Instagram.
“When @losangelesfiredepartment station 37 saw how fast these flames were moving, they realized the house would probably burn and they ran in and grabbed photo albums and keepsakes,” she wrote.
The video shows firefighters piling up photo albums and an entire drawer of keepsakes across the street from the home.
The station is in nearby Westwood.
The Palisades Fire, which erupted from just a few acres at 10:30 a.m. to more than 1,200 acres this afternoon, has damaged multiple homes, Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin M. Crowley said.
The exact number was unavailable. Crowley told reporters that 10,367 homes were threatened by the blaze, which is spreading in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood.
A map showed mandatory evacuations for the entire community, from Interstate 405 to the sea and from its southern boundary with Santa Monica nearly to its northern border with Malibu.
According to the property data firm Attom, the median home price for the neighborhood last year was $3.1 million.
Firefighters are working to douse houses in water as the Palisades Fire continues to grow. NBC News’ Bill Karins details weather conditions while the winds fuel the flames.
More than 10,000 households are threatened by the Palisades Fire, and evacuation orders are in effect for around 30,000 residents, the Los Angeles fire chief said.
The fire, which has grown to more than 1,200 acres, was first reported around 10:30 this morning as a brushfire, and responding firefighters found an approximately 10-acre fire with winds of around 40 mph, Fire Chief Kristin M. Crowley said.
Low humidity, strong winds and topography are “making it extremely challenging” for firefighters, Crowley said.
Several dozen cars were abandoned on Sunset Boulevard after embers picked up and winds created a new fire.
The Palisades Fire had grown to more than 1,200 acres by about 3:30 this afternoon, according to CalFire.
The fire was at 1,262 acres, according to the department’s web page about the fire, which broke out today at 11:04 a.m.
The fire has been fueled by dry conditions and dangerous Santa Ana winds, officials have said.
Video from NBC Los Angeles shows burning and damaged homes.
Evacuating from the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles isn’t as simple as it might seem.
A resident who spoke live on the air to NBC Los Angeles explained how she tried to escape before she retreated to safety as flames raged around her vehicle.
“I did attempt to go down Palisades Drive, but it was like a tornado of fire all around me,” she said. “The firefighters were there telling us to turn around. I sped back up the mountain.”
The Palisades resident took a later opportunity to get out. She described what she saw.
“There were cars parked on the sidewalks,” she said, “like it was an apocalypse.”
Drivers were at a standstill as traffic gridlock plagued Pacific Coast Highway and other roads near a wind-driven wildfire in Pacific Palisades, NBC Los Angeles reported.
The Palisades Fire was reported this morning in the Los Angeles County coastal community near Malibu on a day of strong winds throughout Southern California. Traffic backed up on roads out of the area, including along Palisades Drive, where at least one vehicle caught fire.
It was not clear whether the fire was due to a mechanical problem or the wildfire. Embers scattered by strong winds can start spot fires in previously unburned areas.
There were no immediate reports of injuries. Evacuation orders were in effect for the area.
The American Red Cross for Los Angeles was transitioning an evacuation center in Westwood into an overnight shelter where people can get showers, food and safety through the night as the Palisades Fire burns.
The site had served as an evacuation center for hours today but was transitioned this afternoon, American Red Cross Los Angeles spokesperson Mimi Teller told NBC Los Angeles during live coverage.
The shelter is preparing to welcome people who are distressed after having left their homes because of the fast-moving fire, she said.
It was just last month that another large fire, the Franklin Fire, burned in Malibu and forced evacuations there.
“A lot of people are in shock, and some people are so numb that they just, ‘I barely got out, I barely got my pet,’” Teller said.
People preparing to leave a fire should get their pets in one room so they can easily access them, she said. People with small pets are asked to keep them in a carrier, but details about pets at the shelter are being worked out, she told NBC Los Angeles.
More than 17,000 utility homes and businesses are without power across California as warm, dry winds raced to the coast and fanned the Palisades Fire in Los Angeles today, according to utility tracker PowerOutage.us.
L.A. Mayor Karen Bass’ office said that about 15,000 customers of the city’s power utility were without electricity this afternoon and that 14,400 more have had it restored since the day began.
“Strong winds can knock over trees, or cause branches and palm fronds to strike power lines which could result in power outages,” Bass’ office said in a statement.
“If that occurs,” the mayor’s office continued, “a crew’s first responsibility is to secure the affected area to protect the public from safety hazards posed by downed trees and power lines, followed by the removal of trees entangling LADWP power poles and power lines. Only after this is done can crews begin repair work to restore power.”
Officials said they’ve closed Topanga State Park in the Santa Monica Mountains north of Pacific Palisades.
“State Parks has closed Topanga State Park as the Palisades Fire is currently burning on park property,” California State Parks spokesperson Adeline Yee said by email.
She said it has also closed Will Rogers State Historic Park as a precaution. That property is south of the fire and adjacent to Pacific Palisades’ Riviera neighborhood.
Will Rogers State Beach along the coast is open.
The Los Angeles Unified School District said today that some schools were being relocated because of the Palisades Fire.
Palisades Charter Elementary School, Marquez Charter Elementary School and Paul Revere Charter Middle School were moved to temporary locations, the district said on X.
Pepperdine University, which was threatened by wildfire last month, is not under any threat today, but it is monitoring the situation, it said.
The Palisades Fire is 9 miles east of the campus, it said on X.
Reporting from Los Angeles
Getting out hasn’t been easy for the people trying to flee the Palisades Fire. Gridlock is being reported along the only available thoroughfares.
The exclusive coastal community is boxed in by mountainous state land to the east and Sunset Boulevard, which runs north to south alongside Pacific Coast Highway to the west.
All roads connecting homes in Pacific Palisades and the neighboring Sunset Mesa community, home to the Getty Villa museum, funnel onto Pacific Coast Highway, creating a traffic nightmare on the best of days.
During emergencies, residents have few routes to get out and must contend with firefighters and first responders rushing to the scene.
Etienne Laurent / AP
David Swanson / AFP – Getty Images
Richard Vogel / AP
Etienne Laurent / AP
David Swanson / AFP – Getty Images
David Swanson / AFP – Getty Images
Firefighters work to extinguish flames engulfing homes as people flee the advancing brushfire by car and on foot in Pacific Palisades today.
The Palisades Fire is now more than 770 acres, the Los Angeles Fire Department said in an update this afternoon.
The evacuation zone remains unchanged, it said.
Dozers will clear about 30 vehicles that had been abandoned on Sunset and Palisades to improve access, the fire department said.
The White House said today President Joe Biden’s scheduled trip to the Coachella Valley desert to dedicate the Chuckwalla and Sáttítla Highlands national monuments has been postponed amid Southern California’s windstorm.
“Today’s event will be rescheduled for next week at the White House so that key stakeholders can attend,” it said in a statement.
Remarks prepared for today’s event will be delivered in Los Angeles, where Biden, who arrived yesterday, was staying.
The National Weather Service recorded winds of nearly 50 mph in the valley today and said dust storms were possible as temperatures were likely to reach 72 in Thermal, where Biden had been scheduled to arrive.
Biden’s proclamations on the monuments will protect 848,000 acres of lands of scientific, cultural, ecological and historical importance, the White House said.
Emmy-winning actor James Wood posted a video on X appearing to show flames approaching his home in Pacific Palisades.
The National Weather Service, which already today recorded wind gusts of 50 to 80 mph, expects the danger to grow overnight, with gusts up to 100 mph in the windiest spots.
“It looks like the winds will increase a little in strength later today and tonight,” Rich Thompson, a weather service meteorologist based in Oxnard, said.
Winter wildfires in California are often driven by the Santa Ana winds, which sweep down mountain slopes to bring hot, dry air to coastal areas. The winds typically lower humidity levels and can rapidly push any fires that start, particularly when the landscape is dry.
The Palisades Fire has put structures — mostly homes — “under immediate threat” and mandatory evacuations have been ordered, the Los Angeles Fire Department said in an afternoon update.
The blaze — centered on Piedra Morada Drive in the Pacific Palisades hills, above Pacific Coast Highway — is estimated to have spread across 300 acres, Los Angeles fire officials said.
The evacuation zone includes the area from Merrimac Road west to Topanga Canyon Boulevard and south to Pacific Coast Highway. An evacuation center has been set up at the Westwood Recreation Center in West L.A.
The fire burning in the Pacific Palisades Highlands community has grown to about 200 acres, according to Erik Scott, a Los Angeles fire captain and public information officer.
Several communities were ordered to evacuate, and homes were under “immediate threat,” the fire department said in a news release.
The blaze threatens several additional communities that dot the canyons west of Pacific Palisades, including those in Rustic Canyon and Topanga Canyon.
Ahead of the blazes, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said he was putting state resources in position.
Yesterday he said he planned to mobilize state resources to tackle the storm, including assigning 65 fire engines, seven water tenders, seven helicopters and 109 specialized workers.
“We are no strangers to winter-time wildfire threats, so I ask all Californians to pay attention to local authorities and be prepared to evacuate if told to go,” Newsom said in a statement.
The National Weather Service said red flag warnings, which alert people to winds greater than 20 mph and relative humidity of less than 25%, cover 19 million people.
They signal “extreme fire danger,” the weather service said.
The warnings started at noon and extend until 4 p.m. tomorrow for the bulk of those covered, including all 10 million residents of Los Angeles County and most in Ventura County to its north.
They also cover the 3.3 million people in San Diego County, which abuts the Mexico border, as well as millions in the Inland Empire, which extends nearly to Las Vegas, and those in inland Orange County between San Diego and L.A.
The weather service in San Diego said mountainous terrain is particularly vulnerable to the dry warm winds that are traveling from the northeast toward the ocean.
“Any new fire ignition in these areas will likely have very dangerous wildfire spread and behavior with great difficulty in containment that could impact life and property,” the office said in an urgent fire weather message this afternoon.
