By JAIMIE DING, CHRISTOPHER WEBER and JULIE WATSON
LOS ANGELES (AP) — California firefighters battled wind-swept wildfires that swept through the Los Angeles area, destroying homes, clogging roads as tens of hundreds fled and straining resources as officials braced for the situation to worsen overnight would.
Flames from a hearth that broke out Tuesday evening near a nature preserve within the inland foothills northeast of the town spread so quickly that staff at a senior living center needed to push dozens of residents in wheelchairs and hospital beds down the road right into a car parking zone. Residents waited there of their bedding because the embers fell around them until ambulances, buses and even construction trucks arrived to take them to safety.
Another fire that broke out hours earlier devastated the town Pacific Palisades Neighborhood, a hilly area along the coast dotted with residences of famous people. In a frantic rush to achieve safety, the roads became impassable as dozens of individuals abandoned their vehicles and fled on foot, some with suitcases in tow. Traffic jams on Palisades Drive prevented emergency vehicles from getting through, and a bulldozer was used to push the abandoned cars out of the way in which and create a path.
The rapidly spreading fire prompted the Los Angeles Fire Department to take the rare step of asking off-duty firefighters for help. It was too windy for firefighting planes to fly, which made the fight even tougher.
Flames were pushed past Santa Ana In some places wind speeds exceeded 60 mph (97 km/h). Winds were expected to extend overnight, producing isolated gusts of as much as 100 mph (160 km/h) in mountains and foothills – including areas which have not seen significant rain in months.
Officials didn’t provide an estimate of the variety of buildings damaged or destroyed Pacific Palisades They said about 30,000 residents were under evacuation orders and greater than 13,000 buildings were in danger. Gov. Gavin Newsom visited the scene and said many homes burned.
By evening, the flames had spread to neighboring Malibu and several other people were being treated there for burn injuries. One firefighter suffered a serious head injury and was taken to a hospital, in accordance with Los Angeles Fire Department Capt. Erik Scott.
The situation was expected to worsen overnight.
“We are by no means out of the woods,” Newsom warned residents, saying the worst winds were expected between 10 p.m. Tuesday and 5 a.m. Wednesday. He declared a state of emergency.
The fires burned about 40 kilometers apart and it was not known what began them.
Nearly 167,000 people in Los Angeles County were without power Tuesday evening attributable to strong winds, in accordance with tracking website PowerOutage.us.
Recent dry winds, including the infamous Santa Anashave contributed to above-average temperatures in Southern California, which has seen little or no rain to this point this season. Southern California hasn't received greater than an inch of rain since early May.
The Pacific Palisades fire broke out around 10:30 a.m. and quickly consumed about 11.6 square kilometers of land within the West Los Angeles neighborhood and sent up a dramatic plume of smoke that was visible across the town.
Sections of Interstate 10 and the scenic Pacific Coast Highway were closed to all non-essential traffic to help evacuation efforts. But other roads were also closed. Some residents jumped out of their vehicles to get out of danger and waited to be picked up.
Resident Kelsey Trainor said the one road leading out and in of her neighborhood was completely blocked. Ash fell throughout them while fires burned on either side of the road.
“We looked over and the fire had jumped from one side of the street to the other,” Trainor said. “People were getting out of their cars with their dogs, babies and bags, crying and screaming. The road was just blocked, like it was completely closed for an hour.”
Bordering Malibu about 20 miles (32 kilometers) west of downtown LA, the Pacific Palisades neighborhood encompasses mountain streets with densely packed homes along winding roads that hug the Santa Monica Mountains and stretch to the beaches of the Pacific Ocean .
Longtime Palisades resident Will Adams said he immediately drove to choose up his two children from St. Matthews Parish School when he heard the hearth was nearby. Meanwhile, embers flew into his wife's automobile as she tried to evacuate, he said.
“She left her car and left it running,” Adams said. They and lots of other residents went right down to the ocean until it was protected.
Adams said he has never experienced anything like this within the 56 years he has lived there. He watched the sky turn brown after which black as houses began to burn. He could hear loud bangs and bangs “like little explosions” that he believed were the transformers exploding.
“It’s crazy, it’s everywhere, in every nook and cranny of the Palisades. One house is safe, the other is on fire,” Adams said.
Actor James Woods released footage of flames burning through bushes and past palm trees on a hill near his home. The towering orange flames billowed between landscaped yards between houses.
“I'm standing in my driveway preparing to evacuate,” Woods said within the short video on X.
The unpredictable weather caused Biden to cancel plans for a visit inland to Riverside County, where he was scheduled to announce the formation of two latest national monuments within the state. He stayed in Los Angeles, where smoke might be seen from his hotel, and was briefed on the wildfires. The Federal Emergency Management Agency approved a grant to reimburse California for firefighting costs.
Some trees and vegetation on the grounds of the Getty Villa burned down late Tuesday, but staff and the museum collection remain protected, Getty President Katherine Fleming said in an announcement. Located on the eastern end of the Pacific Palisades, the museum is a separate campus from the world-famous Getty Museum, which focuses on the art and culture of ancient Greece and Rome. The fire also burned classrooms at Palisades Charter High School.
Movie studios canceled two film premieres attributable to the hearth and windy weather, and the Los Angeles Unified School District said it had temporarily relocated students from three campuses within the Pacific Palisades area.
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Watson reported from San Diego. Associated Press writers Janie Har in San Francisco, Hallie Golden in Seattle and video journalist Eugene Garcia in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
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