Pacific Palisades fire burns homes to ground as Los Angeles officials give dire warning: Live updates

The National Weather Service has warned residents to expect more carnage tonight with wind gusts reaching 60 mph.

‘This will likely be the most destructive windstorm seen since 2011 windstorm that did extensive damage to Pasadena and nearby foothills of the San Gabriel Valley,’ the NWS said.

‘Any communities along Highway 118 and 210 corridors will be at highest risk for comparable wind damage.’

The winds forecast for tonight will only fan the flames of the wildfire, but also risks bringing down trees and power lines, or creating further infernos.

L.A. City Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson declared a state of emergency on Tuesday afternoon amid raging wildfires.

He warned the worst is yet to come as he urged residents to stay off the roads if it is at all possible, to give emergency responders the best chance at fighting the inferno.

Los Angeles County Fire Chief Marrone also had a stern warning for residents on Tuesday night, telling them: ‘we are not out of danger.’.

‘The National Weather Service has predicted that the winds are going to pick up and get worse,’ Marrone said.

‘We’re going to have the most significant wind event between 10 p.m. [PST] this evening and 5 a.m. tomorrow morning.’

At least 550 homes in a hard-to-reach location are now at direct risk from the Eaton Canyon fire burning above Pasadena.

It will be even harder for firefighters to contain this blaze now that aircraft is grounded.

Aircraft helping to fight the fires from the skies have been grounded as wind conditions worsen and visibility deteriorates.

According to scanners in the area, those on the ground battling the intense blaze are starting to experience shortages in their supplies, particularly water.

A new brush fire has erupted near Pasadena, diverting resources and forcing first responders to fight the inferno on two fronts.

The new blaze is also fast moving and being spurred by winds. It erupted just over an hour ago and is already occupying 400 acres of land.

President Joe Biden revealed late on Tuesday night he’d been briefed on the fires and was in touch with both state and local officials.

‘I have offered any federal assistance that is needed to help suppress the terrible Pacific Palisades fire,’ he wrote on X.

‘Earlier tonight, FEMA approved a Fire Management Assistance Grant to support areas that are impacted and help reimburse the state of California for the immediate firefighting costs.

‘My Administration will do everything it can to support the response. I urge the residents of the Pacific Palisades and the surrounding areas of Los Angeles to stay vigilant and listen to local officials.’

The Los Angeles Fire Department is so low on resources, it is asking any firefighter in the area to call a hotline to potentially come in and fight the blaze, reporter Bill Melugin posted.

He noted that he had covered the city for years and had never seen anything like it.

The hotline number is (213) 576 – 8963.

As the wildfire continues to spread, poweroutage.us reports that 90,000 customers are now without power.

The Los Angeles Fire Department has issued an urgent call out to all staff and officers not scheduled to work today and this week to clock in and help out with the blaze.

It comes amid fears the fire will continue to intensify.

The Palisades Fire is now occupying more than 2,900 acres of land across Southern California, the state fire agency said.

When initial reports began filtering through this morning, the fire was barely 200 acres.

Since then, it has been growing at an extraordinary rate, spurred on by winds which are set to continue worsening into the night and Wednesday.

This picture shows the devastation sweeping Pacific Palisades right now, with million-dollar mansions razed to the ground.

Palisades Charter High School, once attended by will.i.am, J.J. Abrams and Katey Segal, is on fire.

The school is also a beloved and familiar set for Hollywood movies and television series, including Carrie, Freaky Friday, Project X and long-running high school series, Teen Wolf.

The fire has reached the base of the Getty Museum, prompting fears for the trove of artwork stored on premises.

An LAPD source said the grounds were “catching on fire” shortly before 5pm.

Spokespeople for Getty Museum have previously discussed their extensive fire safety plans, including fire retardant landscaping, automatically activated sprinklers and materials which are designed to withstand fire.

Maintenance workers often clear brush around the property to eliminate fuel for any fires, and the rooftops are made of crushed stone, to avoid any ember ignitions.

A spokesperson from Getty has since clarified the art and the building is safe.

‘Fortunately, Getty had made extensive efforts to clear brush from the surrounding area as part of its fire mitigation efforts throughout the year. Some trees and vegetation on site have burned, but no structures are on fire, and staff and the collection remain safe.’

‘Museum galleries and library archives were sealed off from smoke by state-of-the-art air handling systems. The double-walled construction of the galleries also provides significant protection for the collections.’

Governor Newsome told reporters on Tuesday it took no more than a text message to secure federal funding from President Joe Biden for this disaster.

‘No politics, no handwringing, no kissing of the feet.’

He issued a direct plea to the Trump administration to take a similar approach.

‘My message to the incoming administration, and I’m not here to play any politics, is please don’t play any politics,’ Newsom said.

CBC journalist Jonathan Vigliotti said ‘easily dozens of homes in this neighborhood on Las Lomas Ave are gone.’

Across the entire neighborhood firefighters are battling infernos and trying to save homes.

One resident and her daughter were lucky to drive out with the clothes on their backs and their two small dogs.

‘People are parking their cars on the side of the road, getting out and running for their lives!’ the woman told DailyMail.com. ‘People are literally running down the sidewalks pulling kids by their hands and carrying Louis Vuitton luggage.

‘One guy was running with two Gucci suitcases and a house plant. It is like something out of a disaster movie.’

North of Pacific Palisades in the Santa Monica Mountains, the fire has now breached Topanga State Park and is burning through the area.

“State Parks has closed Topanga State Park as the Palisades Fire is currently burning on park property,” California State Parks spokesperson Adeline Yee said.

A resident told NBC news she was turned around by firefighters when she tried to escape her home in the hills due to the fire.

‘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.’

‘There were cars parked on the sidewalks like it was an apocalypse.’

The fire has once again expanded, with authorities now revealing it is more than 1,200 acres in size.

He is urging residents to follow orders from local authorities.

As the fire tears through Southern California at a startling rate, meteorologist Judson Jones revealed it’s destroying about ‘three football fields’ of land every sixty seconds.

Pacific Palisades is a known celebrity enclave, home to Miles and Keleigh Teller and Chris Pratt and his wife Katherine Schwarzenegger, among other A-listers.

J-Lo and Ben Affleck used to own a home in the area, as did Matt Damon.

Adam Levine and Behati Prinsloo also lived in the neighborhood until recently.

Officials are bulldozing abandoned cars in Pacific Palisades in an effort to get rescue equipment up to the heart of the blaze.

Panicked residents abandoned their cars in gridlocked traffic on Palisades Drive, making it impossible for first responders to get to the inferno.

Now, extraordinary footage shows those cars being pushed out of the way by a bulldozer.

The City of Los Angeles revealed on Tuesday afternoon that ‘due to fire activity and weather conditions, the following schools are relocating:

Palisades Charter Elementary School and Marquez Charter Elementary School will relocate to Brentwood Elementary Science Magnet at 740 Gretna Green Way, Los Angeles, CA 90049.

Paul Revere Charter Middle School will relocate to University High School Charter at 11800 Texas Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90025.

Topanga Elementary Charter School students reported to Woodland Hills Academy at 20800 Burbank Blvd, Woodland Hills, 91367.

Affected schools are communicating directly with families.’

The fire is now occupying 770 acres, more than doubling in size in just half an hour.

At 2pm local time, it was just 300 acres.

The California Department of Forest and Fire Protection have just warned residents there is an immediate threat to their lives.

In a statement, the department said: ‘Immediate threat to life. This is a lawful order to LEAVE NOW. The area is lawfully closed to public access.’

An evacuation center has been set up at Westwood Recreation Center
at 1350 South Sepulveda Blvd for anybody seeking shelter.

There are reports coming out of Pacific Palisades that residents are finding it difficult to leave due to the amount of abandoned cars on the roads.

Police Academy star Steve Guttenberg said the fire is near his home and that people are abandoning their cars and making it hard for firetruck to make it up the road.

Guttenberg is urging his fellow neighbors to leave their keys in their car if they’re leaving their vehicle behind ‘so guys like me can move your car.’

‘We really need people to move their cars,’ he told KTLA. ‘So if you leave your car on Palisades Drive, leave the key in there.’

James Woods, 77, shared a video on Tuesday afternoon of the blaze near his home as he prepared to evacuate.

‘Standing in my driveway ready to evacuate. We’ve got a lot of planes going over dropping water,’ he said.

In the video, it appeared as though a house further up on the hills had already been engulfed in flames.

‘We were blessed to have LA fire and police depts doing their jobs so well,’ he later said.

‘We are safe and out. There are several elementary schools in our neighborhood and there was an enormous community effort to evacuate the children safely. Can not speak more highly of the LA fire and LAPD.’

Southern California Edison (SCE) shut off power to Cuthbert, Galahad, and parts of Malibu on Tuesday due to ‘dangerous fire weather,’ according to an alert on Tuesday.

The company expected the power to be out for at least eight hours and it could be longer if crews need daylight to visibly inspect power lines and equipment. The inspection is required before SCE will restore power.

Roughly 27,000 homes state-wide are without power, according to poweroutage.us.

According to meteorologist Paul Deano, the wildfire situation in California is ‘near worst case scenario’ for locals.

He said the winds reaching 55mph are pushing the fire further toward neighborhoods – putting more homes and civilian lives at risk.

Los Angeles Fire Station 23 has reportedly caught fire as the Pacific Palisades inferno continues to spread.

The Los Angeles Fire Department has issued a map illustrating the mandatory evacuation zone.

The 1,200-acre bush fire was first reported around 10:30am on Tuesday and authorities have described the flames as a blowtorch.

Authorities issued an ‘immediate’ evacuation order for Pacific Palisades, urging residents to ‘LEAVE NOW.’