The size of the fire grew sixfold in a matter of hours.
Near the intersection of Sunset Boulevard and Pacific Coast Highway, two hybrid vehicles burnt while firefighters battled a large blaze just up the hill and others barricaded their station by parking firetrucks out front.
Nearly 26,000 people in more than 10,000 households and more than 13,000 structures were under threat from the blaze, said Kristin Crowley, fire chief of the LA Fire Department. California Governor Gavin Newsom said many structures have already been destroyed, though officials did not give an exact number.
Newsom warned residents across southern California not to assume they were out of danger.
Forecasters warned the worst might be yet to come with the windstorm predicted to last for days, producing isolated gusts that could top 160km/h in the mountains and foothills.
Already the winds have toppled trees, creating dangerous surf and bringing extreme wildfire risk to areas that haven’t seen substantial rain in months.
Witnesses reported a number of homes on fire with flames nearly scorching their cars when people fled the hills of Topanga Canyon, as the fire spread from there down to the Pacific Ocean.
Firefighters in planes scooped water from the sea to drop it on the nearby flames. Flames engulfed homes and bulldozers cleared abandoned vehicles from roads so emergency vehicles could pass, television images showed.
The Palisades Fire swiftly consumed more than 80 hectares of dry brush and sent up a huge plume of smoke visible across the city. Residents in Venice Beach, about 10 kilometres away, reported seeing the flames.
Woods earlier posted footage of flames burning through bushes and past palm trees on a hill near his Pacific Palisades home. The towering orange flames billowed among the landscaped gardens between the large homes on the steep hillside.
“Standing in my driveway, getting ready to evacuate,” Woods said in the short video on X.
With only one major road leading from the canyon to the coast, and only one coastal highway leading to safety, traffic crawled to a halt, leading people to flee on foot.
One man said he was attempting to retrieve items from his home when he was stopped by firefighters and flaming debris landed in the road.
“So it seemed to me, let’s get out of here. Whatever I lose, I lose. There’s nothing I can do about it,” said the man who identified himself only as Peter.
Firefighters protect structures from the advancing Palisades Fire.Credit: AP
The erratic weather caused President Joe Biden to cancel plans to travel to inland Riverside County, California, where he was to announce the establishment of two new national monuments in the state. Biden will deliver his remarks in Los Angeles instead.
The National Weather Service said what could be the strongest Santa Ana windstorm in more than a decade began on Tuesday across Los Angeles and Ventura counties and was forecast to peak in the early hours of Wednesday (US time) when gusts could reach 129km/h.
The weather service warned of possible downed power lines and knocked-over big rigs, trailers, and motorhomes. Strong offshore gusts will also bring dangerous conditions off the coasts of Orange and Los Angeles counties, including Catalina Island, and potential delays and turbulence could arise at local airports.
The Los Angeles Unified School District said it was temporarily relocating students from three campuses in the Pacific Palisades area due to the fire.
Utilities said they were considering preemptively cutting power to about a half-million customers across eight counties. In recent years, California utilities have routinely de-energised electrical lines as a precaution against weather conditions that might damage equipment and spark a fire.
The winds will act as an “atmospheric blow-dryer” for vegetation, bringing a long period of fire risk that could extend into the more populated lower hills and valleys, according to Daniel Swain, a climate scientist with the University of California, Los Angeles and the National Centre for Atmospheric Research.
“We really haven’t seen a season as dry as this one follow a season as wet as the previous one,” Swain said during a Monday livestream. “All of that extra abundant growth of grass and vegetation followed immediately by a wind event of this magnitude while it’s still so incredibly dry,” elevates the risk.
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 centimetre of rain since early May. Much of the region has fallen into moderate drought conditions, according to the US Drought Monitor. Meanwhile, up north, there have been multiple drenching storms.
Areas where gusts could create extreme fire conditions include the charred footprint of last month’s wind-driven Franklin Fire, which damaged or destroyed 48 structures, mostly homes, in and around Malibu.
The blaze was one of nearly 8000 wildfires that added up to scorch more than 4040 square kilometres in the Golden State last year.
The last wind event of this magnitude occurred in November 2011, during which more than 400,000 customers lost power across LA County, the Los Angeles Times reported.
“The grid is built to withstand strong winds,” said Jeff Monford, a spokesperson for the utility. “The issue here is the possibility of debris becoming airborne and hitting wires … or a tree coming down.”
AP, Reuters
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