30,000 people were evacuated Tuesday as a wildfire burned across an upscale neighbourhood of Los Angeles, destroying homes and causing traffic jams as massive smoke plumes engulfed much of the metropolitan area.
Officials said that at least 1,262 acres (510 hectares) of the Pacific Palisades region between Santa Monica and Malibu had burnt after warning of severe fire danger due to strong winds that arrived after prolonged dry weather.
In just a few hours, the fire spread quickly as authorities warned that the worst wind conditions would arrive overnight, raising fears that additional areas could have to evacuate.
Flying embers set alight a palm tree at the intersection of Sunset Boulevard and Pacific Coast Highway.
Witnesses reported a number 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 aircraft 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.
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.
Almost 100 residents from a nursing home in Pasadena were evacuated, according to reports.
Fire officials said a third blaze named the Hurst Fire had started in Sylmar, in the San Fernando Valley northwest of Los Angeles, prompting evacuations of some nearby residents.
More than 220,000 homes and businesses in Los Angeles county were without power late on Tuesday, data from PowerOutage.us showed.
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.
Local media reported the fire had also spread north, torching homes near Malibu. Parts of Malibu and Santa Monica are under evacuation orders.
Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley had earlier told a press conference that more than 25,000 people in 10,000 homes were threatened.
Firefighting aircraft scooped water from the sea to drop it on the flames as they engulfed homes. Bulldozers cleared abandoned vehicles from roads so emergency vehicles could pass, television images showed.
Before the fire started, the National Weather Service had issued its highest alert for extreme fire conditions for much of Los Angeles County from Tuesday through Thursday.
Governor Newsom said the state had positioned personnel, fire trucks and aircraft elsewhere in Southern California because of the fire danger to the wider region.
The powerful winds changed President Joe Biden’s travel plans, grounding Air Force One in Los Angeles. He had planned to make a short flight inland to the Coachella Valley for a ceremony to create two new national monuments in California.
A federal grant had already been approved to help reimburse the state of California for its fire response, Biden said.
