(Bloomberg) -- A fast-moving wildfire ripped through an affluent area of Los Angeles, destroying homes and forcing thousands of people to evacuate as firefighters warned that conditions would worsen overnight.
About 30,000 people were ordered to leave their homes on Tuesday after a brush fire erupted in the Pacific Palisades community, causing panic and traffic gridlock, with some abandoning their cars on narrow hillside roads. Mandatory evacuation orders have been expanded in parts of northern Santa Monica.
The blaze was at almost 3,000 acres, while a separate fire near Altadena has flared and rapidly expanded to 400 acres. Both are uncontained.
California Governor Gavin Newsom said “many structures” had been destroyed by the flames. “By no stretch of the imagination are we out of the woods,” he said on Tuesday, adding that firefighters were anticipating other blazes to erupt throughout the region that was being raked by severe winds.
The US National Weather Service has issued red flag warnings that extend from central California’s coast to the US-Mexico border. Beverly Hills, Hollywood Hills, Malibu and the densely-populated San Fernando Valley are facing a “particularly dangerous situation” — the most severe fire alert level.
Widespread and damaging gales are expected to worsen overnight, with isolated wind gusts in mountains and foothills reaching as strong as 100 miles per hour (161 kilometers), according to the National Weather Service.
The blaze reached and jumped the Pacific Coast Highway at Will Rogers State Beach, according to KABC Channel 7 Eyewitness News. The Los Angeles Fire Department on Tuesday evening expanded the mandatory evacuation zone in the Pacific Palisades, noting that the situation remains “extremely dynamic.”
As of 8:30 p.m., residents throughout Santa Monica were protectively evacuating their homes in search of safer areas within the city. Local television broadcast scenes of flames engulfing parts of the Palisades Charter High School campus. The Los Angeles Fire Department issued an urgent call through local news, requesting off-duty firefighters to report for reinforcement.
Winds are expected to peak Tuesday through early Wednesday afternoon, with the strongest gusts expected to scour the San Fernando Valley and the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. Weather forecasters have told residents to expect downed trees and power lines, as well as widespread power outages.
The blaze erupted as Southern California braced for what forecasters called a “life-threatening and destructive” Santa Ana wind storm that could last for days. The region has received almost no rain for months, leaving grass and brush primed to burn.
During the day on Tuesday, Los Angeles residents found themselves witnessing scenes that were befitting of a disaster film.
Longtime Venice resident Mike Kerns, 62, was walking out of a doctor’s appointment in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood at 11 a.m. and noticed a plume of smoke coming from the mountain above. About 10 minutes later, he looked back at the plume and saw the whole mountain below it engulfed.
“It was like a movie,” Kerns said. “Like the end of the world.”
The fire threatened the Getty Villa, a museum with a collection of Greek and Roman antiquities. “Some trees and vegetation on site have burned, but staff and the collection remain safe,” Katherine E. Fleming, president and CEO of the J. Paul Getty Trust, said in a statement.
Evacuation orders were issued earlier Tuesday for east Malibu and the entire Pacific Palisades neighborhood — where the median home sells for $3.4 million, according to Zillow.
More than 13,000 structures are under threat, Kristin Crowley, the chief of the Los Angeles Fire Department, said at a press conference on Tuesday afternoon. No injuries have been reported.
Edison International’s Southern California utility — the largest in the region — shut off electricity to about 34,150 homes and businesses in an effort to prevent wildfires. The company said it may need to cut power to an additional 421,000 customers if Santa Ana winds become exceptionally strong.
The municipal electric utility, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, said around 28,000 customers are without power as of 5 p.m. local time.
The winds are expected to weaken somewhat starting Wednesday afternoon, but may not die down completely until Saturday at the earliest, according to the weather service.
In a statement issued Tuesday evening, President Joe Biden said he was being frequently briefed on the wildfires and urged residents to stay vigilant and listen to local officials. The US Federal Emergency Management Agency has also authorized the us of funds to assist in combating the Palisades Fire.
“Hell of a way to start the New Year,” Governor Newsom said at the Tuesday afternoon press conference. “There is no fire season, it’s a fire year,” he added.
--With assistance from Sarah McGregor, Yasufumi Saito, Skylar Woodhouse, Michelle Ma, Mary Hui, Derek Wallbank and Janine Phakdeetham.