More than 30 000 people fled their homes as the fire spread rapidly over a few hours on Tuesday evening, the 7th of January, in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles between the beach cities of Santa Monica and Malibu, burning 1 200 hectares and destroying many buildings in an area where many film and music stars live. Two other fires inland also spread rapidly, officials said, reports Reuters.
On Tuesday evening, as plumes of smoke and flames rose into the sky over Los Angeles, highways were jammed as people fled the flames.
Stay safe LA. To show just how quickly the #PalisadesFire fire is spreading with the assistance from the wind storm here is an updated 6hr Timelapse video taken from the Los Angeles County Fire Department Helibase 69 located in the heart of Topanga currently facing south east pic.twitter.com/7J1RMjJOG8
— aventurine.9dcc.eth (@aventurine_eth) January 8, 2025
By Wednesday morning, the fires were still not contained and Governor Gavin Newsom has declared a state of emergency.
Malibu going up in flames. pic.twitter.com/Ei70EDbQTT
— Patrick Lovell (@PatrickLovell1) January 8, 2025
Horrifying footages of a blazing Los Angeles
A wildfire has engulfed the Pacific Palisades neighborhood in Los Angeles, home to celebrity homes – KTLA
The fire has spread to more than 1,000 acres and hurricane-force winds are making it difficult for firefighters. California… pic.twitter.com/QSDVaGemIo
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) January 8, 2025
A second fire, known as the Eaton fire, broke out about 50 km inland in Altadena, near Pasadena, and grew from 200 acres to 1 000 acres (400 hectares) in a matter of hours, the California Fire Department reported.
Fire officials said a third fire, named the Hurst fire, had started in Sylmar, in the San Fernando Valley northwest of Los Angeles, prompting the evacuation of nearby residents.
Showing the extent of the Pacific Palisade Fire from Los Angeles, California
Wild aerial images and videos pic.twitter.com/whc9XUxSmE
— DontMindMe (@LooneyWiseacre) January 8, 2025
On Tuesday late mire than 220 000 households and businesses in the area were without electricity, according to data from PowerOutage.us.
Firefighting planes drew water from the sea to throw on the flames as they engulfed homes. Television images showed bulldozers clearing abandoned vehicles from roads to allow emergency vehicles to pass.
The fire, which broke out at around 10:30 local time on Tuesday, spread rapidly due to incredibly dry conditions and strong winds.
Santa Ana winds, which fuelled the rapid spread of the fires, reached around 80-100 km/h, and up to 160 km/h in some areas in the mountains.
Before the fires broke out, the National Weather Service had issued the highest alert for extreme fire conditions in a wide area of Los Angeles County from Tuesday to Thursday.
Due to the dry weather, conditions were “as bad as wildfire weather can be,” the service said.
Governor Newsom said the state has deployed personnel, fire trucks and aircraft elsewhere in Southern California as the fire threatens the wider region. On Wednesday morning, he announced that California had received federal grants to fight all three fires.
High winds changed US President Joe Biden’s travel plans, forcing Air Force One to land in Los Angeles. He offered federal assistance to help tackle the fires.