‘It’s very aggressive’: Tens of thousands flee as strong winds fuel Los Angeles wildfires


Key Points
  • Wildfires are raging across affluent areas of Los Angeles, destroying homes and creating traffic jams as residents flee.
  • The winds are expected to increase overnight and continue for days, producing isolated gusts that could top 160 km/h.
  • More than 30,000 people are under evacuation orders and at least 13,000 homes are under threat.
Lucy Baldock doesn’t know where she’ll sleep tonight — she’s got her dogs in the car after evacuating her Los Angeles home as two wildfires rage.
She’s lived in California for over 40 years and said she’s never seen fires like this before.

“We’ve experienced fires before but it’s different, it’s very aggressive, I’ve never seen winds like this before, it’s very unusual … Obviously global warming is not a joke.”

Lucy Baldock says huge plumes of smoke from many kilometres away are visible across Los Angeles. Source: Supplied / Lucy Baldock

The rapidly growing wildfire raged across an upscale section of Los Angeles on Tuesday, destroying numerous buildings and creating traffic jams as more than 30,000 people evacuated, while a second blaze doubled in size some 50 km inland.

At least 1,182 hectares of the Pacific Palisades area between the coastal towns of Santa Monica and Malibu had burned by the Palisades Fire, officials said, after they had already warned of extreme fire danger from powerful winds that arrived following extended dry weather.

A fire official told local television station KTLA that several people were injured, some with burns to faces and hands. The official added that one female firefighter had sustained a head injury.

‘People are very nervous’

Baldock told SBS News she feels safe having been able to drive away from the fire, but is very worried about her community.
“It’s a very sad feeling.. all these iconic restaurants and buildings have just burnt to the ground, it’s a very scary feeling around here.
“People are very nervous, everyone’s just focusing on getting safe and the fire department is doing a great job setting up safe spots for people to go, like schools.”
Baldock said she was grateful to have her animals with her, but frightened because people had been told the wind could go in any direction.
She said this year it felt like there was no proper winter in Los Angeles.

“From looking at the footage and the intensity of the heat we’ve had I think it’ll be the worst disaster they’ve had in Los Angeles.”

A helicopter waterbombing a wildfire.

A Los Angeles County firefighting helicopter drops water to battle the Palisades wildfire. Source: AAP

The Eaton Fire

The second blaze dubbed the Eaton Fire broke out some 50 km inland near Pasadena and doubled in size to 162 hectares in a few hours, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
Almost 100 residents from a nursing home in Pasadena were evacuated, according to CBS News. Video showed elderly residents, many in wheelchairs and on gurneys, crowded onto a smokey and windswept parking lot as fire trucks and ambulances attended.

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.

The Palisades Fire

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 spread north, torching homes near Malibu.

Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley had earlier told a press conference that more than 25,000 people in 10,000 homes were threatened.

A woman with her dog in her hand walk down the street

More than 25,000 people in 10,000 homes are threatened — equal to nearly the entire population of the Pacific Palisades. Source: AAP, EPA / Caroline Brehman

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.

The fire singed some trees on the grounds of the Getty Villa, a museum loaded with priceless works of art, but the collection remained safe largely because of preventive efforts to trim brush surrounding the buildings, the museum said.

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.
Cindy Festa, a Pacific Palisades resident, said that as she evacuated out of the canyon, fires were “this close to the cars,” demonstrating with her thumb and forefinger.

“People left their cars on Palisades Drive. Burning up the hillside. The palm trees – everything is going,” Festa said from her car.

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, predicting wind gusts of 80 to 130 kph.
With low humidity and dry vegetation due to a lack of rain, the conditions were “about as bad as it gets in terms of fire weather,” the Los Angeles office of the National Weather Service said on X.

Governor Gavin Newsom, who declared a state of emergency, said the state positioned personnel, firetrucks and aircraft elsewhere in Southern California because of the fire danger to the wider region, he added.

A man wearing goggles and a facemask next to a fire.

Local man Will Adams watched on as flames closed in on his property in the Pacific Palisades neighbourhood of Los Angeles. Source: AP / Ethan Swope

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 but the event was rescheduled for a later date at the White House.

“I have offered any federal assistance that is needed to help suppress the terrible Pacific Palisades fire,” Biden said in a statement. A federal grant had already been approved to help reimburse the state of California for its fire response, Biden said.

“This looks pretty, pretty concerning,” said meteorologist Daniel Swain.
“It’s going to be, I think, a rough night. And what’s going on now is only just the beginning because weather conditions are going to get a lot worse.”
Hollywood events including a red-carpet premiere of Jennifer Lopez’s new film Unstoppable were called off amid the blaze.
Actor James Woods said on X he was able to evacuate but added, “I do not know at this moment if our home is still standing.”
Actor Steve Guttenberg told KTLA television that friends of his were impeded from evacuating because others had abandoned their cars in the road.

“It’s really important for everybody to band together and don’t worry about your personal property. Just get out,” Guttenberg said. “Get your loved ones and get out.”

Trees and homes on fire.

Trees and homes have been engulfed in the Pacific Palisades neighbourhood of Los Angeles. Source: AAP, AP / Etienne Laurent

Incoming president Donald Trump has previously threatened to withhold wildfire aid from Democrat-ruled California.

Wildfires are an expected part of life in the western US and play a vital role in the natural cycle.
But scientists say human-caused climate change is altering weather patterns.
Southern California had two decades of drought followed by two exceptionally wet years, leaving the countryside vulnerable to burning.

With additional reporting by Reuters.



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