Fueled by strong Santa Ana winds gusting to 80 miles per hour, low humidity and ongoing drought conditions, wildfires erupted Tuesday in Southern California, threatening homes in Pacific Palisades.
The Palisades Fire sprang to life Tuesday morning in the hills north of Malibu, leading officials to issue evacuation orders for thousands of residents.
“In preparation for high winds, LAFD pre-deployed strike teams in and near areas prone to wildfire,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said in a message posted to social media. “Firefighters are now actively and aggressively responding to the #PalisadesFire with support from regional partners. Angelenos in the area are urged to heed evacuation warnings.”
The National Weather Service has upgraded the wildfire risk to much of the Los Angeles area to “extremely critical,” the most serious designation, through Wednesday morning.
Here are the latest developments.
At a Tuesday afternoon press conference, Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Kristin Crowley said that roughly 30,000 people were under evacuation orders due to the Palisades Fire.
The fire poses a threat to approximately 10,000 homes and another 13,000 structures, Crowley said.
At a Tuesday afternoon news conference in Pacific Palisades, Gov. Gavin Newsom made clear that the dangers posed by the Palisades Fire and ongoing Santa Ana winds would continue through the night.
“We’re not out of the woods by any stretch of the imagination,” Newsom said. “You may feel at home that you’re fine in Riverside County, San Bernardino County, Ventura County, other parts of the state, but there’s a reason we prepositioned hundreds of assets and personnel on Sunday in anticipation of this wind event.”
Los Angeles County Fire Chief Marrone also stressed that the worst might not be over.
“I want to let all of the viewers and listeners know that we are not out of danger. The National Weather Service has predicted that the winds are going to pick up and get worse,” Marrone said. “We’re going to have the most significant wind event between 10 p.m. [PST] this evening and 5 a.m. tomorrow morning.”
Red flag conditions are due to various factors, including low humidity and high winds. Those conditions were in evidence Tuesday, made worse by an ongoing drought that has dried out vegetation.
“At the time of the fire, the relative humidity was 12 and the winds were approximately 25 miles per hour with gusts of up to 50 miles per hour,” Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Kristin Crowley said.
The Palisades Fire continues to grow. As of 3:30 p.m. PT, the wildfire had burned 1,262 acres, Cal Fire said on its website.
Thanks to persistent Santa Ana wind gusts, some measuring over 80 miles per hour, the fire has grown steadily since it began Tuesday morning. Early Tuesday afternoon, the fire had burned 200 acres; a little after 2 p.m. PT, it had grown to 772 acres, Cal Fire said.
Gov. Gavin Newsom tours Pacific Palisades, asks residents to ‘heed evacuation orders’
California Gov. Gavin Newsom shared footage on social media from Pacific Palisades, where thousands of residents were ordered Tuesday to evacuate from the Palisades Fire.
In a follow-up post, Newsom reminded Californians to “heed evacuation orders” and shared a website that provided evacuation information. It contained the following guidance:
- Sign up for free emergency alerts.
- Make plans in case of potential power outages. When it comes to evacuations, it’s recommended to make sure roads aren’t closed and that family members know where to go. It’s also important to have a go bag with necessities — money, important documents and medicines — packed.
- Understand that an “evacuation warning” means you should prepare to leave. An “evacuation order” means you should leave immediately.
This is the 2nd major fire in Los Angeles in a month
The Palisades Fire is the second major fire to hit the Los Angeles area in a month.Starting on Dec. 9, the Franklin Fire, which burned over 4,000 acres in just 48 hours, forced thousands of people to be evacuated from the Malibu area, even shutting down parts of the Pacific Coast Highway and destroying several homes and buildings.
The Santa Ana winds at the time, which went up to 50 mph, made it harder for firefighters to keep the fire under control. Wind gusts Tuesday have been measured near 80 mph and could top 100 mph overnight.
L.A. firefighters use bulldozer to clear abandoned cars left by fire evacuees
In one of several surreal scenes Tuesday, Los Angeles firefighters were forced to clear dozens of abandoned cars at the intersection of Palisades
The cars were blocking the roadway following a chaotic evacuation ordered in response to the Palisades Fire. Residents caught in an intense traffic jam Tuesday morning ditched their vehicles and fled on foot, KTLA reported.
That led actor Steve Guttenberg, who lives in the area, to issue a plea for people tempted to do the same to leave their keys inside their cars so that they could be moved.
The bulldozer that was used to push Teslas and Mercedes Benzes aside did some serious damage to the vehicles.
The Palisades Fire has grown to roughly 772 acres, Cal Fire said on its website.
In the early afternoon on Tuesday, the size of the fire was reported to be 200 acres, but persistent Santa Ana winds have caused it to grow significantly.
The worst winds, which could include gusts of over 100 miles per hour, are expected to arrive after midnight early Wednesday morning.
Evacuation orders for the Palisades Fire were extended to the border with Santa Monica on Tuesday. With smoke from the fire in the Santa Monica Mountains forcing residents of Pacific Palisades to evacuate, residents of towns at lower elevations, including Santa Monica, have been keeping a wary eye on its progress.
Meteorologist predicts these are likely the strongest Santa Ana winds in the last few years
Jonathan Erdman, the senior meteorologist for Weather.com, predicted Tuesday that the Santa Ana winds fueling the Palisades Fire are “likely to be the strongest” for this year’s season “and, possibly, in the last few years.”
The strongest Sata Ana winds on record were in December 2011, when the San Gabriel Valley was hit with winds at 97 mph and gusts up to 167 mph. Hundreds of trees were knocked down and power was out for days in the aftermath of the storm.
The most dangerous hours for Santa Ana winds are overnight, usually between 10 p.m. and 10 a.m.
“These strong winds will last through Wednesday afternoon or evening,” Erdman added.
Buildings in flames as Palisades Fire advances
As Santa Ana wind gusts continue to spread the Palisades Fire, flames began to reach homes and buildings in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, KTLA reported.
Multiple buildings appeared to be on fire, including a senior living facility with more than 200 residents.
Mandatory evacuations of the area have been ordered, and residents are contending with traffic jams as they seek safety.
Credit: YahooNews
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