Firefighters scrambled to extinguish a fast-moving wildfire in the Los Angeles foothills filled with celebrity homes, as a potentially “life-threatening and devastating” wind storm hit Southern California on Tuesday, fanning a blaze that could be seen for miles as traffic snarled outside the area as… Residents flee.
Forecasters warned that the worst may be yet to come, with the storm expected to last for several days, bringing wind gusts of up to 100 mph (160 kilometers per hour) into the mountains and hills.
The winds were already toppling trees, creating dangerous waves and bringing the threat of severe wildfires to areas that haven’t seen heavy rain in months.
Fire crews are battling a cluster of small fires in the Los Angeles area, including in the foothills of Pacific Palisades in West Los Angeles, where residents have been ordered to evacuate. The Palisades Fire quickly consumed more than 200 acres (81 hectares) of dry brush and sent a huge plume of smoke that could be seen throughout the city. Residents of Venice Beach, about 6 miles (10 kilometers) away, reported seeing flames.
Actor James Woods posted footage of flames burning among bushes and palm trees on a hill near his home in Pacific Palisades. Towering orange flames rose between the landscaped squares between the large houses on the steep hillside.
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“I’m standing in my driveway, getting ready to evacuate,” Woods said in the short Channel X video.
Actor Steve Guttenberg, who lives in Pacific Palisades, urged people who abandoned their cars to leave their keys behind so he could move their cars out of the way in front of fire engines. He described fires raging through the neighborhood as people tried to evacuate.
“This is not a parking lot,” Guttenberg told KTLA. “I have friends there and they can’t evacuate… I’m walking there as much as I can move cars.”
The volatile weather prompted President Joe Biden to cancel his plans to travel to inland Riverside County, California, where he was scheduled to announce the establishment of two new national monuments in the state. Biden will deliver his remarks in Los Angeles instead.
What could be the strongest Santa Anawind storm in more than a decade began Tuesday across Los Angeles and Ventura counties, and is expected to reach its peak in the early hours of Wednesday, when wind speeds could reach 80 mph, the National Weather Service said. (129 kilometers per hour).
The weather service warned of the possibility of downed power lines and the collapse of large platforms, trailers and mobile homes. Strong sea storms will also bring hazardous conditions off the coast of Orange and Los Angeles counties, including Catalina Island, and potential delays and disruptions may arise at local airports.
The Los Angeles Unified School District said it was temporarily moving students from three campuses in the Pacific Palisades area due to the fire.
The utility said it was considering proactively shutting off power starting Tuesday to about half a million customers in eight counties. In recent years, California utilities have routinely de-energized electrical lines as a precaution against weather conditions that could damage equipment and start a fire.
The winds will act as an “atmospheric vegetation dryer,” creating an extended period of fire danger that could extend into the more populated lowlands and valleys, according to Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles. And the National Center for Atmospheric Research.
“We’ve never really had a dry season like this one following a wet season like the previous one,” Swain said during a live broadcast on Monday. “All this abundant growth of grass and plants immediately followed by wind gusts of this magnitude while it is still very dry” increases the risk.
Recent dry winds, including the notorious Santa Anse, have contributed to above-average temperatures in Southern California, where there has been little rain so far this season.
Southern California has not seen more than 0.1 inch (0.25 cm) of rain since early May. Much of the region has fallen into moderate drought conditions, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. Meanwhile, in the north, there were multiple heavy storms.
Areas where storms could produce severe fire conditions include the charred footprint of the wind-swept Franklin Fire last month, which damaged or destroyed 48 structures, mostly homes, in and around Malibu.
The fire was one of about 8,000 wildfires that burned more than 1,560 square miles (more than 4,040 square kilometers) in the Golden State last year.
The last wind event of this magnitude occurred in November 2011, when more than 400,000 customers lost power across Los Angeles County, the Los Angeles Times reported.
“The grid is built to withstand strong winds,” said Jeff Munford, a company spokesman. “The problem here is that debris can travel through the air and hit wires…or a falling tree.”
—Associated Press writer Jamie Ding in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
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