LOS ANGELES, United States: Tens of thousands of people fled their homes near Los Angeles on Wednesday as three out-of-control wildfires fuelled by hurricane-force winds tore through the city’s suburbs, destroying dozens of houses.
Thousands of firefighters were battling at least three separate blazes in the metropolitan area, from the Pacific Coast inland to Pasadena, home of the famed Rose Parade.
The Los Angeles Fire Department put out a plea for off-duty firefighters to help, and weather conditions were too windy for firefighting aircraft to fly, further hampering the fight.
At least one firefighter was injured battling a blaze near the upmarket Pacific Palisades neighbourhood, US media said, with reports of several other people having suffered burns.
Vicious gusts fanned the flames, whipping red-hot embers hundreds of metres (yards), sparking new spot fires faster than helpless firefighters could quell them.
As dawn broke, a vast pall of smoke was visible over Los Angeles, with the acrid tang of burning in the air.
City mayor Karen Bass warned that the “windstorm is expected to worsen through the morning” in a post on X early Wednesday.
Some firefighters were facing water shortages at hydrants in the Palisades, the Los Angeles Times reported, in a fire that has so far consumed almost 3,000 acres (1,200 hectares).
At the 2,200-acre Eaton fire around Altadena, north of Los Angeles, an AFP journalist saw emergency workers rushing elderly patients in wheelchairs out of their care facility.
A third fire was burning around Santa Clarita.
The blaze at Pacific Palisades has already claimed dozens of homes in one of California’s most desirable spots, where Hollywood celebrities are among those who live in multi-million dollar houses.
Emmy-award-winning actor James Woods posted a video showing flames engulfing trees and bushes near his home as he got ready to evacuate, and said all the fire alarms were going off.
“I couldn’t believe our lovely little home in the hills held on this long. It feels like losing a loved one,” Woods said.
Events throughout the area were cancelled, including a Tuesday evening red-carpet premiere of Jennifer Lopez’s new film “Unstoppable,” while the Screen Actors Guild Award said Wednesday’s in-person nominations ceremony would be replaced with a press release.
A traffic jam on Palisades Drive prevented emergency vehicles from getting through, and a bulldozer was brought in to push the abandoned cars to the side and create a path. Video along the Pacific Coast Highway showed widespread destruction of homes and businesses along the famed roadway.
President Joe Biden said late Tuesday that he was “being frequently briefed on the wildfires” and had offered federal aid if needed.
Ran to the car
The first wildfire erupted on Tuesday morning and swelled quickly, taking many residents by surprise.
Pacific Palisades resident Andrew Hires told AFP he got a text alerting him to the fire as his child was at the dentist about to have a tooth extracted.
“We pulled off the mask and ran to the car,” he said.
Trees and vegetation around the Getty Villa were burned, but the structure and collections were spared, the museum said.
The Getty, set up by US oil billionaire and collector J. Paul Getty and one of the world’s richest art museums, houses Greek and Roman antiquities in a replica Roman country home.
The fire came as the area was being hit by seasonal Santa Ana winds that forecasters said could develop into the worst windstorm in a decade, with gusts of up to 100 miles (160 kilometres) an hour.
“This looks pretty concerning,” said meteorologist Daniel Swain.
Wildfires are part of life in the US West and play a vital role in nature.
But scientists say human-caused climate change is altering weather patterns.
Southern California had two decades of drought that were followed by two exceptionally wet years, which sparked furious vegetative growth — leaving the region packed with fuel and primed to burn.
California’s wildfire season typically begins in June or July and runs through October, according to the Western Fire Chiefs Association, but January wildfires are not unprecedented. There was one in 2022 and 10 in 2021, according to CalFire.
Rains that usually end fire season are often delayed, meaning fires can burn through the winter months, the association said.
Fires cause massive destruction
Officials did not give an estimate of structures damaged or destroyed in the Pacific Palisades wildfire, but they said about 30,000 residents were under evacuation orders and more than 13,000 structures were under threat.
The fire burned down Temescal Canyon, a popular hiking area surrounded by dense neighbourhoods of multimillion-dollar homes.
Flames jumped the famous Sunset Boulevard and burned parts of the Palisades Charter High School, which has been featured in many Hollywood productions, including the 1976 horror movie “Carrie,” the 2003 remake of “Freaky Friday” and the TV series “Teen Wolf.”
Several people in Malibu were treated for burns, and a firefighter had a serious head injury, according to Los Angeles Fire Department Capt. Erik Scott.
By early Wednesday, the Eaton Fire, which started the day before, had quickly burned 3.5 square miles (9 square kilometres), according to fire officials.
The Hurst Fire jumped to 500 acres (202 hectares) and the Palisades Fire, which started Tuesday morning and sent up a dramatic plume of smoke visible across Los Angeles, had burned 4.5 square miles (11.6 square kilometres), according to Angeles National Forest.
The Tyler Fire in Coachella was relatively small, burning 15 acres (6 hectares). All fires were at 0% containment.
As of Wednesday morning, more than 200,000 people were without power in Los Angeles County, according to the tracking website PowerOutage.us, due to the strong winds.
