A massive wildfire whipped up by extreme winds has swept through a Los Angeles hillside dotted with celebrity homes – with a state of emergency declared.
The enormous blaze forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of people, some of whom abandoned their cars and fled on foot to safety with roads blocked.
Firefighters battling the blaze in Pacific Palisades warned they were running out of water and supplies, as evacuation warnings spread to Malibu and Calabasas.
Tankers full of water had been dousing the inferno from the skies all afternoon, but all aircraft were later grounded amid deteriorating wind conditions and visibility.
Residents were warned the worst is still yet to come as the raging wildfire burns through more than 2,900 acres of Los Angeles land at an extraordinary rate.
At least 30,000 residents are now under mandatory evacuation orders with more still warned they should be prepared to leave, as new brush fires divert resources to Pasadena and Altadena near Eaton Canyon.
A fast moving brush fire also ignited near Pasadena, and is already occupying 400 acres of land in the area. It comes as:
Pacific Palisades, where houses have already been reduced to rubble, is a celebrity enclave home to Chris Pratt, Reese Witherspoon and Miles Teller among other Hollywood A-listers.
Even more celebrities call Calabasas and Pasadena home, including the Kardashians.
Hellish photos from the inferno’s epicenter show once-decadent million-dollar homes completely obliterated by the wildfire. A spiral staircase and opulent art gallery wall were seen burned to cinders.
Las Lomas Avenue in the Palisades was reportedly caught in the direct line of fire, and witnesses say ‘dozens’ of homes on that street alone ‘are gone.’
As brave firefighters battle the inferno on at least two fronts, the Los Angeles Fire Department has issued an urgent call out for any off-duty officers to help out.
According to scanners in the area, those on the ground battling the intense blaze are starting to experience shortages in their supplies, particularly water.
Los Angeles City Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson declared a state of emergency on Tuesday night – while warning that the worst of the windstorm is ‘yet to come.’ Gov. Gavin Newsom also declared a state-wide emergency.
Evacuation orders have also now been extended to parts of Santa Monica.
With panicked residents fleeing on foot, the city enlisted bulldozers to rid the streets of the deserted, flashy cars and clear a path for first responders to access the hills, where the fire is raging.
Teslas, BMWs, Porches, and Mercedes were all filmed being dozed out of the way on Tuesday afternoon – as terrified millionaire locals said that the natural disaster felt like an all-encompassing ‘tornado of fire.’
President Joe Biden revealed late on Tuesday night he’d been briefed on the fires and was in touch with both state and local officials.
‘I have offered any federal assistance that is needed to help suppress the terrible Pacific Palisades fire,’ he wrote on X.
‘Earlier tonight, FEMA approved a Fire Management Assistance Grant to support areas that are impacted and help reimburse the state of California for the immediate firefighting costs.
‘My Administration will do everything it can to support the response. I urge the residents of the Pacific Palisades and the surrounding areas of Los Angeles to stay vigilant and listen to local officials.’
Amid the hellish backdrop of the apocalyptic inferno, evacuation notices were placed along the affluent coastal region, with a chilling warning which read: ‘Immediate threat to life.
‘This is a lawful order to LEAVE NOW. The area is lawfully closed to public access.’
Firefighter David Ortiz reiterated the urgent warning: ‘Do not stand in the way of this fire. This is pretty much the worst possible scenario for a firefight.’
Horrific images coming out of the coveted zip code showed millionaire homes completely burned out – with structures crumbling to the ground while being engulfed in flames.
Brave firefighters attempted to breach the blaze which jumped from home to home.
The windstorm poses a massive problem, making the inferno life-threatening – while being the most damaging since 2011. LA officials have said that the wildstorm is only set to get worse as we head into Wednesday.
Los Angeles County Fire Chief Marrone also had a stern warning for residents on Tuesday night, telling them: ‘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.’
The National Weather Service has warned residents to expect more carnage tonight with wind gusts reaching 50 mph.
Emmy Award winning actor James Woods, 77, was among high-profile residents forced to flee on Tuesday.
He shared a video of the blaze near his home as he prepared to evacuate.
‘Standing in my driveway ready to evacuate. We’ve got a lot of planes going over dropping water,’ he said. ‘S**t.’
In the video, it appeared as though a house further up on the hills had already been engulfed in flames.
‘We were blessed to have LA fire and police depts doing their jobs so well,’ he later said.
‘We are safe and out. There are several elementary schools in our neighborhood and there was an enormous community effort to evacuate the children safely. Can not speak more highly of the LA fire and LAPD.’
Jonathan Vigliotti posted a video of a car burning uncontrollably in a driveway on X on Tuesday afternoon.
‘Come on, guys!’ he called, his voice filled with fear. ‘We got to go!’
‘We were in a neighborhood as it went up in flames. Mass panic in the streets, and the worst of the wind will hit the Palisades Fire tonight,’ he wrote on X.
The 2,900-acre bush fire was first reported around 10:30am on Tuesday and authorities have described the flames as a blowtorch.
Initially, it was said to be 200 acres, but jumped to 300 and then up to 770 within 30 minutes.
Now, it is encompassing 2,900 acres and destroying over ‘three football fields’ of land every sixty seconds.
Resident Nina and her daughter told DailyMail.com they were lucky to drive out with the clothes on their backs and their two small dogs Aspen and Buster.
She described the scene as ‘chaotic’ and ‘frightening’ with people running, sirens blasting and planes full of ocean water buzzing overhead.
‘People are parking their cars on the side of the road, getting out and running for their lives!’ she told DailyMail.com. ‘People are literally running down the sidewalks pulling kids by their hands and carrying Louis Vuitton luggage.
‘One guy was running with two Gucci suitcases and a house plant. It is like something out of a disaster movie.’
Some 90,000 Californians are without power, according to poweroutage.us.
Police Academy star Steve Guttenberg said the fire is near his home and that people are abandoning their cars and making it hard for firetruck to make it up the road.
Guttenberg is urging his fellow neighbors to leave their keys in their car if they’re leaving their vehicle behind ‘so guys like me can move your car.’
‘We really need people to move their cars,’ he told KTLA. ‘So if you leave your car on Palisades Drive, leave the key in there.’
The actor said he had friends who can’t get out of their homes due to vehicles left behind.