Fierce overnight winds expected to fuel Pacific Palisades fire

(NEXSTAR) – Tens of thousands of residents were placed under evacuation orders Tuesday after a rapidly-spreading wildfire ripped through the affluent Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles, according to Nexstar’s KTLA.

During a press conference Tuesday afternoon, California Gov. Gavin Newsom confirmed that he saw “many structures” already destroyed by the fire and warned residents that intense, Santa Ana winds were expected to continue overnight between 10 p.m. Tuesday and 5 a.m. Wednesday.

“By no stretch of the imagination are we out of the woods,” Newsom said.

The Palisades fire was first reported around 10:30 a.m. PDT Tuesday in the 1100 block of North Piedra Morada Drive. By 3:30 p.m., the fire had exploded to more than 1,200 acres and was expected to keep growing amid strong Santa Ana winds.

There was no containment as of Tuesday afternoon, according to CalFire. By sundown, the fire had exploded to more than 2,900 acres and was expected to keep growing amid strong Santa Ana winds. Over 30,000 residents were under evacuation orders Tuesday evening.

Evacuations were ordered for the entire community down to the Pacific Ocean, according to CalFire. The evacuation order also included areas of Malibu east of Las Flores. Evacuees were urged to travel south toward Pacific Coast Highway utilizing Palisades Drive and Sunset Boulevard.

Sections of Interstate 10 and the scenic Pacific Coast Highway were closed to all non-essential traffic to aid in evacuation efforts. But other roads were blocked. Some residents jumped out of their vehicles to get out of danger and waited to be picked up.

Resident Kelsey Trainor said the only road in and out of her neighborhood was completely blocked. Ash fell all around them while fires burned on both sides of the road.

“We looked across and the fire had jumped from one side of the road to the other side of the road,” Trainor said. “People were getting out of the cars with their dogs and babies and bags, they were crying and screaming. The road was just blocked, like full-on blocked for an hour.”

The blaze ignited on a day when fire officials were bracing for gusts of up to 100 miles an hour, a speed the National Weather Service described as “life-threatening,” “extreme” and “destructive.” The high winds combined with unseasonably dry conditions to make the situation even more combustible.

Interactive 3D map shows Palisades Fire perimeter, evacuation zones

More than 100 firefighters and pre-positioned strike teams were battling the blaze Tuesday, David Ortiz of the LAFD said.

“This is pretty much the worst possible scenario for a firefight,” said Ortiz.

There was no initial estimate for the number of structures damaged or destroyed. However, news footage showed several homes ablaze.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Ortiz described the fire as a blowtorch and urged residents to follow orders if asked to leave. “Do not stand in the way of this fire,” Ortiz said.

Video from Alert California showed a large plume of smoke rising over the Santa Monica Mountains.

KTLA spoke with actor Steve Guttenberg who said he was helping to move cars along Palisades Drive so fire trucks could get through and evacuees could leave.

“There are families up there, there are pets up there, there are people who really need help,” Guttenberg said. “It’s really important for people to help each other … don’t worry about your personal property, just get out. I have friends up there that can’t get out right now and they’ve been given evacuation orders.”

Fire crews have even resorted to using a bulldozer to move parked cars out of the way.

The fierce Santa Ana winds driving the blaze arrived Tuesday along with morning snow in mountainous communities and inland rainfall, making for “a rather bizarre forecast,” KTLA meteorologist Henry DiCarlo said.

Pacific Palisades is located about 10 miles from Malibu, where the Franklin Fire burned more than 4,000 acres and burned several homes after erupting during similar windy conditions in December.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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