Thousands flee, at least 2 dead, hundreds of homes destroyed as wildfires burn out of control in Los Angeles area

LOS ANGELES — Multiple massive wildfires tore across the Los Angeles area with devastating force Wednesday, destroying more than 1,000 structures and killing at least two people as desperate residents escaped through flames, ferocious winds and towering clouds of smoke.

Three major blazes were burning in the metropolitan area, from the Pacific Coast inland to Pasadena, home of the famed Rose Parade. With thousands of firefighters already attacking the flames, 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. Fire officials hoped to get the flights up later Wednesday.

In addition to the two deaths, Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said many others were hurt in the fires, which threatened at least 28,000 structures.

Images of the devastation showed luxurious homes that had collapsed in a whirlwind of flaming embers. The tops of palm trees whipped against a glowing red sky.

“This morning, we woke up to a dark cloud over all of Los Angeles. But it is darkest for those who are most intimately impacted by these fires. It has been an immensely painful 24 hours,” LA County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath said.

At least 70,000 people were ordered to evacuate — a number that kept changing because evacuation orders were continually being issued, officials said. The flames marched toward highly populated and affluent neighborhoods home to California’s rich and famous. Hollywood stars, including Mark Hamill, Mandy Moore and James Woods, were among those forced to flee.

The home of Vice President Kamala Harris was included in an evacuation zone, although no one was there, according to a spokesperson.

“We are prioritizing life over everything else,” Sheriff Robert Luna said.

Jennie Girardo, a 39-year-old producer and director from Pasadena, said she was alarmed when her neighbor came to check on her.

“When I opened my door, it smelled like I was living inside of a fireplace,” she said. “Then I also started to see the ash. And I’ve never seen that in my life. Like raining ash.”

Flames that broke out Tuesday evening near a nature preserve in the foothills northeast of LA spread so rapidly that staff at a senior living center had to push dozens of residents in wheelchairs and hospital beds down the street to a parking lot. They waited in their bedclothes as embers fell around them until ambulances, buses and construction vans arrived to take them to safety.

Another blaze that started hours earlier ripped through the city’s Pacific Palisades neighborhood, a hillside area along the coast dotted with celebrity homes and memorialized by the Beach Boys in their 1960s hit “Surfin’ USA.” In the race to get to safety, roadways became impassable when scores of people abandoned their vehicles and fled on foot, some toting suitcases.

Sheriece Wallace was unaware there was a fire burning around her until her sister called at the moment a helicopter made a water drop over her house.

“I was like, ‘It’s raining,’” Wallace said. “She’s like, ‘No, it’s not raining. Your neighborhood is on fire. You need to get out.’”

A traffic jam 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.

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

“People were getting out of the cars with their dogs and babies and bags,” Trainor said. “They were crying and screaming.”

A third wildfire started Tuesday evening and quickly prompted evacuations in Sylmar, a San Fernando Valley community that’s the northernmost neighborhood in Los Angeles.

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.

The season is beginning earlier and ending later due to rising temperatures and decreased rainfall tied to climate change, according to recent data. Rains that usually end fire season are often delayed, meaning fires can burn through the winter months, the association said.

“This will likely be the most destructive windstorm seen (since a) 2011 windstorm that did extensive damage to Pasadena and nearby foothills of the San Gabriel Valley,” the weather service said in a red-flag warning issued early Wednesday.

Gov. Gavin Newsom posted on X that California had deployed more than 1,400 firefighting personnel to combat the blazes. He also dispatched National Guard troops to help.

Pasadena Fire Chief Chad Augustin said much of the city was under evacuation orders as his department waited for winds to die down so aircraft could start dousing the flames. Fire departments across California sent extra firefighters because crews in the Los Angeles area were stretched to the limit, he told KABC television, the ABC affiliate.

The fire burned through Temescal Canyon, a popular hiking area surrounded by dense neighborhoods of multimillion-dollar homes. Flames also jumped 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.”

By early Wednesday, the Eaton Fire, which started the day before, had quickly burned 3.5 square miles (9 square kilometers), according to fire officials. The Hurst Fire jumped to nearly a square mile (2.6 square kilometers), and the Palisades Fire had burned 4.5 square miles (11.6 square kilometers), according to Angeles National Forest. All fires were at 0% containment.

More than 100 schools were closed due to fire risk. The flames also cut off power to more than 180,000 people mostly in Los Angeles County, according to the tracking website PowerOutage.us. Southern California Edison shut off some service because of safety concerns related to high winds and fire risks. More than 500,000 could face shutoffs depending on weather conditions, the utility said.

Recent dry winds, including the notorious Santa Anas, have contributed to warmer-than-average temperatures in Southern California, where there’s been very little rain so far this season. Southern California hasn’t seen more than 0.1 inches (0.25 centimeters) of rain since early May.

The winds increased to 80 mph (129 kph) by early Wednesday, according to reports received by the National Weather Service. They could top 100 mph (160 kph) in mountains and foothills, including in areas that have not seen substantial rain in months.

When he heard fire was nearby, longtime Palisades resident Will Adams immediately went to pick his two kids up from school. Embers flew into his wife’s car as she tried to evacuate, he said.

“She vacated her car and left it running,” Adams said. She and many other residents walked down toward the ocean until it was safe.

Adams said he had never witnessed anything like it in the 56 years he’s lived there.

“It is crazy, it’s everywhere, in all the nooks and crannies of the Palisades. One home’s safe, the other one’s up in flames,” he said.

___

Watson reported from San Diego. Associated Press writers Heather Hollingsworth in Mission, Kansas, Jeff Martin in Atlanta, Janie Har in San Francisco, Hallie Golden in Seattle, video journalist Eugene Garcia in Los Angeles, Ethan Swope in Pasadena, Brian Melley in London, Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire, Sarah Brumfield in Cockeysville, Maryland, and Tammy Webber in Detroit contributed to this report.