The Palisades Fire in Pacific Palisades, California, has rapidly grown to over 1,200 acres due to dry conditions and strong winds. Evacuation orders are in place for 30,000 residents, and over 10,000 homes are threatened. The American Red Cross has opened an overnight shelter in Westwood to provide support to displaced residents.
The Palisades blazeThe blaze has exploded because of a combination of dry conditions and powerful winds, which are likely to strengthen further overnight.More than 10,000 households are threatened by the Palisades Fire, and evacuation orders are in place for around 30,000 residents, the Los Angeles Fire Department chief said.
The fire, which has now grown to more than 1,200 acres, was first reported around 10:30 this morning as a brush fire, and responding firefighters found an approximately 10-acre fire with winds of around 40 mph, LAFD Fire Chief Kristin M. Crowley said.explained how she tried to escape before she retreated to safety as flames raged around her vehicle. "I did attempt to go down Palisades Drive, but it was like a tornado of fire all around me," she said."The firefighters were there telling us to turn around. I sped back up the mountain."NBC Los Angeles Drivers were at a standstill as traffic gridlock plagued Pacific Coast Highway and other roads near a wind-driven wildfire in Pacific Palisades, The Palisades Fire was reported this morning in the Los Angeles County coastal community near Malibu on a day of strong winds throughout Southern California. Traffic backed up on roads out of the area, including along Palisades Drive, where at least one vehicle caught fire. It was not clear whether the fire was due to a mechanical problem or the wildfire. Embers scattered by strong winds can start spot fires in previously unburned areas.The American Red Cross for Los Angeles was transitioning an evacuation center in Westwood into an overnight shelter where people can get showers, food and safety through the night as the Palisades Fire burns. The site had served as an evacuation center for hours today but was transitioned this afternoon, American Red Cross Los Angeles spokesperson Mimi TellerThe shelter is preparing to welcome people who are distressed after having left their homes because of the fast-moving fire, she said. It was just last month that another large fire, the Franklin Fire, burned in Malibu and forced evacuations there. “A lot of people are in shock, and some people are so numb that they just, ‘I barely got out, I barely got my pet,’” Teller said. People preparing to leave a fire should get their pets in one room so they can easily access them, she said. People with small pets are asked to keep them in a carrier, but details about pets at the shelter are being worked out, she told NBC Los Angeles.More than 17,000 utility homes and businesses are without power across California as warm, dry winds raced to the coast and fanned the Palisades Fire in Los Angeles today, according to utility trackerL.A. Mayor Karen Bass' office said that about 15,000 customers of the city's power utility were without electricity this afternoon and that 14,400 more have had it restored since the day began. "Strong winds can knock over trees, or cause branches and palm fronds to strike power lines which could result in power outages," Bass' office said in a statement. "If that occurs," the mayor's office continued,"a crew’s first responsibility is to secure the affected area to protect the public from safety hazards posed by downed trees and power lines, followed by the removal of trees entangling LADWP power poles and power lines. Only after this is done can crews begin repair work to restore power.""State Parks has closed Topanga State Park as the Palisades Fire is currently burning on park property," California State Parks spokesperson Adeline Yee said by email. She said it has also closed Will Rogers State Historic Park as a precaution. That property is south of the fire and adjacent to Pacific Palisades' Riviera neighborhood.Pepperdine University, which was threatened by wildfire last month, is not under any threat today, but it is monitoring the situation, it said. Getting out hasn't been easy for the people trying to flee the Palisades Fire. Gridlock is being reported along the only available thoroughfares. The exclusive coastal community is boxed in by mountainous state land to the east and Sunset Boulevard, which runs north to south alongside Pacific Coast Highway to the west. All roads connecting homes in Pacific Palisades and the neighboring Sunset Mesa community, home to the Getty Villa museum, funnel onto Pacific Coast Highway, creating a traffic nightmare on the best of days. During emergencies, residents have few routes to get out and must contend with firefighters and first responders rushing to the scene.Firefighters work to extinguish flames engulfing homes as people flee the advancing brushfire by car and on foot in Pacific Palisades today.Dozers will clear about 30 vehicles that had been abandoned on Sunset and Palisades to improve access, the fire department said.The White House said today President Joe Biden's scheduled trip to the Coachella Valley desert to dedicate the Chuckwalla and Sáttítla Highlands national monuments has been postponed amid Southern California's windstorm. "Today’s event will be rescheduled for next week at the White House so that key stakeholders can attend," it said in a statement. Remarks prepared for today's event will be delivered in Los Angeles, where Biden, who arrived yesterday, was staying. The National Weather Service recorded winds of nearly 50 mph in the valley today and said dust storms were possible as temperatures were likely to reach 72 in Thermal, where Biden had been scheduled to arrive. Biden's proclamations on the monuments will protect 848,000 acres of lands of scientific, cultural, ecological and historical importance, the White House said.The National Weather Service, which already today recorded wind gusts of 50 to 80 mph, expects the danger to grow overnight, with gusts up to 100 mph in the windiest spots. “It looks like the winds will increase a little in strength later today and tonight,” Rich Thompson, a weather service meteorologist based in Oxnard, said. Winter wildfires in California are often driven by the Santa Ana winds, which sweep down mountain slopes to bring hot, dry air to coastal areas. The winds typically lower humidity levels and can rapidly push any fires that start, particularly when the landscape is dry.The Palisades Fire has put structures — mostly homes —"under immediate threat" and mandatory evacuations have been ordered, the Los Angeles Fire Department said in an afternoon update. The blaze — centered on Piedra Morada Drive in the Pacific Palisades hills, above Pacific Coast Highway — is estimated to have spread across 300 acres, Los Angeles fire officials said. The evacuation zone includes the area from Merrimac Road west to Topanga Canyon Boulevard and south to Pacific Coast Highway. An evacuation center has been set up at the Westwood Recreation Center in West L.A.The fire burning in the Pacific Palisades Highlands community has grown to about 200 acres, according to Erik Scott, a Los Angeles fire captain and public information officer. The blaze threatens several additional communities that dot the canyons west of Pacific Palisades, including those in Rustic Canyon and Topanga Canyon.Yesterday he said he planned to mobilize state resources to tackle the storm, including assigning 65 fire engines, seven water tenders, seven helicopters and 109 specialized workers. “We are no strangers to winter-time wildfire threats, so I ask all Californians to pay attention to local authorities and be prepared to evacuate if told to go,” Newsom said in a statement.The National Weather Service said red flag warnings, which alert people to winds greater than 20 mph and relative humidity of less than 25%, cover 19 million people.The warnings started at noon and extend until 4 p.m. tomorrow for the bulk of those covered, including all 10 million residents of Los Angeles County and most in Ventura County to its north. They also cover the 3.3 million people in San Diego County, which abuts the Mexico border, as well as millions in the Inland Empire, which extends nearly to Las Vegas, and those in inland Orange County between San Diego and L.A. The weather service in San Diego said mountainous terrain is particularly vulnerable to the dry warm winds that are traveling from the northeast toward the ocean. "Any new fire ignition in these areas will likely have very dangerous wildfire spread and behavior with great difficulty in containment that could impact life and property," the office said in an urgent fire weather message this afternoon.
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