Pacific Palisades: Hollywood stars reeling as homes razed in ferocious wildfire

A rapidly growing wildfire is raging across an upscale section of Los Angeles, destroying homes and creating traffic jams as 30,000 people evacuate beneath huge plumes of smoke that cover much of the metropolitan area.

At least 1180 hectares of the Pacific Palisades area between the coastal towns of Santa Monica and Malibu had burned, officials said on Tuesday, after they had already warned of extreme fire danger from powerful winds that arrived following extended dry weather.

The fire grew rapidly as officials warned the worst wind conditions were expected to come overnight, leading to concerns that more neighbourhoods could be forced to flee.

Witnesses reported a number homes on fire with flames nearly scorching their cars when people fled the hills of Topanga Canyon, as the fire spread from there down to the Pacific Ocean.

“We feel very blessed at this point that there’s no injuries that are reported,” Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley told a press conference, adding that more than 25,000 people in 10,000 homes were threatened.

Firefighters in aircraft scooped water from the sea to drop it on the nearby flames. Flames engulfed homes and bulldozers cleared abandoned vehicles from roads so emergency vehicles could pass, television images showed.

As the sun set over Los Angeles, towering orange flames illuminated the hills leading to Topanga Canyon.

The fire singed some trees on the grounds of the Getty Villa, a museum loaded with priceless works of art, but the collection remained safe largely because of preventive efforts to trim brush surrounding the buildings, the museum said.

With only one major road leading from the canyon to the coast, and only one coastal highway leading to safety, traffic crawled to a halt, leading people to flee on foot.

Video from the TV station KTLA on Tuesday afternoon showed officials bulldozing abandoned cars out of the way along Palisades Drive to make room for emergency vehicles.

“If this is your car, unfortunately, it’s an emergency situation, and this is what they have to do,” KTLA’s Gene Kang explained from the scene.

Pacific Palisades is home to several Hollywood stars.

Reality stars Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag, from The Hills, have reportedly lost their home which was located in the epicentre of the blaze.

Actor James Woods said on X he was able to evacuate but added, “I do not know at this moment if our home is still standing”.

Schitt’s Creek star Dan Levy also had to evacuate. He told the LA Times that he was stuck in traffic and that “The smoke looked pretty black and intense of Temescal Canyon.”

Actor Steve Guttenberg told KTLA television that friends of his were impeded from evacuating because others had abandoned their cars in the road.

“It’s really important for everybody to band together and don’t worry about your personal property. Just get out,” Guttenberg said.

“Get your loved ones and get out.”

Other stars that reportedly call the area home include: Jennifer Aniston, Bradley Cooper, Eugene Levy, Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, Reese Witherspoon, Adam Sandler and Michael Keaton, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The fire is also impacting Hollywood premieres, with Jennifer Lopez’ latest film, Unstoppable, Universal’s Wolfman starring Julia Garner and Robbie Williams’ Better Man all called off due to safety concerns.

Before the fire started, the National Weather Service had issued its highest alert for extreme fire conditions for much of Los Angeles County from Tuesday through Thursday, predicting wind gusts of 80-130km/h.

Strong, dry Santa Ana winds originating from inland deserts combined with low humidity and dry vegetation due to a lack of rain.

The conditions were “about as bad as it gets in terms of fire weather”, the Los Angeles office of the National Weather Service said on X.

Governor Gavin Newsom, who declared a state of emergency, said the state positioned personnel, firetrucks and aircraft elsewhere in Southern California because of the fire danger to the wider region, he added.

“Hopefully, we’re wrong, but we’re anticipating other fires happening concurrently,” Newsom told the press conference.

The winds changed President Joe Biden’s travel plans, grounding Air Force One in Los Angeles.

He had planned to make a short flight inland to the Coachella Valley for a ceremony to create two new national monuments in California but the event was rescheduled for a later date at the White House.