Moment stunned CNN reporter is almost struck by LA wildfire debris

A CNN reporter narrowly missed being hit by a chunk of flaming debris while covering the California wildfires live.

Nick Watt was lying on the ground in Palisades Village on Tuesday when he suffered a near miss.

Residents in the area are among the tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles ordered to evacuate because of the blazing wildfires that have already destroyed homes and injured several firefighters.

Watt, originally from Paisley in Scotland, was on air with studio presenter Polo Sandoval, showing viewers a burning apartment building when tragedy almost struck.

“You know, we spent most of the day up in the….” [Hollywood] Hills, the beautiful small, windy streets, the beautiful multi-million dollar houses, some of which no longer exist. We have now arrived in the village of Palisades, the center of this community,” he explained.

“That was an apartment complex we looked at… Jesus Whoa! Sorry, something almost hit me there. Um, yeah. Wow. Um, we’ll have to go back.’

The camera then zooms out further to show the crumbling building going up in flames.

“And we just watched this building fall apart, and a little part of that building almost hit me right there.”

Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles have been ordered to evacuate due to the blazing wildfires

The fires started on Tuesday and were quickly fanned by high winds that are expected to continue today.

Million-dollar mansions in the famed Pacific Palisades enclave were razed last night, while historic institutions and beloved restaurants were razed as three out-of-control fires and winds of nearly 100 miles per hour spread in spread rapidly across Los Angeles.

In the frantic rush to safety, roads became clogged and dozens of people abandoned their vehicles and fled on foot, some with suitcases.

Firefighters battling the Palisades fire, which is burning through about five football fields a minute, warned they were running low on water and supplies as evacuation warnings spread to Malibu and Calabasas.

Tankers full of water had been dousing the inferno all afternoon, but all aircraft were later grounded due to deteriorating wind conditions and visibility.

Residents have been warned that the worst is yet to come as the raging wildfire rages through some 3,000 hectares of land in Los Angeles at an extraordinary pace. Firefighters have warned that ‘tornado-like’ winds are making their jobs more difficult.

At least 30,000 residents are now under mandatory evacuation orders, while even more people are being warned to be prepared to leave after a fire that broke out in the foothills near Eaton Canyon grew to 3,000 acres in just six hours since it started.

A traffic jam on Palisades Drive prevented emergency vehicles from getting through and a bulldozer was called in to push the abandoned cars aside and create a path.

Watt was lying on the ground in Palisades Village on Tuesday when he suffered a near miss

The fire started on Tuesday and was fanned by strong winds, which proved difficult to fight

Since then, more forest fires have broken out. Pictured: Residents of a senior center are evacuated as the Eaton fire approaches

Video footage along the Pacific Coast Highway showed widespread destruction of homes and businesses along the famous roadway.

Fires at higher elevations prevented utilities from getting water to refill tanks, the Los Angeles Department of Wind and Power said in a statement Tuesday evening.

A third wildfire started around 10:30 p.m. and quickly led to evacuations in Sylmar, a community in Los Angeles’s northernmost San Fernando Valley neighborhood. The causes of all three fires are under investigation.