LOS ANGELES — LOS ANGELES (AP) — Heavy forest fires are raging in the Los Angeles area, where fast-moving flames are burning through homes and businesses as residents flee smoke-filled ravines picturesque neighborhoods where many celebrities live.
Many of the sky-high fires started Tuesday and were fueled by strong Santa Ana windswith wind gusts of more than 112 km per hour in some places. Winds continued Wednesday and made it too dangerous for planes to attack the fires from the air, further hampering their efforts.
Governor Gavin Newsom said the state has deployed more than 1,400 firefighters to fight the fires. In a rare, urgent plea, the Los Angeles Fire Department asked all off-duty firefighters in the city to help.
Here’s what you need to know about the fires:
The Palisades Fire, which started around 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, had burned 4.7 square miles, according to officials.
Flaming embers rained down on trees and roofs in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood. Residents rushing to escape caused a traffic jam on Palisades Drive, preventing emergency vehicles from getting through. Crews used a bulldozer to push the abandoned cars aside.
Photos show how some residents describe it an apocalyptic scene.
The Eaton Fire in the Altadena area, which started around 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, quickly burned 1.5 square miles early Wednesday, according to fire officials.
The Hurst Fire started around 10:30 p.m. Tuesday and prompted evacuations in Sylmar, a San Fernando Valley community in the northernmost neighborhood of Los Angeles. That fire had grown to 202 hectares by early Wednesday. The Tyler Fire in Coachella was relatively small, burning 15 acres.
The fires had a containment rate of 0%.
About 30,000 residents were under evacuation orders and more than 13,000 buildings were threatened, authorities said. Many of the evacuations occurred in the Pacific Palisades area, but others occurred in parts of Santa Monica and Altadena.
Winds in Santa Ana increased late Tuesday and into the early morning hours Wednesday, and even stronger winds are forecast. In the mountains and foothills, winds could reach 100 miles per hour, even in areas that haven’t seen substantial rain in months, the National Weather Service said.
Continued red flag warnings highlight extremely critical fire conditions due to a combination of strong wind gusts at some of the highest terrain Wednesday morning and exceptionally dry relative humidity levels, according to Peter Mullinax, a meteorologist with the weather service’s office in College Park, Maryland.