Los Angeles wildfires live updates: 2 people killed and over 1,000 structures destroyed

Fierce wildfires are raging in the Los Angeles area, fueled by powerful Santa Ana winds, sending residents fleeing from burning homes through flames, ferocious winds and towering clouds of smoke. Thousands of firefighters were battling at least three separate blazes, from the Pacific Coast inland to Pasadena. 

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.

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.

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.

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 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. 

The president-elect, in a post on Truth Social, his social media network on Wednesday, used a derisive nickname for Newsom and renewed old criticisms against the governor for resisting a plan to send more water to the state’s agricultural Central Valley because of concerns it would imperil endangered species. 

Officials from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works said that was due to an overwhelming demand on the municipal water system not designed to fight wildfire.