By Snejana Farberov
Deadly wildfires scorched the upscale enclave of Pacific Palisades and other parts of Los Angeles in the past two days, killing at least five people, engulfing about 42 square miles (108 square kilometres), and ravaging a minimum of 1,000 structures.
Whipped by hurricane-force winds, the inferno sent terrified residents fleeing from their properties in the seaside community that is home to a long list of Hollywood A-listers, among them Tom Hanks, Ben Affleck, Reese Witherspoon, Adam Sandler, Mark Hamill, Spencer Pratt, and Heidi Montag.
The life-threatening fire broke out on Tuesday afternoon Los Angeles time in Pacific Palisades, a hillside area situated along the coast that was celebrated in the 1960s Beach Boys hit “Surfin’ USA”, reported the Associated Press.
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Fires have raged in the Los Angeles neighbourhood of Pacific Palisades. Picture: Eric Thayer/Getty Images
The Los Angeles County fire chief revealed late on Wednesday morning local time, that so far at least 1,000 structures were burned to the ground by the massive blaze and two people were killed. More recent updates from AP News have reported five people have been killed in the fires.
It was not immediately clear what share of the destroyed properties were private homes.
About 130,000 residents were under evacuation orders, and more than 13,000 structures were under threat.
A spokesman for Vice President Kamala Harris shared on X on Wednesday that her neighbourhood in Los Angeles was put under an evacuation order.
“No one was in her home at the time,” Ernesto Apreza wrote. “She and the Second Gentleman are praying for the safety of their fellow Californians, the heroic first responders, and Secret Service personnel.”
Realtor.com reported in July that the former Democratic presidential candidate and second gentleman Doug Emhoff own a four-bedroom, five-bath home with a swimming pool in the exclusive neighbourhood of Brentwood.
Multiple wildfires fuelled by intense Santa Ana Winds are burning across Los Angeles County. Picture: Eric Thayer/Getty Images
Emhoff snapped up the 3,505-square-foot (about 325sqm) property for US$2.7 million in 2012, two years before he married Harris.
Actor James Woods shared on X that his family was forced to leave their newly renovated “beautiful little home in the Palisades” on Tuesday, as flames consumed his neighbours’ houses.
It was not immediately clear if Woods’ home had been damaged or destroyed.
The 77-year-old “Casino” star also spoke out about the challenges of finding insurance coverage in his area.
“One of the major insurances companies cancelled all the policies in our neighbourhood about four months ago,” he wrote.
California is currently in the midst of a home insurance crisis, with residents in wildfire-prone areas struggling to find coverage for their homes because insurance providers are reluctant to take on the risk of massive payouts.
Last month, the state Department of Insurance adopted a new regulation that will require insurance carriers that stopped providing coverage in California to start writing policies again, but they will be allowed to pass the costs on to their customers.
Flames from the Palisades fire burns a home during a powerful windstorm on 8 January in the Pacific Palisades neighbourhood of Los Angeles. Picture: Apu Gomes/Getty Images
The Palisades fire sent residents fleeing for their lives, quickly making roadways in the area impassible. Some people in their desperation ditched their cars and took off on foot, some with luggage in hand.
Resident Sheriece Wallace had no clue there was a fire burning around her until her sister called at the moment a helicopter made a water drop over her house.
“I was like, ‘It’s raining,’” Ms Wallace told the AP. “She’s like, ‘No, it’s not raining. Your neighbourhood is on fire. You need to get out.’”
The discarded cars on Palisades Drive blocked the access of emergency vehicles to the burning neighborhood, so a bulldozer had to be brought in to shove them to the side to make way for fire trucks.
Actor Steve Guttenberg, who lives in the neighbourhood and jumped in to help, urged people who abandoned their cars in the road to leave their keys behind so they could be moved.
“This is not a parking lot,” the Police Academy star told local news station KTLA.
As darkness fell, the fire had spread into neighbouring Malibu, and several people there were being treated for burn injuries. A firefighter had a serious head injury and was taken to a hospital, said Los Angeles Fire Department Captain Erik Scott.
Flames were being fanned by Santa Ana winds topping 60 mph in some spots on Tuesday, hampering firefighting efforts by forcing crews to ground emergency aircraft, reported the Los Angeles Times.
The winds gusted to 70 mph (112 kph) by early Wednesday L.A time, according to reports received by the National Weather Service in Los Angeles. They could top 100 mph (160 kph) in mountains and foothills.
The agency predicted that the windstorm will be the most destructive event of its kind to affect L.A since 2011.
The wildfire has so far engulfed close to 5,000 acres of land in and around Los Angeles. Picture: David Swanson/AFP via Getty Images.
The median home list price in the exclusive neighbourhood of Pacific Palisades is US$4.72 million as of December 2024, according to data from Realtor.com. The median list prices in the nearby communities of Malibu and Santa Monica stand at US$5.76 million and US$1.72 million, respectively.
The median income in Pacific Palisades, which has a population of 23,000, was just north of US$102,000. For comparison, the median personal income in the U.S. in 2023 was just above US$42,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
A second fire, dubbed the Eaton fire, ignited a few hours later near a nature preserve in Eaton Canyon in the foothills northeast of L.A. and raced through the surrounding area so quickly that staffers of a senior living facility had to push some residents, some in their pyjamas, in wheelchairs and hospital beds out to the parking lot to await rescue.
At about 10:30pm, a brush fire, which came to be known as Hurst fire, broke out in Sylmar, L.A.’s northernmost neighbourhood in San Fernando Valley, and quickly set alight some 100 acres of land (40ha). The blaze has since spread to 10,600 acres (about 4300ha), according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
The causes of all three fires are unknown at this time and are being investigated, officials said.
California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency and posted on X early on Wednesday that more than 1,400 firefighters had been deployed to tackle the wildfires.
“Emergency officials, firefighters, and first responders are all hands on deck through the night to do everything possible to protect lives,” Newsom said.
President Joe Biden, who was in Los Angeles on Tuesday to unveil the establishment of two new national monuments in California, scrapped his departure for Washington, DC, and remained in the city. He has been briefed on the wildfires.
Founded in the early 1920s between Malibu and Santa Monica, Pacific Palisades from the outset was conceived as a religious community, but it soon began attracting a steady stream of celebrities who were drawn to the hillside area by the picturesque vistas and its proximity to a three-mile stretch of Pacific Beach.
Comedy legend Jerry Lewis lived there and, at one time, was the enclave’s honorary mayor. The neighbourhood inspired the eponymously named ’90s TV soap opera “Pacific Palisades” starring Joan Collins, which was produced by Aaron Spelling.
This story was originally published on Realtor.com and has been updated with more recent information.
