At least 130,000 residents are under evacuation orders because of the wildfires burning across Los Angeles County. Red flag warnings remain in effect for L.A. County and much of Ventura County through Thursday.
Firefighters battled multiple blazes overnight as whipping winds, with gusts up to 100 mph, fueled three major wildfires in Los Angeles County.
Palisades fire
Burned 17,234 acres and numerous homes, businesses and landmarks in Pacific Palisades and westward along Pacific Coast Highway, toward Malibu.
Eaton fire
Burned 10,600 acres and many structures in Altadena and Pasadena.
Sunset fire
Burned 60 acres and triggered mandatory evacuation orders in Hollywood and the Hollywood Hills.
Hurst fire
Burned 855 acres in the area around Sylmar.
It’s a miracle that no homes burned here,” one firefighter told The Times. Hours earlier, the flames had approached the mansions that line North Curson Avenue. By 10:30 p.m., flames were barely visible on the distant hillside.
Red flag fire weather warning to persist in L.A. through Friday night
This week’s extraordinarily dangerous fire weather has improved somewhat Wednesday night, but red flag fire weather conditions will persist through much of Friday night for a wide swath of Southern California.
The National Weather Service said winds trended downward on Wednesday, and forecasters at 4 p.m. ended its declaration that weather conditions constituted a “particularly dangerous situation.”
But weather conditions still favor spread of wildfire, and gusty winds and very dry air continue to be a threat. By Thursday afternoon, winds are expected to bump back up along the region’s Santa Ana wind corridors, with gusts from the northeast of up to 40 mph, and isolated gusts of up to 70 mph.
Santa Monica issues curfew in evacuated neighborhoods
Santa Monica has issued an emergency curfew in neighborhoods ordered evacuated due to risk from the Palisades fire.
The curfew will persist from sunset to sunrise in areas where a mandatory evacuation order is in place, which is affecting northern Santa Monica.
‘It’s like Armageddon.’ Restaurant owner describes fire that burned Moonshadows, Reel Inn and others
“It’s like Armageddon,” Canyon Bakery owner Patrice Winter said. “That’s all I can say. What they’re showing on the news is really real; they’re not sensationalizing any of this. It’s what I saw with my own eyes. It rocks your world.”
Winter was preparing pastries from the kitchen of her bakery Tuesday for the weekly Topanga Farmers Market when she saw a plume of black smoke: Something wasn’t right, she told her husband and business partner. Moments later, they received an app notification that the Palisades fire was raging through the Santa Monica Mountains and toward them. Winds tunneled through the canyon community. Neighbors began evacuating, and Winter, a resident of Topanga Canyon for 55 years, knew she had to leave. She’s seen fires before, but never like this one.
They outran the flames in Altadena, wondering how they lived through the fury
Jason Deach and Mike Griswold — two handymen at the Zorthian Ranch, an artists colony in Altadena — had escaped the flames hours earlier, racing into the smoke, wind howling, buildings burning, trees exploding around them.
