Some 30,000 Los Angeles residents — including celebrities — have been ordered to evacuate their homes as a wildfire engulfs the ritzy Pacific Palisades while another destructive blaze erupted hours later in nearby Altadena on Tuesday night.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency after touching down in the Pacific Palisades area and meeting with first responders fighting the blaze that has so far torched more than 2,900 acres (4.5 square miles), according to CalFire.
“By no stretch of the imagination are we out of the woods,” Newsom warned as winds up to 100 mph are expected to increase overnight across the tony enclave — including regions that are “abnormally dry,” according to the US Drought Monitor.
Newsom noted he found “not a few — many structures already destroyed.”
Firefighters protect structures from the advancing Palisades Fire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. AP
A Los Angeles County firefighting helicopter drops water to battle the Palisades wildfire in Pacific Palisades, California, January 7, 2025. CAROLINE BREHMAN/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
The Palisades Fire burns a residence in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. AP
The Palisades Fire burns a Christmas tree inside a residence in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. APTens of thousands have evacuated the county, including Emmy-winning actor James Woods, whose neighbor lost their home, he said on X after he fled.
Some residents even fled on foot after ditching their cars in the street — inadvertently creating obstacles for firefighters trying to battle the blaze.
“We looked across and the fire had jumped from one side of the road to the other side of the road,” Kelsey Trainor said.
“People were getting out of the cars with their dogs and babies and bags, they were crying and screaming. The road was just blocked, like full-on blocked for an hour.”
Another resident, Will Adams, said embers flew into his wife’s car as she tried to escape.
“She vacated her car and left it running,” Adams said, adding she and many other locals walked down toward the ocean until it was safe.
While the Bravest brainstormed to find a way through the streets that had quickly turned into parking lots, a bulldozer was brought in to help push cars aside while “Police Academy” star Steve Guttenberg came in out of the blue to help drive abandoned vehicles off the road.
A fire department bulldozer moves abandoned cars that blocked Sunset Boulevard on Tuesday. ZUMAPRESS.com / MEGA
A firefighter battles the Palisades Fire during a windstorm on the west side of Los Angeles on Jan. 7, 2025. REUTERS“We really need people to move their cars. So if you leave your car behind, leave the key in there so a guy like me can move your car so that these fire trucks can get up there,” the 66-year-old implored.
“It’s really, really important,” he told KTLA.
The LAPD also deployed more than 100 cops to assist firefighters to help with evacuation.
“So far, the major job for our people have been evacuation, traffic control, allowing ingress and egress to emergency vehicles,” LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell said, per KTLA.
Multiple structures burn as the Palisades Fire sweeps through the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. AP
Fire personnel respond to homes destroyed while a helicopter drops water as the Palisades Fire grows in Pacific Palisades, California, on January 7, 2025. AFP via Getty Images
The Palisades Fire ravages a neighborhood during a windstorm. AP“I would have an ask that if you would, please do everything you can to open up the streets so we can get the resources we need to be able to deal with this emergency.”
By late Tuesday local time, evacuation orders had spread to parts of nearby Santa Monica.
The Los Angeles Fire Department urged all off-duty members to report “their availability for recall” as the blaze showed no signs of slowing down.
Reality TV stars Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag lost their Pacific Palisades home in the massive blaze, according to TMZ, just hours after Pratt shared a video of a plane dropping water on the nearby flames on Instagram.
Heavy smoke from a brush fire in the Pacific Palisades rises over the Pacific Coast Highway in Santa Monica, California, on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. AP
Here’s the fire weather outlook for Southern California through Thursday. FOX WeatherLive camera feed from UC San Diego shows smoke rising from the burning hillside near the Pacific Palisades neighborhood in the Santa Monica Mountains. The fire quickly spread to a staggering 200 acres within an hour as the wind pushed it onward, according to the LAFD.
All residents near the fire had been ordered to “leave now” as the fire continued to grow.
President Biden urged Pacific Palisades residents to remain “vigilant” and said he’s offered federal assistance to help California authorities battle the blaze.
“Earlier tonight, FEMA approved a Fire Management Assistance Grant to support areas that are impacted and help reimburse the state of California for the immediate firefighting costs. My Administration will do everything it can to support the response,” Biden said in a statement.
A plane dropping fire retardant over the wildfire. REUTERS/Daniel ColeJust 25 miles northeast in Altadena, the Eaton Fire grew across more than 400 acres by Tuesday night, sparking further evacuation orders for tens of thousands more residents and destroying more homes.
Authorities rushed to evacuate dozens of residents who live in a senior community, with some being wheeled out in wheelchairs and gurneys, CBS LA reported.
The fire expanded to 200 acres within an hour after starting, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department. Alex Sudea/ShutterstockForecasters are particularly wary of an extreme wildfire threat that spans most of Southern California through Wednesday on top of a “life-threatening, destructive, widespread windstorm” that is expected to last from Tuesday afternoon to Wednesday morning.
“Strong winds are coming. This is a Particularly Dangerous Situation — in other words, this is about as bad as it gets in terms of fire weather,” the National Weather Service said.
“Stay aware of your surroundings. Be ready to evacuate, especially if in a high-fire-risk area. Be careful with fire sources.”
Here is the peak wind gust forecast for Southern California. FOX WeatherStrong winds knocked out power to more than 28,000 homes by Tuesday night across the region while at least 15,000 utility customers were already without power, either because of an outage or a manual shutoff to reduce the risk of the equipment making the fire even worse.
The strongest winds will blow through Southern California starting Tuesday with gusts peaking near 80 mph. Remote areas in the mountains and foothills will be as high as 100 mph.
All Malibu schools were closed on Tuesday because of the increasingly dangerous weather conditions. As of Tuesday afternoon, Santa Monica schools were set to remain open.
A brush fire burns near homes in Pacific Palisades, California, on January 7, 2025. AFP via Getty Images
Here are the Fire Weather Warnings for Southern California. FOX WeatherFlights in and out of the Los Angeles International Airport are expected to be delayed or canceled due to the impending storm. Pilots are being encouraged to keep their distance from impacted areas during the windstorm.
Many homes, including multimillion-dollar mansions and other buildings, have already been destroyed with more expected to follow over the next day.
One of the prior strongest windstorms in 2011 toppled trees and power lines, causing power outages for hundreds of thousands of customers.
The winds are forecast to taper off by Wednesday evening but are expected to return on Friday.
With Post wires




