|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
By Veronica Mackey
Warnings are still in effect as massive fires rage the northern portion of Los Angeles County, burning through Pacific Palisades, Sylmar, Pasadena and Altadena and other nearby cities. The Palisades fire, which broke out around 10:30am on Tuesday, quickly spread, with fast-moving winds
Narrow roads and folks who waited to evacuate created a bottleneck, making it difficult for fire trucks to reach the area. At one point, officials told residents to either shelter in place or abandon their cars due to the fire’s close proximity. Several people fled on foot.
“We looked across and the fire had jumped from one side of the road to the other side of the road,” Kelsey Trainor, a Palisades resident 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.” Officials said they would begin removing cars from the roads to make room for emergency vehicles.
By Wednesday morning, warnings were issued to residents in Santa Clarita. Noting that “Warnings can quickly turn into evacuations,” Good Day LA reported a Palisades man stayed behind with his dog to film his burning home. A Fox 11 News reporter explained that despite evacuation warnings, some stay and fight because they don’t want to lose everything and have to start over.
During a press conference on Wednesday, a Fire Department spokesperson pleaded with the public not to stay and try to save their homes. “When we say evacuate, evacuate. This is not a drill. This is real time.”
About 1,000 structures have been impacted. Grounds of the Getty Villa Museum was seen burning. So far, no deaths in Palisades have been reported, although some firefighters were injured.
Just how much damage is expected, no one knows. It depends on how the Santa Ana winds blow. Embers can travel up to 5 miles. Travelers are warned to stay away from the affected areas. Power outages in homes and traffic lights have added to the chaos.
Los Angeles City Fire Chief Kristin Crowley said, “Over the last 24 hours, over 3,000 acres have burned and it continues to grow. “We are stretching our capacity of emergency services to their maximum limit. All aircraft were grounded due to high winds.” She also said 3,398 civilians were evacuated north of Pacific Coast Highway, south of Mulholland Road and east of Topanga Canyon.
More than 10,000 acres had burned in the Eaton Valley Fire by 10:30am on Wednesday. Two people have died. That fire is burning through Angeles National Forest, impacting residents in and around Altadena and Pasadena.
Los Angeles Fire Department officials have requested help from 4 counties including Orange, Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo. Counties in Northern California as well as the states of Washington, Oregon and Nevada are also getting involved.
A fire department official said a number of LAUSD schools—about 10 percent of the district—were closed. Affected schools are located north of Manchester, east of 10 Freeway, west of the 710 Freeway and south of the 134 Freeway. Decisions to reopen were expected to be made by 4pm on Wednesday. All Pasadena schools have been closed, in addition to several other schools in Altadena, South Pasadena, San Marino, Burbank, Glendale and Alhambra.
In Sylmar, more than 44,000 people are under evacuation orders and over 500 acres have burned with no containment in sight.
For more updates on the fires check your local news or use apps like Genasys Protect and Firespot.
Fox 11 News (Foxla.com/news) and the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD.org) have posted information on human and animal shelters on their websites.
