Strong winds drive wildfires across Los Angeles Climate news

Firefighters in California battled windswept wildfires sweeping through the Los Angeles area, destroying homes and blocking roads as tens of thousands fled, straining resources as officials braced for the situation to get worse.

The fire that broke out Tuesday evening in the foothills northeast of Los Angeles spread so quickly that staff at a seniors center had to push dozens of residents in wheelchairs and hospital beds across the street into a parking lot.

Residents waited in their clothes as embers fell around them until ambulances, buses and even construction trucks arrived to transport them to safety.

A fire broke out hours earlier in the city’s Pacific Palisades neighborhood, a hillside area along the coast dotted with celebrity residences and revived by the Beach Boys in the 1960s in their song “Surfin’ USA.”

In the frantic rush to reach safety, the roads became impassable, as dozens of people abandoned their cars and fled on foot, some carrying suitcases.

Traffic jams prevented emergency vehicles from passing. Then a bulldozer was brought in to push the abandoned cars to the side and open a path. Video along the Pacific Coast Highway showed widespread damage to homes and businesses along the popular road.

A third fire broke out at about 10:30 p.m. (06:30 GMT Wednesday) and quickly prompted evacuations in Sylmar, the northernmost neighborhood in Los Angeles. The causes of the three fires are being investigated.

Winds reaching 60 mph (about 100 km/h) in some places drove the flames. Wind speeds are expected to increase overnight, bringing isolated gusts that could reach 100 mph (160 km/h) in mountains and hills — including areas that have not seen heavy rain in months.

The situation prompted the Los Angeles Fire Department to take the rare step of putting out a call to off-duty firefighters for help. It was too windy for firefighting planes to fly, further disrupting the fighting.

Officials did not provide an estimate of buildings damaged or destroyed in the Pacific Palisades wildfires, but said about 30,000 residents are under evacuation orders and more than 13,000 structures are under threat. Governor Gavin Newsom visited the scene and said several homes burned.

By evening, the fire had spread to nearby Malibu, and several people were there being treated for burn injuries. One firefighter suffered serious head injuries and was taken to the hospital, according to Los Angeles Fire Department Captain Eric Scott.

As of Tuesday evening, nearly 167,000 people were without power in Los Angeles County, according to tracking site PowerOutage.us.

Recent dry winds, including the notorious Santa Anse, have contributed to above-average temperatures in Southern California, where there has been little rain this season. Southern California has not seen more than 0.1 inch (2.5 mm) of rain since early May.