Fires described as “life-threatening and destructive” have broken out in Southern California. Thousands have already been evacuated from the impacted areas as an evacuation order continues.

A fire erupted down the Pacific Coast Highway near Pacific Palisades “quickly exploding in less than an hour from 10 to at least 200 acres,” The Washington Post reported.

Wind event amplifying fire concerns

Heavy winds from the Santa Ana wind event in the area are cause for concern in potential fire growth.

“We’ve already seen gusts between 50 and 70 m.p.h. across many areas,” Rich Thompson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service told The New York Times. “It’s only going to get stronger through the day.”

It’s not just the winds causing concern. According to meteorologist Jonathan O’Brien, “The winds alone would be a big deal, but combined with dry conditions, this is a rare, extremely high end fire weather environment,. Potentially a worst case scenario event,” he wrote on X.

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Actor James Woods was evacuated from his home in the area and wrote in a post on X, “We were blessed to have LA fire and police depts doing their jobs so well.”

He added, “Can not speak more highly of the LA fire and LAPD.”

A second fire was a brush fire that erupted in the Hollywood Hills. The three-acre fire’s forward progress was stopped before 11 a.m., according to NBC 4 Los Angeles.

The National Weather Service released an alert for a widespread windstorm that includes the following areas as locations of greatest concern Tuesday and Wednesday:

  • San Gabriel
  • Highways 118
  • 210 corridors
  • Santa Susana
  • Santa Monica Mountains & Foothills
  • San Gabriel Valley
  • San Fernando Valley
  • Pasadena
  • Burbank
  • San Fernando
  • Hollywood
  • Beverly Hills
  • Simi Valley
  • Sylmar
  • Porter Ranch
  • Altadena
  • La Crescenta
  • Malibu
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