LOS ANGELES — A rapidly growing wildfire raged across an upscale section of Los Angeles on Tuesday, destroying numerous buildings and creating traffic jams as more than 30,000 people evacuated, while a second blaze doubled in size some 30 miles inland.
At least 2,921 acres (1,182 hectares) of the Pacific Palisades area between the coastal towns of Santa Monica and Malibu had burned by the Palisades Fire, officials said, after they had already warned of extreme fire danger from powerful winds that arrived following extended dry weather.
A fire official told local television station KTLA that several people were injured, some with burns to faces and hands. The official added that one female firefighter had sustained a head injury.
The second blaze dubbed the Eaton Fire broke out some 30 miles (50 km) inland near Pasadena and doubled in size to 400 acres (162 hectares) in a few hours, according to Cal Fire.
Almost 100 residents from a nursing home in Pasadena were evacuated, according to CBS News. Video showed elderly residents, many in wheelchairs and on gurneys, crowded onto a smokey and windswept parking lot as fire trucks and ambulances attended.
Fire officials said a third blaze named the Hurst Fire had started in Sylmar, in the San Fernando Valley northwest of Los Angeles, prompting evacuations of some nearby residents.
PALISADES FIRE
Witnesses reported a number of homes on fire with flames nearly scorching their cars when people fled the hills of Topanga Canyon, as the fire spread from there down to the Pacific Ocean.
Local media reported the fire had spread north, torching homes near Malibu.
Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley had earlier told a press conference that more than 25,000 people in 10,000 homes were threatened.
Firefighters in aircraft scooped water from the sea to drop it on the nearby flames. Flames engulfed homes and bulldozers cleared abandoned vehicles from roads so emergency vehicles could pass, television images showed.
With only one major road leading from the canyon to the coast, and only one coastal highway leading to safety, traffic crawled to a halt, leading people to flee on foot.
REUTERS
