Multiple wildfires have broken out across the Los Angeles area in Southern California, destroying homes and sending tens of thousands of people fleeing.
By Wednesday morning, firefighters were struggling to contain at least three major fires, the largest of which was roaring through the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles. That fire has already burned around 3,000 acres.
At least 80,000 residents were forced to evacuate the LA area, according to NBC News, and LA Mayor Karen Bass said wildfire conditions were “expected to worsen” through Wednesday morning as strong winds exacerbated the emergency. Some 300,000 customers were withoutpower that morning, and roadways were clogged with cars attempting to flee the area.
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California Gov. Says Pacific Palisades Wildfire Has Destroyed Many Structures As Winds Kick Up
A wildfire whipped up by extreme winds swept through a Los Angeles hillside dotted with celebrity residences Tuesday, burning homes in Pacific Palisades and prompting evacuation orders for tens of thousands. In the frantic haste to get to safety, roadways were clogged and scores of people abandoned their vehicles and fled on foot, some toting suitcases.
The traffic jam on Palisades Drive prevented emergency vehicles from getting through and a bulldozer was brought in to push the abandoned cars to the side and create a path, according to the LA Fire Department.
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WATCH: Wildfires Wreck Los Angeles
Thousands Flee As Wildfires Burn Out Of Control In And Around Los Angeles
The flames from a fire that broke out Tuesday evening near a nature preserve in the inland foothills northeast of LA spread so rapidly that staff at a senior living center had to push dozens of residents in wheelchairs and hospital beds down the street to a parking lot. The residents — one as old as 102 — waited there in their bedclothes as the night sky glowed red from flames and embers fell around them until ambulances, buses and even construction vans arrived to take them to safety.
Another blaze that started hours earlier ripped through the city’s Pacific Palisades neighborhood, a hillside area along the coast dotted with celebrity residences and memorialized by the Beach Boys in their 1960s hit “Surfin’ USA.” In the frantic haste to get to safety, roadways became impassable when scores of people abandoned their vehicles and fled on foot, some toting suitcases.
The traffic jam on Palisades Drive prevented emergency vehicles from getting through and a bulldozer was brought in to push the abandoned cars to the side and create a path. Video along the Pacific Coast Highway showed widespread destruction of homes and businesses along the famed roadway.
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