Pacific Palisades raging fire forces thousands to flee California homes; Gov. declares emergency.

Pacific Palisades raging fire forces thousands to flee California homes; Governor Newsom declares state of emergency.

A substantial, swiftly progressing and expanding brush fire erupted on Tuesday afternoon in Pacific Palisades, leading to obligatory evacuations impacting tens of thousands of individuals and road closures, including those who left their vehicles to escape on foot.

According to the Los Angeles Fire Department, over 13,000 structures and 30,000 individuals are situated within the evacuation zone, which has been deemed "under immediate threat. "

Rapidly spreading flames propelled by intense wind gusts ravaged homes along the coastline and caused traffic jams for miles on Sunset Boulevard as residents attempted to escape.

Furious flames propelled by a powerful windstorm burned a quickly expanding area of Southern California on Tuesday, demolishing homes, compelling around 30,000 residents to evacuate, and filling the sky with smoke, with officials cautioning that the worst was yet to arrive.

By Tuesday evening, fire officials in California stated that the fire had expanded to nearly 3,000 acres. Large plumes of black and gray smoke floated from the Pacific Palisades toward the coast and extended across the Pacific Ocean. Officials broadened evacuation orders to cover areas west of the fire along Pacific Coast Highway, and evacuation alerts were extended to parts of Calabasas, indicating concerns that the fires could move westward.

According to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, the reason behind the blaze was being investigated. Numerous agencies were responding with strike teams, helicopters, and other aircraft.

Traffic was congested for miles along Sunset Boulevard as residents sought to escape the Pacific Palisades, an affluent coastal area west of downtown Los Angeles that houses approximately 24,000 residents and many famous personalities. Wind gusts of up to 100 miles per hour, the strongest Southern California has seen in more than a decade, were predicted through Wednesday lunchtime.

Fire officials are implementing mandatory evacuations for several streets in Pasadena and Altadena near Eaton Canyon, where a rapidly advancing brush fire ignited an hour prior and has now expanded to over 200 acres. They are cautioning of an “Immediate threat to life.”

On Tuesday evening, more than 80,000 customers in the Los Angeles area experienced power outages, some due to strong winds and others because one utility disabled electricity to avert fires.