LA’s iconic Hollywood Boulevard evacuated after fire breaks out in celebrity hub

Massive evacuations begin on iconic Hollywood Boulevard as another raging wildfire breaks out in the Hollywood Hills, prompting warnings that 100,000 more residents must prepare to evacuate their homes Ta.

The hellish, high-velocity inferno rolling through the foothills prompted dramatic evacuation orders at 6pm local time on Wednesday, already affecting at least 20 acres near Runyon Canyon.

This devastating natural disaster has so far claimed at least five lives, completely destroyed 1,000 structures, and left thousands of people in the City of Angels with nothing but ashes.

Now, the famous Strip, home to the Hollywood Walk of Fame, is being evacuated as the Sunset Fire wreaks havoc in the epicenter of celebrity.

“A mandatory evacuation order is in effect from Laurel Canyon Boulevard (west side) to Mulholland Drive (north side), 101 Freeway (east side), and Hollywood Boulevard (south side),” the alert said.

Witnesses who witnessed the new fire said the blaze had “spread explosively” as the area was fertile with dense brush, which unfortunately fueled the inferno.

Meanwhile, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has remained silent after her city was ravaged by wildfires, refusing to comment on her personal statements. Cuts the LA Fire Department’s budget by $17.6 million in 2024.

ABC 7 reporter Chris Christie spoke from the blaze in a helicopter. “The scene here is very alarming. Just north of Hollywood Boulevard. This has exploded in size. All of this is very rich fuel that is fueling this wildfire. is.

“They immediately called for the nearest 20 trucks to be dispatched, but it’s going to take more than just trucks to get to this fire.

“This is exploding in front of our eyes. It’s a very large fire and it’s spreading rapidly.”

Thousands of homes and structures have already been destroyed across California, but fires continue to burn and it is impossible for authorities to determine the true scale of losses.

Three smaller fires burning across the state have now been contained, but at least three others are still burning, in addition to the Hollywood Hills fire that just started.

Pacific Palisades, the upscale neighborhood first affected by the fire, is home to Miles Teller, Anthony Hopkins, John Goodman and others.

But the Hollywood Hills is perhaps the world’s most famous zip code, with celebrities like Salma Hayek and Quentin Tarantino also living in the area.

Pasadena Mayor Victor M. Gordo said Wednesday afternoon that 100,000 people have already been ordered to evacuate, and another 100,000 are being advised to leave, The New York Times reported. .

The warning has been issued for residents in the danger zone, which has not yet been upgraded to a mandatory evacuation area, but may soon become one.

Palo Alto Fire Department Chief Kyle Alarid said first responders and firefighters were conducting a large-scale response and were “prioritizing” homes in the fire-ravaged area.

He said despite the best efforts of the exhausted crew, who stayed up all night, it was simply impossible to save everyone.

“It’s always hard because I feel like I can save one but never save enough.”

To make matters worse, the National Weather Service says strong winds and very dry conditions will continue to fuel fires in the Los Angeles area over the next few days.

Forecasters predicted higher wind gusts of 35 to 55 mph could be possible in mountains and foothills.

Meteorologists say Los Angeles and Ventura counties will experience fire-prone weather through Friday, which means low relative humidity, high winds, unstable air and drought.

Pasadena Fire Chief Chad Augustin said a small silver lining was that winds briefly died down enough to allow aircraft to help fight the fire.

“The winds are very calm tonight, so we can use aircraft and a lot of additional resources to help fight this fire,” Augustine said.

“That gives us confidence that we can solve this fire.”

After a brief overnight recovery tonight, wild weather is expected to return Thursday into Friday.

The fire chief warned that the fire was still active and there was a risk of it spreading into the next day.

“Is there a risk of fire spreading tomorrow?” Yes. “Are we expecting unstable fire weather like we saw last night? No,” he said.

The Palisades Fire has now grown to 15,832 acres, followed by the Eaton Fire at 10,600 acres and the Hearst Fire at 505 acres, California officials said.

Three other small fires that broke out throughout Wednesday were later extinguished, authorities said.

And now, local residents of Los Angeles’ most exclusive neighborhoods, home to celebrity enclaves and million-dollar mansions, have received an alert warning them to boil their tap water before drinking it.

“This applies to water used for food preparation, such as brushing teeth, making ice, and washing produce,” the notice states.

Bold capital letters warn residents that until further notice, “you must use only boiled tap water or bottled water for drinking and cooking purposes.”

Tap water should be boiled for 1 minute and then cooled.

The alert was issued amid revelations that water supplies are running low, impacting the heroic efforts of first responders to extinguish the fire.

“While battling the Pacific Palisades Fire, we experienced some water pressure challenges, particularly yesterday,” Los Angeles Fire Chief Eric Scott said.

“We worked closely with the Ministry of Water and Power to proactively fill all available water tanks. But the problem is that at high altitudes water availability has been affected. It affected some of the hydrants because it wasn’t what we needed.”

In total, three huge aquariums, each containing 1 million gallons of water, ran dry.

The first one was dry by 4:45pm on Tuesday, the second by 8:30pm and the third by 3am on Wednesday.