The devastating Palisades inferno in Los Angeles has prompted mass evacuations, with over 30,000 residents fleeing as wildfires consume luxury homes and burn more than 3,000 acres. Residents like Orly Israel were caught on video escaping from their $5 million home amid flames and thick smoke. Many celebrities, including Spencer Pratt and Mark Hamill, have also evacuated. The fires, exacerbated by fierce Santa Ana winds, have left much of Southern California on edge, with firefighters struggling to gain control. Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency, while authorities warned of worsening conditions and significant infrastructure issues hampering firefighting efforts.
Terrified Los Angeles residents are fleeing for their lives as the cataclysmic Palisades inferno rips through the area, turning multi-million-dollar homes into rubble and burning more than 3,000 acres of land.
The Palisades fire has forced 30,000 residents under evacuation orders, including one man who was caught on camera abandoning the luxurious $5million home that he shares with his parents as flames began to engulf the property.
Orly Israel, 30, abruptly left the luxurious Pacific Palisades residence after he and close friend Tanner Charles had attempted to prepare the home for the wildfires, spraying the whole place in water. But three hours after the dousing the home, the backyard of the property was ripped apart by the fires.
The petrifying video, eerily reminiscent of a Hollywood disaster film, shows Israel battling the flames with a garden hose before they decide to flee. Charles captures their departure, and tells him: ‘ Alright dude, let’s get out of here.’
Charles said a prayer as a tree in the front yard also catches fire, the whole of the street is thick with smoke with burning embers falling everywhere.
In an update to his own social media, Israel informed his followers that they both made it out safe. He said: ‘We don’t know if the house is burnt down or not but the whole palisades is on fire, so it’s bleak.’
Israel and Charles are among dozens of locals making a desperate escape from burning homes through flames, ferocious winds and towering clouds of smoke.
Haunting video footage has also emerged of two men and their dog left trapped in their home as hellish wildfires encircled the property.
The raging inferno has sent dozens of celebrities fleeing for their lives including Mark Hamill, Eugene Levy, and James Wood, who shared video of a home two blocks from his property in the Pacific Palisades that was completely engulfed in flames.
The fire completely ravaged the family home of reality TV star Spencer Pratt and his wife Heidi Montag. Formula One heiress Petra Ecclestone and her husband Sam Palmer have evacuated with their children.
Actor Steve Guttenberg assisted firefighters by moving cars in order to make room for the incoming fire trucks.
Tanner Charles filmed himself as he and friend Orly Israel fled Israel’s luxurious $5 million Pacific Palisades home as it was consumed by wildfires
A frightening clip showed flames and sparks just outside the living room
Orly was seen closing the door of the property as he and Charles fled to safety
Another frightening moment showed trees in the yard on fire while sparks filled the night sky
Israel can be seen battling the fires with a garden hose before they decide to flee
Valiant firefighters have been battling to extinguish the fires that have engulfed the area and other parts of Southern California.
Thousands like Israel have made the desperate escape from their burning homes through flames, ferocious winds and clouds of smoke.
In the frantic rush to safety, roadways became impassable in some areas after score of people abandoned their vehicles and fled on foot, some carrying suitcases.
Flames were being pushed on by Santa Ana winds which were topping out at 60mph in places on Tuesday and then increasing to 80mph on Wednesday morning.
The National Weather Service has warned that they could hit speeds as high as 100mph in mountains and foothills.
Devastatingly, there is to be no respite which meteorologist Peter Mullinax saying the winds would continue throughout Wednesday and into Thursday.
Mullinax said: ‘The winds are expected to continue throughout today and even into Thursday as well, providing very little in terms of any relief.’
On Tuesday night wind speeds were so high it was too dangerous for firefighting aircraft to take to the sky, further hampering the fight.
The $5 million property is seen here prior to the fires taking over the neighborhood this week
In an update to his own social media, Israel informed his followers that they both made it out safe
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Two men and their dog trapped as hellish wildfires encircled their property in Los Angeles.
The chilling clip recorded from within the house showed how flames dozens of feet high surrounded the property, clearly visible through floor-to-ceiling windows, in a scene reminiscent of a Hollywood disaster movie.
The man, whose identity was not immediately known, can be heard telling his dog: ‘You’re going to be okay, alright?’, while instructing a second resident to stay away from the windows amid fears they could shatter.
Real estate developer Rick Caruso, whose Palisades Village properties in Westside LA were demolished by the inferno, blamed the shocking issue on ‘mismanagement’ and ‘systemic problems’ in the city after it emerged the hydrants were not filled by reservoir water.
This revelation comes after LA Mayor Karen Bass – who is currently out of the country – cut the LA Fire Department’s budget by some $23million in 2024.
‘This is a window into a systemic problem of the city — not only of mismanagement, but our infrastructure is old,’ he said, as the LA Times reported that firefighters were radioing their stations with reports that the hydrants were dry.
He went onto rail against Bass and the Department of Water and Power (DWP) in a stern interview delivered to FOX News.
Governor Gavin Newsom has issued a state of emergency and visited the Pacific Palisades.
Officials have yet to give an estimate to how many structures were lost in the area, but said 30,000 have fled under evacuation orders.
As of this morning, over 340,000 people were without power in Los Angeles County, according to PowerOutage.
The chilling clip recorded from within the house showed how flames dozens of feet high surrounded the property, clearly visible through floor-to-ceiling windows
The man, whose identity was not immediately known, can be heard telling his dog: ‘You’re going to be okay, alright?’
Flames are clearly visible through floor-to-ceiling windows as the inferno rages through the neighborhood
The scene was somewhat reminiscent of a Hollywood disaster film
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Fire engulfs a home as the Eaton Fire moves through Altadena, California on Wednesday
Flames from the Palisades Fire burn homes along Pacific Coast Highway
Reality TV star Spencer Pratt, 41, and his Heidi Montag, 38, lost their home in the Palisades due to the raging wildfire.
Oscar-nominated actor James Woods fled his home in the area after sharing footage of a home near his own being engulfed in flames.
Woods also declared that he and many of his neighbors no longer have insurance after a ‘major company’ supposedly canceled many of the policies four months ago.
Star Wars actor Mark Hamill revealed he was bundled out of his Malibu home in a ‘last-minute’ evacuation on Tuesday night.
He said ‘small fires’ burned on ‘both sides of the road’ as he approached the Pacific Coast Highway and called the blaze the ‘most horrific fire’ since 1993.
Police Academy star Steve Guttenberg, 66, sprung into action as the blaze ripped through the Palisades community, opting to assist firefighters by moving cars in order to make room for the incoming fire trucks.
Eugene Levy, dubbed the honorary mayor of Pacific Palisades, said he was caught in the gridlock of fleeing residents the area.
But even those who have made it to safety are now praying for a miracle, including Formula One heiress Petra Ecclestone and her husband Sam Palmer who evacuated with their family.
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.
Pacific Palisades resident Kelsey Trainor said the only road in and out of her neighborhood was blocked. Ash fell all around them while fires burned on both sides of the road.
‘We looked across and the fire had jumped from one side of the road to the other side of the road,’ Trainor said. ‘People were getting out of the cars with their dogs and babies and bags, they were crying and screaming.’
Flames from the Palisades Fire burn a home
Smoke and flames rise from burning structures as the Eaton Fire burns in Pasadena, California, U.S
Oscar-nominated actor James Woods took to X with multiple posts detailing the damage as a fast-moving wildfire in the Los Angeles hillsides was exacerbated by a fierce windstorm in Southern California
Woods shared footage of home engulfed by flames that he passed while evacuating the area
Pratt, 41, was captured in photos as he watched the rapidly advancing fire move toward his home, which is in an area featuring many celebrity estates that are also at risk of burning
Police Academy star Steve Guttenberg, 66, sprung into action as the blaze ripped through the Palisades community, opting to assist firefighters by moving cars in order to make room for the incoming fire trucks
A total of 5,400 acres has burned after three infernos erupted across Los Angeles on Tuesday.
The Palisades Fire, which started around 10.30am, had burned 4.5 square miles (11.6 square kilometers), according to officials. It rained flaming embers onto trees and rooftops in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood.
Residents rushing to escape created a traffic jam on Palisades Drive, blocking emergency vehicles from getting through. Crews used a bulldozer to push the abandoned cars off to the side.
The Eaton Fire in the Altadena area, which started around 6.30pm Tuesday, quickly burned 1.6 square miles (4 square kilometers) by early Wednesday according to fire officials. At a senior center, employees pushed dozens of residents in wheelchairs and hospital beds to a parking lot to escape.
The Hurst Fire started around 10.30pm Tuesday and prompted evacuations in Sylmar, a San Fernando Valley community in the northernmost neighborhood in Los Angeles.
That fire had grown to 500 acres (202 hectares) by early Wednesday. The Tyler Fire in Coachella was relatively small, burning 15 acres (6 hectares).
The fires were at 0 per cent containment.
A firefighter battles the Palisades Fire as it burns a structure in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles
The latest update from the LA fire department warned the situation remains ‘very dangerous’ and that wind speeds are ‘worsening’
Besides the Palisades, the Hurst fire is burning across 500 acres just north of San Fernando, and the Eaton Fire, in Altadena, seen here, has burned 1,000 acres
As of Wednesday morning, more than 180,000 people were without power mostly in Los Angeles County, according to the tracking website PowerOutage.us.
Southern California Edison shut off power to some customers because of safety concerns related to high winds and fire risks.
More than 500,000 could face shutoffs depending on weather conditions, the utility said.
Evacuation zones have grown by the hour as officials warned that the worse of the fires is yet to come.
As the fires continue to rage and decimate areas, authorities have said that there is ‘no possibility’ of it being brought under control.
The latest update from the LA fire department warned the situation remains ‘very dangerous’ and that wind speeds are ‘worsening’.
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Firefighters battling a mammoth blaze in California ‘s ritzy Pacific Palisades have warned they’re running out of water and supplies, as emergency evacuation warnings spread as far as Malibu and Calabasas
Hellish photos from the inferno’s epicenter show once-decadent million-dollar homes completely obliterated by the wildfire. A spiral staircase and opulent art gallery wall were seen burned to cinders
All aircraft has now been grounded as conditions deteriorate
Spencer Pratt shared footage on TikTok of the inferno ripping through his neighborhood
Spencer Pratt is seen watching wildfire as it approaches his family home in Palisades fire as he evacuates after gathering valuables from the residence
Ben Affleck, 52, returned home to his Pacific Palisades house last night to see the wildfire nearby was within sight
Besides the Palisades, the Hurst fire is burning across 500 acres just north of San Fernando, and the Eaton Fire, in Altadena, has burned 1,000 acres.
In the last hour, the Tyler fire in Riverside County has also been reported, burning across 15 acres.
Recent dry winds, including the notorious Santa Anas, have contributed to warmer-than-average temperatures in Southern California, where there´s been very little rain so far this season. Southern California hasn´t seen more than 0.1 inches (0.25 centimeters) of rain since early May.
President Joe Biden has canceled plans to travel to inland Riverside County, where he was to announce the establishment of two new national monuments. He remained in Los Angeles, where smoke was visible from his hotel, and was briefed on the wildfires.