Hollywood Hills fire breaks out as deadly wildfires burn out of control across Los Angeles area

LOS ANGELES — A fast-moving fire broke out in the Hollywood Hills on Wednesday night, threatening one of Los Angeles’ most iconic spots as firefighters battled to get under control three other major blazes that killed five people, put 100,000 people under evacuation orders and ravaged the city from the Pacific Coast to inland Pasadena.

The Sunset Fire was burning near the Hollywood Bowl and about a mile from the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

The streets around Grauman’s Chinese Theatre and Madame Tussauds were packed with stop-and-go traffic as sirens blared and low-flying helicopters soared by on their way to dump water on the flames. People toting suitcases left hotels on foot, while some onlookers walked towards the flames, recording the fire on their phones.

More than 1,000 structures, mostly homes, have been destroyed, and more than 130,000 people are under evacuation orders in the metropolitan area.

Winds eased up some Wednesday, a day after hurricane-force winds blew embers through the air, igniting block after block, and hundreds of firefighters from other states have arrived to help, but the four fires burning out of control showed the danger is far from over.

Southern California residents awoke to a hazy sunrise over the Los Angeles skyline choked by smoke from multiple nearby wildfires. https://t.co/IyoKZH7tze pic.twitter.com/hPfdpKk7pn

— ABC News (@ABC) January 8, 2025

More than 1,000 structures were destroyed, and many people were hurt in the fires, including first responders, Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said.

Images of the devastation showed luxurious homes that collapsed in a whirlwind of flaming embers. Swimming pools were blackened with soot, and sports cars slumped on melted tires.

“This morning, we woke up to a dark cloud over all of Los Angeles. But it is darkest for those who are most intimately impacted by these fires. It has been an immensely painful 24 hours,” LA County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath said.

The devastating #PalisadesFire and #EatonFire continue to burn across parts of southern California today. This imagery from @NOAA's #GOESWest (GOES-18) ????️ shows the smoke and heat signatures from the #wildfires from Jan. 7-8, 2025. pic.twitter.com/9DY6YIRzYn

— NOAA Satellites (@NOAASatellites) January 8, 2025

At least 100,000 people were ordered to evacuate — a number that kept changing because evacuation orders were continually being issued, officials said. The flames marched toward highly populated and affluent neighborhoods, including Calabasas and Santa Monica, home to California’s rich and famous. Hollywood stars, including Mark Hamill, Mandy Moore and James Woods, were among those forced to flee.

In Palisades Village, the public library, two major grocery stores, a pair of banks and several boutiques were destroyed.

“It’s just really weird coming back to somewhere that doesn’t really exist anymore,” said Dylan Vincent, who returned to the neighborhood to retrieve some items and saw that his elementary school had burned down and that whole blocks had been flattened.

The fires have consumed a total of about 42 square miles — nearly the size of the entire city of San Francisco.

All four wildfires in Southern California are still 0% contained, more than 400,000 people are without power, and evacuation orders remain in place. Here's the latest: pic.twitter.com/PkulKpaPHV

— The Weather Channel (@weatherchannel) January 8, 2025

Jennie Girardo, a 39-year-old producer and director from Pasadena, said she was alarmed when her neighbor came to check on her.

“When I opened my door, it smelled like I was living inside of a fireplace,” she said. “Then I also started to see the ash. And I’ve never seen that in my life. Like raining ash.”

Flames moved so quickly that many barely had time to escape. Police sought shelter inside their patrol cars, and residents at a senior living center were pushed in wheelchairs and hospital beds down a street to safety in the foothills northeast of LA.

One of the fires ripped through the Pacific Palisades neighborhood, a hillside area along the coast dotted with celebrity homes and memorialized by the Beach Boys in their 1960s hit “Surfin’ USA.” In the race to get to safety, roadways became impassable when scores of people abandoned their vehicles and fled on foot, some toting suitcases.

“People were getting out of the cars with their dogs and babies and bags,” said Kelsey Trainor, who escaped while ash fell all around and fires burned on both sides of the road.

California’s wildfire season typically begins in June or July and runs through October, according to the Western Fire Chiefs Association, but January wildfires are not unprecedented. There was one in 2022 and 10 in 2021, according to CalFire.

The season is beginning earlier and ending later due to rising temperatures and decreased rainfall tied to climate change, according to recent data. Rains that usually end fire season are often delayed, meaning fires can burn through the winter months, the association said.

Dry wind, including the notorious Santa Anas, have contributed to warmer-than-average temperatures in Southern California, which has not seen more than 0.1 inches of rain since early May.

The wind increased to 80 mph Wednesday, according to reports received by the National Weather Service, and could top 100 mph in mountains and foothills.

President Joe Biden pledged to sign a federal emergency declaration after arriving at a Santa Monica fire station for a briefing with Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Newsom posted on X that California had deployed more than 1,400 firefighting personnel to combat the blazes. He also dispatched National Guard troops to help.

“We are absolutely not out of danger yet,” Los Angeles city Fire Chief Kristin M. Crowley said.

“We are prepared to do anything and everything for as long as it takes to contain these fires."

President Biden receives an in-person briefing on the wildfires raging across the Los Angeles area. pic.twitter.com/kTu7i56nDt

— MSNBC (@MSNBC) January 8, 2025

The fires burned through Temescal Canyon, a popular hiking area surrounded by dense neighborhoods of multimillion-dollar homes, and also jumped famous Sunset Boulevard, burning parts of the Palisades Charter High School, which has been featured in many Hollywood productions, including the 1976 horror movie “Carrie” and the TV series “Teen Wolf.”

Several Hollywood studios suspended production, and Universal Studios closed its theme park between Pasadena and Pacific Palisades. The Getty Villa, a campus devoted to art and culture of ancient Greece and Rome, said its structures and collection were safe.

As it grew, the fire burning in the Pacific Palisades became the most destructive fire in the modern history of the city of Los Angeles.

With an estimated 1,000 structures destroyed and the flames still growing Wednesday, it is far more destructive than the Sayre fire in 2008 that destroyed just over 600 structures, according to statistics kept by the Wildfire Alliance, a partnership between the city’s fire department and MySafe:LA. Structures refers to homes and other buildings.

Before that, a 1961 Bel Air fire stood for nearly half a century as the most destructive fire in the city’s history. It burned nearly 500 houses in the tony hillside enclave, including homes of actor Burt Lancaster, Zsa Zsa Gabor and other celebrities.

Residents were urged to limit water usage. Los Angeles Public Works Director Mark Pestrella said the city’s water systems that service homes and businesses were working effectively, but “they are not designed to fight wildfires.”

"That was pretty much a gutshot to see that." A man who evacuated from his home on Tuesday night during the Los Angeles wildfires broke down in tears when he returned to his neighborhood on Wednesday, and saw the homes in his neighborhood completely destroyed. pic.twitter.com/NXFiOmwc18

— CBS News (@CBSNews) January 8, 2025

More than 100 schools were closed due to fire risk. Southern California Edison shut off service to thousands because of safety concerns related to high winds and fire risks. More than 1.5 million customers could face shutoffs depending on weather conditions, the utility said.

Several Southern California landmarks were heavily damaged, including the Reel Inn in Malibu, a seafood restaurant. Owner Teddy Leonard and her husband hope to rebuild.

“When you look at the grand scheme of things, as long as your family is well and everyone’s alive, you’re still winning, right?” she said.