Some people decided to escape as the Pacific Palisades wildfire rapidly spread Tuesday afternoon due to a damaging windstorm, while others obeyed evacuation orders and were left to walk among the smoke and ash, leaving their cars stranded in traffic as the flames drew closer.
The Palisades fire was reported to be 20 acres at 10:30 a.m. and had expanded to 200 acres one hour later. It grew to around 800 acres a few hours later.
“This occurred spontaneously,” resident Krishan Chaudry stated. “We were looking at the smoke, then all of the sudden we saw fire everywhere.”
As many attempted to flee, Sunset Boulevard was congested with autos. While strolling along Sunset with her dog, resident Marsha Horowitz reported that the fire department had instructed everyone to exit their vehicles. “The fire came right down to the road, and the fire department came up and said ‘get out of your cars now,’ because the fire was right up against the cars,” she recalled.
According to a Sunset resident, evacuation orders were sent as he was already strolling down the street. He claimed to have seen persons carrying suitcases. “It is beautiful when everything is fine, when there’s fire, everyone wants to be elsewhere,” Eugene stated.
Nicolas Libonati, a resident, reported seeing people running toward the coast and numerous abandoned cars on the road. His words, “It was kind of a surreal scene,” “There’s one road in and one road out, and there’s a fire road, and I tried to go on through the fire road, but a flame went right over my head, so I went down the main road and everyone had that idea obviously.”
Under a hazy, dark sky, many locals made their way to the ocean, where Super Scooters were seen dipping down to fill up on water.
Sean Butler, a longtime resident of Santa Monica, Palisades, said he didn’t hesitate after receiving the evacuation order. “I got my dogs in the car, I got my go-bag and I came down here to the parking lot at Temescal Canyon and Pacific Coast Highway.”
Some are unable to leave. Roads are congested, and there is fire all around them, with flames reaching the houses.
Sue, a resident, stated, “We’re all freaked out everywhere, all shaking,” “The firefighters have been the most incredible people. They gave us hugs and assured us that they would take care of us. They have been outstanding. Earlier, she assessed the winds to be 50 mph.
Evacuated residents are concerned about the survival of their properties. According to resident Andrew Hires, “I’m not sure if my house is up or if it burned down or not.” “I was about 100 yards from our house, in the backyard when I started evacuating … well when I started packing and got my kids out.”
According to fire officials, the Westwood Recreation Center is now open as an evacuation center and an overnight shelter for evacuees and small animals. Here is the most recent information on evacuations and available options for impacted individuals.
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