More than 30,000 people evacuated their homes as a wildfire ripped through an upscale coastal area of Los Angeles on Tuesday (January 7, 2025) and into Wednesday (January 8, 2025), with Hollywood celebrities among those fleeing by car and on foot as flames engulfed homes and set hillsides ablaze. Two other fires inland were also spreading fast, officials said.
Numerous buildings were destroyed and nearly 3,000 acres (1,200 hectares) burned in the Pacific Palisades area between the beach towns of Santa Monica and Malibu, officials said. Roads were jammed with people fleeing the inferno, some abandoning their cars as flames licked the edges, and plumes of smoke and flames rose in the night sky over Los Angeles and its suburbs.
Firefighters has not contained the blaze by the early hours and Governor Gavin Newsom has declared a state of emergency.
(With inputs from agencies)
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Reuters
A U.S flag flies as fire engulfs a structure while the Palisades Fire burns during a windstorm on the west side of Los Angeles, California, U.S. on January 7, 2025.
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AP
Jerome Krausse pushes his mother-in-law in a shopping cart as they evacuate from their home in the Pacific Palisades after a wildfire swept through their neighborhood in Santa Monica, Calif., on January 7, 2025.
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Reuters
The Palisades Fire burns during a windstorm on the west side of Los Angeles, California, U.S. on January 7, 2025.
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AP
A firefighter jumps over a fence while fighting the Palisades Fire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, on January 7, 2025.
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AP
The Eaton Fire burns the AltaMed Medical building on January 8, 2025 in Altadena, California
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AP
People flee from the advancing Palisades Fire, by car and on foot, in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles on January 7, 2025.
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AP
A firefighter is silhouetted in front of a burning structure as the Palisades Fire sweeps through in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, on January 7, 2025.
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AP
A surfer takes off on a wave in Santa Monica, Calif., during sunset under a blackened sky from the Palisades fire in the Pacific Palisades on on January 7, 2025.
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Reuters
A firefighter works to extinguish flames as the Eaton Fire burns in Pasadena, California, U.S. on January 8, 2025.
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AP
Water is dropped on the advancing Palisades Fire by helicopter in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, on January 7, 2025.
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Reuters
Firefighters work to extinguish flames as the Eaton Fire burns in Pasadena, California, U.S. on January 8, 2025.
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AP
Residents of a senior center are evacuated as the Eaton Fire approaches on January 7, 2025, in Altadena, California
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AP
Motorists drives past the Palisades Fire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, on January 7, 2025.
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AP
Residents of a senior center are evacuated as the Eaton Fire approaches on January 7, 2025 in Altadena, California
Published – January 08, 2025 05:12 pm IST
