'It's like an inferno': Pacific Palisades fire explodes as thousands of residents flee

Grace Toohey, Noah Goldberg, Noah Haggerty and Hannah Fry, Los Angeles Times on Jan 7, 2025

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LOS ANGELES — A fire was burning out of control Tuesday in the Pacific Palisades, threatening numerous homes and forcing thousands to evacuate, amid a potentially “life-threatening and destructive” windstorm.

Most of the Pacific Palisades was under an evacuation order, as residents and firefighters fought traffic jams in some areas trying to escape the flames. The blaze broke out around 10:30 a.m. near Piedra Morada Drive and was being pushed by intense wind gusts that officials had warned could quickly spread a wildfire.

“It’s bad. It’s like an inferno,” said Lori Libonati, who lives in the Pacific Palisades and saw the fire start to burn Tuesday morning before evacuating. “We just saw the flames.”

Massive smoke plumes filled the sky around the Palisades fire as families evacuated not far from hillsides glowing with orange. The blaze had already jumped across Palisades Drive and was burning on both sides of the road, according to updates from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

The city of Los Angeles warned residents near the fire to “get set for a potential wildfire evacuation by gathering supplies and loved ones.”

“It looks grim,” Magnolia Shin said around noon Tuesday, about an hour after she left her house on Piedra Morada Drive. Shin said that she could feel the heat from the flames before she left, which were within 50 yards of her home. She didn’t have time to try to save anything from her home before evacuating.

“I couldn’t even get my rabbit,” she said. “I just left. I just took my purse and drove away.”

The upscale Palisades community is known for many celebrity residents. Current Honorary Mayor of the Pacific Palisades, Eugene Levy, was evacuating along with other residents of the neighborhood Tuesday.

“The smoke looked pretty black and intense over Temescal Canyon,” Levy told The Times as he was stuck in traffic, evacuating. “I couldn’t see any flames but the smoke was very dark.”

Residents fleeing down Sunset Boulevard gathered along the Pacific Coast Highway, many calling family members still trapped in traffic; others cried as they finally reunited.

Cavalry Christian School students and teachers posted in the Sunset Beach parking lot, waiting to connect students with their families. But the smoke quickly moved toward the shore. By noon, ash was dropping from the sky along the coastline.

“I figured it was safer at the beach, but now I’m not so sure,” said Daryl Goldsmith. “The wind is virulent and I just hope things don’t burn down. … The poor fire department couldn’t get up there.”

Goldsmith was at her Palisades home with friends when she spotted the fire. It quickly exploded, she said.

As she rushed to evacuate, her husband stayed behind to help a disabled neighbor escape. Firefighters began directing traffic, but Goldsmith decided to ditch her car in the grass and decided to walk down to the shore.

As she waited at Sunset Beach, her husband was still stuck up the hill.

The region remains under severe red flag warnings as dry, unpredictable and strong offshore winds pick up across the region. The National Weather Service said strong north winds are expected around the fire through at least Wednesday, with speeds peaking Tuesday night from 35 to 60 mph.

In some parts of Los Angeles and Ventura Counties, gusts up to 100 mph are possible as the dangerous windstorm drags on. Wind speeds had already hit 60 to 70 mph in some areas of the eastern Santa Monica mountains, not far from the fire, according to the National Weather Service.

In West Hollywood, firefighters were battling another blaze, which sparked just after 10 a.m., according to the Los Angeles Fire Department. A structure fire spread to brush near West Sunset Boulevard, estimated to be about a quarter-acre in size.

Amid a parched landscape, the major wind event was again creating particularly dangerous fire weather — similar to the conditions that were in place when both the November Mountain fire in Ventura County and the Franklin fire in December in Malibu erupted.

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