(Los Angeles) An impressive fire prompted evacuations Tuesday in the hills overlooking Los Angeles, which is experiencing violent winds capable of quickly spreading the flames and posing a “mortal danger,” local authorities announced.
Posted at 4:03 p.m.
The fire broke out late in the morning in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood, which borders the Santa Monica Mountains to the north of the city. According to several witnesses, some homes have already burned in this upscale area, populated with multi-million dollar villas built in the middle of steep canyons.
At midday, the fire already covered 80 hectares on the outskirts of Los Angeles, according to the CalFire agency.
“Evacuate the Palisades area now,” the city advised on X, as dozens of firefighters battled the flames.
The fire caused a huge column of smoke, visible from the entire megacity. The neighboring town of Malibu, which already suffered a large fire in December, has closed its schools.
The fire broke out while Los Angeles was being swept by particularly violent gusts: hot Santa Ana winds, typical of the Californian winter, were expected to blow up to 160 km/h, according to the US Weather Services (NWS). ).
Enough to spread the flames very quickly and greatly complicate the task of the firefighters.
” ATTENTION ! ! ! A DESTRUCTIVE and LETHALLY DANGER windstorm is expected Tuesday afternoon through Wednesday morning across much of the Los Angeles area, the NWS on X warned.
The weather alert is expected to remain in place until Thursday evening.
Many firefighters had been deployed in advance and were “aggressively” fighting the fire, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass assured on social media.
“Area residents are urged to heed evacuation warnings and follow the instructions of public safety officials,” the Democrat added.
