By Hannah Lang and Brendan O'Brien for Reuters
A firefighter stands on top of a fire truck to battle the Palisades fire while it burns homes on the Pacific Coast Highway amid a powerful windstorm on January 8, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. Photo: AFP / Getty Images / Apu Gomes
Film and television stars including Jamie Lee Curtis, Mandy Moore and James Woods were among those forced to evacuate and left wondering whether their homes survived the out-of-control wildfires burning around Los Angeles.
James Woods Photo: AFP / Getty Images / Charley Gallay
The day after Woods evacuated his house in Pacific Palisades, an affluent neighbourhood that sits between the beach towns of Santa Monica and Malibu, he described the scene as an "inferno" where "every house around us was on fire".
"We were literally in the exact epicentre of the fire as it started," Woods, an award-winning actor known for roles in Salvador, Ghosts of Mississippi and Any Given Sunday, said on CNN on Wednesday. "There was so much chaos. It was like an inferno."
Strong, dry winds have fanned the blaze burning around Pacific Palisades, and the area's narrow, winding streets combined with the rush of thousands of people ordered to evacuate have created long delays and traffic jams for those trying to escape the wildfire.
Traffic on Sunset Boulevard as people evacuate from the Palisades fire on January 7, 2025 in the Pacific Palisades neighbourhood of Los Angeles, California. Photo: AFP / Getty Images / Apu Gomes
Some evacuees abandoned their cars on Tuesday.
Among those caught in the traffic was actor Eugene Levy of the television series Schitt's Creek.
"I couldn't see any flames but the smoke was very dark," he told the Los Angeles Times.
Mandy Moore, known for her role in the television series This is Us, posted on Instagram that she and her family had evacuated because of the proximity of the flames.
"So gutted for the destruction and loss,"she said. "Don't know if our place made it."
The remains of a property in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles. Photo: AFP / Getty Images / Eric Thayer
Reality TV stars Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag lost their Pacific Palisades home in the wildfire, according to TMZ, which added that the couple was able to safely evacuate with their children earlier in the day.
Pratt shared a video on Instagram earlier in the day of a plane dropping water on a mountainside engulfed with smoke.
Pacific Palisades, dotted with palatial hillside estates, is bordered by the Pacific Ocean and buffeted by the Santa Monica Mountains. With its median home price of US$4.5 million (NZ$8.02m), it is home to many film and music stars as well as the Getty Villa, one of the most popular museums in Los Angeles.
Firefighters battle flames from the Palisades fire on January 8, 2025 in Malibu, California. Photo: AFP / Getty Images / Eric Thayer
Several other fires - along with the Palisades blaze - are burning around the city.
California Governor Gavin Newsom has declared a state of emergency and officials have warned that the wildfires are unpredictable and remain out of control.
"This is a dynamic situation," Kathryn Barger, a member of Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, said at a news conference on Wednesday. "We've got fires throughout the entire county, which are spreading our resources very short."
The wildfires prompted organisers of Hollywood's Screen Actors Guild Awards to cancel a live announcement of its nominations on Wednesday. City authorities also blocked public access to the famous Hollywood sign in the hills above Los Angeles.
Actor Mark Hamill, known for playing Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars films, said the blaze was the "most horrific" since 1993.
He said on Instagram that he evacuated his home in Malibu around 7pm on Tuesday with his family.
"There were small fires on both sides of the road as we approached the Pacific Coast Highway," he said.
-Reuters
