BREAKING: Fire burning out of control as thousands evacuate amid dangerous windstorm

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From the Los Angeles Times: A fire was burning out of control Tuesday in Pacific Palisades, destroying homes and forcing residents to abandon their vehicles and flee amid a potentially “life-threatening and destructive” windstorm.

Most of Pacific Palisades was under an evacuation order by the afternoon, as residents fought traffic jams and heavy smoke trying to escape the nearby flames. The blaze broke out around 10:30 a.m. near Piedra Morada Drive and was pushed by intense wind gusts that officials had warned could fuel any spark into a fast-moving and erratic wildfire. It was more than 700 acres by the afternoon.

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

The cause of the fire remains under investigation. Massive smoke plumes filled the sky around the Palisades fire as families evacuated not far from hillsides glowing with orange. The blaze quickly jumped across Palisades Drive according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection — leaving many trying to evacuate in a precarious and chaotic situation. Some jumped out of their stalled cars to run toward the beach, other were forced to return home and shelter-in-place if they couldn’t get out, residents told The Times.

Videos posted to social media show a terrifying scene.

Conservative actor James Woods lives in the area, and said he has evacuated.

“To all the wonderful people who’ve reached out to us, thank you for being so concerned. Just letting you know that we were able to evacuate successfully. I do not know at this moment if our home is still standing, but sadly houses on our little street are not,” Woods wrote.

Fox News reporter Bill Melugin has shared videos of the view from his home in Brentwood. ” I’ve been watching it for the last hour. I live in Brentwood, and yes it is moving that way,” he wrote in one post.

“East flank of the #PalisadesFire is RIPPING. This is my view from 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica. This thing is moving towards Brentwood area and if these winds pick up as advertised tonight we’re looking at potential risk to the Sepulveda Pass, Bel Air, etc if it keeps pushing east. Nonstop sirens, as you can hear in the video,” Melugin announced.

Police are seen rescuing people who had to flee on foot.

Daily Mail reporter Jon Michael Raasch explained, “On Sunset Blvd. Abandoned cars are being bulldozed out of the way to make room for emergency vehicles, @KTLA reports. There was a mass panic as the fire approached I’m told.”

All that’s left of one large home is the iron gate blocking the driveway, as flames are seen roaring where the house once stood.

FoxLA reporter Matthew Seedorff has posted multiple videos of the fire raging through the Palisades neighborhood, consuming multiple large homes, with no firefighters in sight.

With the fire alarm going off at one home, and still no firefighters, Seedorff said his team tried to help using water hoses, but realized there’s nothing they can do to stop the flames.

The home they tried to save with a garden hose was later seen going up in flames.

Firefighters are finally on the scene, but it appears hopeless among the high winds.

“Scene from my driveway in Pacific Palisades just before we evacuated,” one X user wrote.

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