California fires sweep through Los Angeles — with over 100,000 under evacuation

• Multiple major fires are tearing through parts of the Los Angeles area.
• The Palisades fire had burned through over 15,000 acres as of midday Wednesday.
• One climate scientist said it was the worst wildfire in Southern California since 2011.

People across the Los Angeles area battled multiple major fires Wednesday — with over 100,000 people under evacuation orders, five people reported dead, and over a 1,000 structures burned.

Images of people escaping their homes, abandoning their cars, and searching for safe harbor careened across television and social media. Planes dropped water on huge flames whipping through canyons and mountain passes.

And it might not get better anytime soon, officials said. Extremely dry conditions, combined with high wind gusts of more than 90 miles per hour, have helped fuel the multiple fires burning around the metropolitan area.

"Our entire town appears to be gone," one Palisades resident told Business Insider.

The longest-burning of four active fires in Los Angeles County, the Palisades Fire, had burned more than 15,000 acres, CalFire, a state agency, reported Wednesday afternoon. Officials said at an earlier briefing it had caused a high number of significant injuries.

Evacuation orders and warnings also were issued for two more fires. The Hurst fire, in the north of the region near San Fernando, covered over 500 acres, and the Eaton fire, in the northeast near Altadena, covered over 10,000 acres, both as of 5 p.m. local time, according to officials. A fourth fire, the Woodley fire in the Sepulveda Basin, had burned 30 acres, with no evacuations yet ordered for the area.

Pasadena Fire Chief Chad Augustin said Wednesday afternoon that "very mild wind conditions" were expected in the area over night, which should allow for more aircraft and additional resources to be directed at the Eaton fire.

"That's what gives me confidence that we're going to get a handle on this fire," Augustin said.

By Wednesday afternoon, over 100,000 people living near the Eaton fire received evacuation orders, a representative for CalFire told Business Insider.

Five people died as a result of the Eaton fire and two firefighters were reported to have minor injuries, the spokesperson said.

Some 377,000 Californians were also out of power as of Wednesday afternoon, according to a tracking site.

California's Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency on Tuesday, and announced that the state had secured federal assistance from FEMA to support the fire response.

"There's no fire season, it's fire year," Newsom said at a press conference on Tuesday afternoon, noting other fires California has faced in recent months, including the Franklin and Mountain fires. "It's year-round."

Historic windstorm is 'worst possible scenario'

Officials have not yet determined how the fires started, but they erupted during a high-risk major windstorm. Combined with low humidity and dry vegetation in the region, the winds created a perfect storm for fire ignition.

The high winds were "making it extremely challenging" for firefighters on the scene, Los Angeles City Fire Chief Kristin M. Crowley said, making them unable to air-drop water on the fires Wednesday morning. But by the afternoon, water-dropping aircraft had returned to the skies.

The National Weather Service called the windstorm "life-threatening and destructive" and warned that these could be the strongest north winds in 14 years.

Just the Palisades fire alone has already become the most destructive fire ever to hit Los Angeles County, CNN reported, citing CalFire data.

The weather service urged residents to be ready to evacuate, as such winds can rapidly spread any fire that breaks out.

"This is pretty much the worst possible scenario for a firefight," David Ortiz of the LAFD told local news station KTLA.

Tourist landmarks close as smoke chokes LA

The Los Angeles area is a huge tourist draw, attracting nearly 50 million visitors a year.

The fires forced some Los Angeles-area landmarks to close, including the Hollywood sign, the Los Angeles Zoo, Universal Studios Hollywood and Universal CityWalk, and the Griffith Observatory.

Even miles from the fires in South Los Angeles, smoke reduced visibility to just one block, officials said.

Airbnb told CNN that it would be allowing refunds for bookings in areas affected by the wildfires, following a viral social media post from a customer who said the company refused to offer her a refund.

A National Hockey League game between the Los Angeles Kings and the Calgary Flames, scheduled Wednesday night at Crypto.com arena, was postponed. The 30th Annual Critics Choice Awards, set for Sunday night, were also rescheduled, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Disneyland, over 30 miles from the nearest fire, was still open on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, police also made some arrests for looting as some people tried to steal in the areas affected by the fires, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said at Wednesday morning's press conference.

Evacuees abandoned cars as traffic stalled

Palisades Drive, the major road out of the Pacific Palisades neighborhood, was already packed with slow-moving lines of cars shortly after noon Tuesday, as people evacuated beneath a smoky haze and bright-orange flames licked the hillside in the distance, shown live on ABC7.

CalFire reported that the fire was on both sides of Palisades Drive.

ABC7 spoke to multiple people who were evacuating on foot, including some who had abandoned their cars on the road.

One resident told the news channel that "a whole bunch of neighbors" were stuck in their homes on Palisades Drive.

Jonathan Vigliotti, a CBS News correspondent who was on the ground as a neighborhood went up in flames, said on X that there was "mass panic in the streets."

This is a developing story. Please refresh for updates.