Pacific Palisades locals describe catastrophic fireplace as they escape with designer suitcases: ‘Like a catastrophe film’
A fire is raging in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Southern California which is known for high-end shops and A-list celebrities like Reese Witherspoon and Ben Affleck.
DailyMail.com spoke to a resident of the flaming area who lives not far from the downtown shopping district.
Nina and her daughter were lucky to drive out with the clothes on their backs and their two small dogs Aspen and Buster.
The mom described the scene as ‘chaotic’ and ‘frightening’ with people running, sirens blasting and planes full of ocean water buzzing overhead.
‘People are parking their cars on the side of the road, getting out and running for their lives!’ Nina told DailyMail.com. ‘People are literally running down the sidewalks pulling kids by their hands and carrying Louis Vuitton luggage.
‘One guy was running with two Gucci suitcases and a house plant. It is like something out of a disaster movie.’
A BMW and a Tesla are seen in bumper-to-bumper traffic as the fire rages in the background
A Porsche is seen driving away from the fiery scene in Los Angeles on Tuesday
Nina and her daughter were lucky to drive out with the clothes on their backs; seen in 2021
And there is no fast way to safer ground.
‘It is taking three hours to get out of the Palisades at this point. It’s bumper to bumper Porsches and BMWs. People are running for their lives!’
As far as being afraid for her life, she is in the clear.
‘I am not scared because I got out. But I am very concerned. I may not come back to my house. It may be burned up. I may lose my home that I love,’ she added.
Still, some of her neighbors want to stay and are hosing down the roofs of their homes ‘in hopes to save it.’
‘I am stunned that people want to stay, they could die! It’s insane. I don’t think people know how serious it is,’ said Nina.
Police are rushing into the area to help people get out. ‘Everywhere you look siren are blasting!’
There are not a lot of places to go. It is challenging to get even down to the Pacific Ocean.
And all the hotels are ‘filling up in the area.’
As far as cars, people are asking to leave their keys out.
‘Everyone is asking people to put the key in their car so safety people can drive it away in case the fire comes down. That is so the car will not explode with a full gas tank. It could be a fire bomb.’
Firefighters run as a brush fire burns in Pacific Palisades, California
Nina grabbed her dogs Buster and Aspen and fled the area
A firefighter protects a structure from the advancing in California
A fire is raging in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Southern California which is known for high end shops and A list celebrities like Gwyneth Paltrow and Ben Affleck
She described the scene as ‘chaotic’ and ‘frightening’ with people running, sirens blasting
All the stores and schools are closed as well.
The fire started just before 11 am.
‘I was supposed to leave my house at 11 am and when I went outside it smelled like fire, but not that bad yet,’ she said.
‘It started in the Palisades Highlands, it’s north of where I live.
‘I could see flames and smoke on the ring of fire, I have never seen flames that close to me before.
‘It was spreading like crazy, so fast, and the flames were high like 40 feet. I could see the flames lift up and fly in the air and fall down on brushes. I left soon after because I could see the fire coming down the hill toward my house. I did not wait for an evacuation which came at 1:30 pm.’
The evacuation alerts were on Citizen app and LAFD.org. ‘I was watching my phone,’ said Nina, ‘but was gone before they told people to leave.’
She took all her paperwork, her purse, her dogs, dog food and a bottle of water.
‘My daughter wanted to take more but I said no, we can always buy more stuff later,’ she said, ‘we needed to put our lives first.’
A wildfire breaks out near Pacific Palisades on the west side of Los Angeles during a weather driven windstorm in Southern California
A Los Angeles County firefighter battles the Palisades wildfire as a car burns
She got in her SUV and headed down Sunset Boulevard down to PCH.
‘The traffic was bad and the fire planes flew low down overhead. It was noisy and windy. The were taking water out of the ocean and dumping on the ring of fire.’
She said there were two to four doing back and forth runs.
She drove to Beverly Hills and booked a room at a hotel there. She said it is already full and she was lucky to get an early start.
‘I am so happy I left right away and I pray that others get out OK. This is terrifying,’ said Nina.
At least 1,262 acres (510 hectares) of the Pacific Palisades area between Santa Monica and Malibu had burned, officials said on Tuesday afternoon, after they had already warned of extreme fire danger from dry, powerful winds. The size of the fire grew sixfold in a matter of hours.
Witnesses reported a number homes on fire with flames nearly scorching their cars when people fled the hills of Topanga Canyon, as the fire spread from there down to the Pacific Ocean.
Flames engulfed homes and bulldozers cleared abandoned vehicles from roads so emergency vehicles could pass, television images showed.
Before the fire started, the National Weather Service had issued its highest alert for extreme fire conditions for much of Los Angeles County from Tuesday through Thursday, predicting wind gusts of 50 to 80 mph (80 to 130 kph) with isolated winds of 80 to 100 mph (130 to 160 kph) in the mountains and foothills.
That combined with low humidity and dry vegetation due to a lack of rain.
