Apocalyptic scenes of 120ft flames engulfing multi-million dollar homes stunned the world yesterday as wild fires tore through one of Hollywood’s most exclusive enclaves.
Stars such as Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg, Star Wars’ Mark Hamill, American actor James Woods and Formula 1 heiress Petra Ecclestone were forced to flee as rampaging wildfires ripped through Pacific Palisades, burning everything in their path.
Gwyneth Paltrow and Ben Affleck were seen returning to their properties, with one neighbour telling the Mail he saw Affleck wielding a garden hose to soak the deck at the back of his ex-wife Jennifer Garner’s mansion.
More than 33,000 residents were forced to outrun what has become known as the ‘Palisades Fire’, which burned through 3,500 acres, whipped by winds of up to 80mph.
The vast conflagration remained out of control last night, with California governor Gavin Newsom declaring a state of emergency.
Three other blazes nearby – the ‘Eaton Fire’, ‘Hurst Fire’ and ‘Woodley Fire’ – destroyed a further 2,200 acres with another 50,000 residents displaced.
Last night, Mark Hamill, 73, who played Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars films, told how he ‘fled for his life’ with wife Marilou and dog Trixie at 8pm on Tuesday night as the wildfire reached the edge of his plot: ‘Most horrific fire since ’93,’ he said on social media before urging others to ‘stay safe’.
His daughter Chelsea said her parents are now safe with her in Hollywood. ‘They got in really late and are exhausted,’ she told the Mail, adding: ‘It’s just heartbreaking for everyone. But we are together as a family and safe and for that we are very grateful.’
A home burns during the Eaton fire in the Altadena area of Los Angeles County, California on January 8, 2025
Ben Affleck, 52, returned home to his Pacific Palisades house last night to see the wildfire nearby was within sight
A resident of a senior center is evacuated as the Eaton Fire approaches Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, in Altadena
A Los Angeles County firefighting helicopter drops water to battle the Palisades wildfire in Pacific Palisades, California, USA, 7 January 2025
Actor Steve Guttenberg, who featured in the Police Academy films, begged neighbours to leave their keys in the ignition: ‘Don’t just dump your Tesla and take the key. Leave the keys in the ignition so guys like me can move your car so we can get the fire trucks up there.’
‘This is unlike anything we have seen in our lifetime,’ said LA Fire Chief Kristin Crowley who believes the blaze started accidentally in a back garden around 10am Tuesday morning before ‘spreading at a speed beyond anything we’ve seen’.
Spencer Pratt, star of reality TV series The Hill, and his model wife Heidi Montag were evacuated as their home was engulfed. He posted videos of the hillside flames creeping ever closer to their home.
‘Say a prayer for the Palisades here,’ he said. ‘Okay, I should go.’
Actor Miles Teller, best known for Whiplash and Top Gun: Maverick, had to flee and said he was unsure if his house had survived.
Justin Bieber and wife Hailey were safe yesterday in their $28million Beverly Hills mansion nearby but were preparing to leave with their newborn baby as reports came in that winds topping 130mph were due to hit last night, making a catastrophic situation even worse.
While the official death toll was standing at two when the Mail went to press, the LAPD and LA sheriff’s department said they expected that to change once the fire was under control and door-to-door searches began.
Meanwhile, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said that two people have been arrested for looting.
A firefighter makes a stand from the balcony of a home in front of the advancing Palisades Fire
Two people flee from the advancing inferno
A Los Angeles County firefighter in front of a burning house while battling the Palisades wildfire
Tankers full of water have been dousing the inferno from the skies all afternoon, but all aircraft have now been grounded amid deteriorating wind conditions and visibility
Mark Hamill, 73, who played Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars films, told how he ‘fled for his life’ with wife Marilou and dog Trixie on Tuesday night
With many expensive properties unguarded, Luna warned looters who plan to ‘steal from our residents’: ‘You’re going to be caught, you’re going to be arrested and you’re going to be prosecuted.’
Californians are, of course, used to wildfires, particularly at this time of year when the Santa Anas – a dry, warm wind that blows in from the interior of Southern California towards the coast – often aggravates remote woodland fires.
When I arrived in LA some 30 years ago, the first house I visited in the Palisades was a beautiful hillside mansion owned by Catherine Zeta-Jones that had breathtaking views over Santa Monica Bay. She described the home as ‘pure heaven’.
Earlier this week, the streets of Palisades Village were lined with palm trees and chic shops, including a pop-up version of Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop store.
Most homes are dotted in the surrounding hills, and locals – many of them celebrities – would come down into ‘the Village’ to shop and drink coffee. During a recent visit to the local Starbucks, I saw Charlize Theron, ex-Batman star Michael Keaton and Kate Beckinsale.
That such a genteel honeypot of A-listers could become a blackened ruin is truly shocking – as if a wildfire tore through Chelsea or any another expensive central London district.
One homeowner told me: ‘They ran out of water, it’s total mismanagement by the city. The firemen tried to take water from our pool but it was a losing battle. This is Armageddon in the middle of the second biggest city in America.’
There are fire hydrants on every street corner but low snowfall this year means that water usually pumped down from the mountain into reservoirs isn’t available.
One firefighter told the Mail: ‘We have never felt so helpless. Houses were going up all around us and we could do nothing because the hydrants had no water. We tried forming human chains and using water from swimming pools but it wasn’t anywhere near enough.’
A person wearing a face mask flees as a wildfire breaks-out near Pacific Palisades
At least 30,000 residents are now under mandatory evacuation orders
A firefighter battles the advancing Palisades Fire as it burns a structure
Firefighters battling a mammoth blaze in California ‘s ritzy Pacific Palisades have warned they’re running out of water and supplies, as emergency evacuation warnings spread as far as Malibu and Calabasas
LA’s Democrat Mayor Karen Bass has already become a target for anger, as many cannot understand why, when the fire began, she was 7,500 miles away on a taxpayer-funded trip to Ghana.
Her rival in the recent mayoral election, businessman Rick Caruso, whose daughter has lost her home, called for Ms Bass’s immediate resignation.
California’s Democrat governor Gavin Newsom will also become a lightning rod for blame, with president-elect Donald Trump already criticising him for not sending water down from the mountains soon enough, promising to ‘haul Newsom’s ass’.
Meanwhile, the home of Mr Trump’s one-time presidential challenger Kamala Harris, is said to be under an evacuation order.
As the thick smell of acrid smoke hung heavy in the air and an eerie red glow filled the skies, Simon Cowell’s longtime representative Ann Marie Samson, who runs a wild horse therapy centre in the mountains near the fire, managed to evacuate six wild mustangs and three dogs.
She told the Mail: ‘Once the winds kicked in, we knew what was happening and it was heartbreaking. We don’t know when we can return. We have enormous gratitude to be safe. It puts everything into perspective.’
British socialite Petra Ecclestone said she was ‘praying for a miracle’ as the fire edged closer to the $30.2million home she shares with estate agent husband Sam Palmer and their four children.
The 200-acre bush fire was first reported around 10:30am on Tuesday and authorities have described the flames as a blowtorch
A man uses a garden hose to wet the area around a property in effort to fend off the approaching flames
Flames from the Palisades Fire burn a business on January 7, 2025
A woman cries as the Palisades Fire advances and she gets in her car
Reese Witherspoon told a friend she was ‘OK but preparing to get out at a moment’s notice’. The only non-essentials she had packed in an overnight bag were photographs and sentimental jewellery.
There were unconfirmed reports that director Steven Spielberg’s house had caught fire.
More than 2,000 firefighters are battling the blaze with more being brought in from San Francisco.
Despite their efforts, at least one school was a burned down, while The Getty Villa, a museum filled with priceless Greek and Roman artefacts, was only saved by an on-site crew.
Evacuation orders were last night expected to be extended to Malibu, tourist hotspot Santa Monica and Calabasas – the latter most famous for being the home of the Kardashians.
It is little wonder that some of the most exclusive hotels in the city have reported ‘lines out the door’. At the £650-a-night Bel
Air and The Beverly Hills Hotel (£550 a night) every room was taken by evacuees.