A rapidly growing wildfire raged across an upscale section of Los Angeles on Tuesday (January 7), destroying homes and creating traffic jams as 30,000 people evacuated beneath huge plumes of smoke that covered much of the metropolitan area, Reuters reports.
An eyewitness on a highway filmed large flames engulfing houses in the mountainous area while thick plumes of smoke rose into the bright orange sky.
Reuters was able to confirm the location from nearby buildings, wall, road layout and mountains that matched satellite imagery and street view imagery. The date was verified by metadata on the original footage.
At least 2,921 acres (1,182 hectares) of the Pacific Palisades area between the coastal settlements of Santa Monica and Malibu had burned, officials said, after they had already warned of extreme fire danger from powerful winds that arrived following extended dry weather.
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 (January 9), predicting wind gusts of 50 to 80 mph (80 to 130 kph).
