Much of Southern California was on fire Tuesday evening as the Pacific Palisades fire continued to spread westward, a fire map shows.
The fire broke out around 10:30 a.m., when authorities announced the fire was covering 200 hectares. But within half an hour the inferno spread to an area of 770 hectares.
Since then it has reached more than 1,200 hectares of land and destroys approximately ‘three football fields’ of land every sixty seconds.
As of Tuesday evening, the flames extended as far west as Malibu and as far east as Topanga State Park, according to the fire map released by the Los Angeles County Bureau of Land Management.
That entire area remains under evacuation orders, as the California Department of Forest and Fire Protection warned there is an “imminent threat” to their lives.
“This is a lawful order to LEAVE NOW,” the department said. “The area is legally closed to the public.”
Since then, more than 30,000 people have answered the call to flee the City of Angels, as California Governor Gavin Newsom announced that “many structures” had already been destroyed and more than 1,300 were still threatened as of Tuesday evening.
The situation could only get worse overnight, officials warned, amid “life-threatening, destructive” winds.
More than 100 firefighters and strike teams are now working to get the fire under control
More than 100 firefighters and strike teams are now working to bring the blaze under control as it moves west amid winds gusts of up to 50 miles per hour, it said. The New York Times.
Southern California Edison (SCE) also shut off power to Cuthbert, Galahad and parts of Malibu in an effort to contain the fire.
As of Tuesday evening, more than 33,000 Los Angeles residents were without power, the vast majority of whom are getting their power supplied by SCE, according to poweroutage.us.
The company expected the power to be out for at least eight hours, but noted that this could be longer if crews need daylight to visibly inspect power lines and equipment.
That inspection is required before SCE can restore power.