Minutes after the J. Paul Getty Trust issued a statement on the Palisades fire and efforts to protect the Getty Villa from wildfires, an unidentified official on LAFD radio said that the Getty Villa Museum was “catching on fire”, the Los Angeles Times reports. At this time, it’s not clear whether any structures have caught fire, but officials confirmed the grounds were on fire and that flames were approaching the museum buildings.
The Getty has long prepared for wildfires such as this. As The Guardian’s Katharine Gammon reported in 2019:
The Center is designed to be impervious to fire and smoke, with materials such as travertine stone, an extremely fire resistant type of limestone, as well as cement and steel. The rooftops are crushed stone, so embers have no chance to ignite.
The museum’s landscaping is designed to be fire retardant, and maintenance workers do extensive brush clearance all around the property in order to eliminate fuel for the fire. Underneath the trees and grasses is a network of pipes, connected to a million-gallon water tank. Sprinklers can activate as soon as fire touches the ground.
Universal Pictures and Amazon MGM Studios canceled two movie premieres scheduled to take place in Los Angeles on Tuesday evening as the city declared a state of emergency amid high winds and the Palisades fire.
Wolf Man had been scheduled to premier at the TCL Chinese Theater and Unstoppable would have shown at the DGA Theater.
More than 13,000 structures under threat from the Palisades fires, according to LA fire department fire chief Kristin Crowley, with the Getty Villa being one of them. In a statement issued this afternoon, Katherine E Fleming, president and CEO of the J Paul Getty Trust, said the museum is closed to non-emergency staff and will remain closed at least through 13 January.
“Fortunately, Getty had made extensive efforts to clear brush from the surrounding area as part of its fire mitigation efforts throughout the year. Some trees and vegetation on site have burned, but staff and the collection remain safe,” she said. “Additional fire prevention measures in place at the villa include water storage on-site. Irrigation was immediately deployed throughout the grounds Tuesday morning. Museum galleries and library archives were sealed off from smoke by state-of-the-art air handling systems. The double-walled construction of the galleries also provides significant protection for the collections.”
The city of Los Angeles has declared a state of emergency for the “wind event”, the city council president Marqueece Harris-Dawson announced during a press conference Tuesday afternoon.
“We want everybody to know that the city is well prepared and has a tremendous emergency management infrastructure,” said Harris-Dawson. “If you can stay off of our roads, please do so to allow emergency vehicles to go across the city.”
Photos from the Palisades fire are beginning to be sent out, showing the destruction of homes and the billowing black smoke choking the sky.
As the Palisades fire reached the Malibu coast Tuesday afternoon, the California department of forestry and fire protection (CalFire) announced road closures and evacuation shelters.
An evacuation center has been established at the Westwood Recreation center on South Sepulveda Boulevard. Meanwhile, the southbound Pacific Coast Highway has been closed at Las Flores Canyon Road, Topanga Canyon Boulevard and Coastline Drive.
The Palisades fire has consumed more than 1,200 acres since it broke out at about 10.30am on Tuesday morning, and destroyed several homes in an affluent community along the Pacific Ocean.
Nearly 30,000 residents are under evacuation orders and more than 13,000 structures are under threat, said Kristin Crowley, fire chief of the LA fire department.
Actor Eugene Levy, the honorary mayor of Pacific Palisades, who was forced to evacuate, told the Los Angeles Times while stuck in traffic: “The smoke looked pretty black and intense.” Other evacuees described harrowing escapes, one woman recounting to ABC7 how she abandoned her vehicle and fled with her cat in her arms: “I’m getting hit with palm leaves on fire … It’s terrifying. It feels like a horror movie. I’m screaming and crying walking down the street.”
The Los Angeles school district was also forced to relocate students from three campuses, and Joe Biden had to cancel plans for an event announcing two national monuments.
Lois Beckett
By mid-afternoon, shoppers at a luxury outdoor mall in Century City, about 12 miles east of the Pacific Palisades, were still strolling around as usual. But outside the mall, billows of smoke were visible to the west, and the views in the distance were starting to look hazy.
Lois Beckett
I’m currently driving east across Los Angeles, and am close to Beverly Hills at the moment. Ahead of me, looking towards downtown, the view is pretty clear and sunny, though the palm trees that line the streets are tossing pretty dramatically in the wind. But behind me, in my rearview mirror, I can see billows of smoke from the Pacific Palisades fire to the west. The most recent air quality readings across Los Angeles were in the healthy range, but I’m expecting that the air quality is going to worsen quickly as the smoke spreads across the city.
As a fast-moving wildfire spreads near Los Angeles on Tuesday, we’re bringing you this live blog with the latest news on fires caused by a “life-threatening” windstorm that has hit southern California this week. The region is expected to see what could amount to the strongest winds in more than a decade, bringing extreme fire risk to areas that have been without significant rain for months.
A large swath of southern California, home to millions of people, is under what officials have described as “extreme risk” from the destructive storm. The weather service warned of downed trees and knocked over big rigs, trailers and motorhomes, and advised residents to stay indoors and away from windows. Powerful offshore gusts will also bring dangerous conditions off the coasts of Orange county and LA, including Catalina Island, and potential delays and turbulence could arise at local airports.