Palisades Fire Grows To 17,234 Acres; Over 1,000 Structures Destroyed

6:43 a.m. UPDATE: The Palisades Fire swelled to 17,234 acres overnight, fanned by persisting Santa Ana winds. A wind advisory from the National Weather Service continues until 2 p.m. on Friday. Evacuation orders remain in place on Thursday morning. The fire is still 0% contained.

ORIGINAL STORY:

PACIFIC PALISADES, CA — Fanned by 100-mph wind gusts, the Palisades Fire grew to more than 15,800 acres by Wednesday morning, destroying over 1,000 structures and causing numerous injuries to those who did not evacuate, Los Angeles County Fire Department Chief Anthony Marrone said.

Now, the out-of-control fire is continuing to grow, fanned by unrelenting Santa Ana winds. Firefighters are stretched to their absolute limit as three other major fires burn in other parts of the county, officials said at a Wednesday morning news conference.

The fire was 0% contained as of noon. Parts of the Palisades Charter High School campus and the surrounding neighborhood were burning Wednesday afternoon.

"We've lost two schools," Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said. Both Marquez Elementary and Palisades Elementary were destroyed. Additionally, 30 percent of Palisades Charter High School was damaged, he said. All Los Angeles Unified School District schools will close Thursday, Carvalho announced. At 4 p.m. Thursday, the district will make a decision about whether to cancel school Friday as well.

The stretch of Sunset Boulevard that winds through the Palisades showed some of the devastation Wednesday morning: The smoldering ashes of a grand hillside mansion laid next to another home, which had caught fire, that firefighters were attempting to save from a similar fate.

Entire strip malls were reduced to rubble toward the dense commercial area of Palisades Village. Entire blocks of homes, burnt to the ground, offered only chimneys as a sign of what was there just hours before.

"We are absolutely not out of danger yet, with the strong winds that continue to push through the city and county today," Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Kristin Crowley said.

The Palisades Fire was first reported at around 10:30 a.m. Wednesday on Piedra Morada Drive, just north of the Palisades Hills Recreation Center in the mountainous extreme western limits of the city of Los Angeles, between Malibu and Santa Monica. Within an hour, crews estimated the fire had grown to 200 acres. By 3:30 p.m., it had burned 1,260 acres, according to Cal Fire.

The fire expanded overnight westward, toward Malibu, and eastward, toward the Sepulveda Pass, through which the 405 Freeway runs. The biggest growth was toward the west and the fire is advancing toward the edge of where the Franklin Fire burned in the Malibu area last month, LAFD Capt. Erik Scott said.

"The fire's being fueled by a combination of strong Santa Ana winds and surrounding topography which makes it extremely challenging for us firefighters to really get a handle on it," Scott said in a briefing video Wednesday morning. "We dealt with wind gusts of up to 100 mph last night."

The NWS reported on Tuesday night a wind gust of 98 mph in the Saddle Peak, just east of the Palisades Fire area, NWS officials said.

More than 4,000 LAFD firefighters have been assigned to the Palisades Fire, Marrone said.

"There aren't enough firefighters in LA County to address four separate fires of this magnitude," Marrone said. Crews were overwhelmed at times overnight, sometimes unable to get the backup they requested, he acknowledged.

Hydrants in the area ran dry overnight because high demand caused water pressure to drop. Firefighters, many of whom have been battling the blaze for more than 24 hours, used water from pools and ponds to try to save homes.

Winds peaked overnight and early Wednesday morning and were expected to slowly decrease throughout the day. Wind speeds are expected to drop off more significantly on Thursday, but escalate again for several hours Friday morning, according to the National Weather Service.

Red Flag warnings of critical fire danger are in place in the vicinity of the fire until 6 p.m. Thursday. A more severe, "particularly dangerous situation" Red Flag warning is in effect for the area until 4 p.m. Wednesday.

Over 30,000 people were under evacuation orders as of Tuesday night. The evacuation zone includes an enormous swath of the Palisades and Malibu area, as well as some of the northwest portion of Santa Monica.

Evacuation centers were established at the Westwood Recreation Center, 1350 S. Sepulveda Blvd., Pasadena Convention Center at 300 E. Green St. in Pasadena, and at El Camino Real Charter High School in Woodland Hills.

Large animals can be taken to Pierce College at 6201 Winnetka Ave., or the Los Angeles Equestrian Center at 480 Riverside Drive in Burbank. Small animals can be taken to the Agoura Animal Care Center at 29525 Agoura Road in Agoura Hills and Pasadena Humane Society at 361 S. Raymond Ave in Pasadena.

The famed Will Rogers' historic ranch house and the Topanga Ranch Motel, built by newspaper baron William Randolph Hearst have been destroyed in the blaze, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The loss of the historic buildings join countless others. Among the movie stars who lost their homes Wednesday were Bill Crystal, Paris Hilton and Mandy Moore.

See Also: Celebrity Homes Burn To The Ground In Palisades Fire: Reports

But not everyone followed evacuation orders.

In a hilly neighborhood just north of Channel Road, one man was soaking his shrubbery with a garden hose — something he had been doing over much of the last day, the man, named Tim, told Patch.

Tim, who declined to provide his last name, had a quick answer as to why he defied evacuation orders.

"The best way to defend it is to keep everything wet," he said.

City News Service contributed to this report.