<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>It starts with thick grey smoke billowing from a hillside </span><a href="http://9news.com.au/los-angeles" rel="" target="" title="Los Angeles "><span>Los Angeles</span></a><span> neighbourhood studded with celebrities.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Within an hour and a half, the view looking north from a webcam perched metres from the famous Santa Monica Pier is dominated by the rapidly spreading Palisades </span><a href="http://9news.com.au/fires" rel="" target="" title="fire"><span>fire</span></a><span>, which has forced the evacuation of thousands.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>That was Monday morning (early Tuesday AEDT). By early afternoon, a camera pointing the other way from a helicopter base west of Pacific Palisades captures the rapid containment efforts.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/los-angeles-residents-flee-fire-as-potentially-lifethreatening-destructive-winds-gain-strength/1dfdfd78-b942-4e6d-8927-63844144f6e7"><strong><span>State of emergency as thousands flee LA wildfires, homes destroyed</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Powerful water-bombing helicopters hover, waiting their turn to drain tanks for the resources needed to fight a fire destroying homes, clogging roadways and straining resources.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>But Tuesday's sunset is the most dramatic vision captured so far by the University of California San Diego's AlertCalifornia network.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>As the sun dips, flames are suddenly visible from Santa Monica, about seven kilometres away, not just smoke.</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/world/la-fires-update-palisades-fire-spread-captured-on-timelapse-video/e0b01253-58ab-48a0-8601-3e7afe61f17e" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Within half an hour, those flames are not just tendrils but a blazing glow, apparently spreading visibly in a short period of time.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Pacific Palisades is dotted with celebrity residences and memorialised by the Beach Boys in their 1960s hit </span><em><span>Surfin' USA</span></em><span>. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Roadways became impassable when scores of people abandoned their vehicles and fled on foot, leaving the only road in and out of resident Kelsey Trainor's neighbourhood.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/missing-hiker-hadi-nazari-found-alive-kosciuszko-national-park/7a36a170-4303-44ce-895e-6452c5d40797"><strong><span>Incredible moment student found after 13 horror days</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="styles__Wrapper-sc-2o34ro-0 cmwkBV"><div class="styles__Column-sc-2o34ro-3 jJDKrX"><a href="/content/2025/01/08/11/43/los-angeles-fires-in-pictures-wildfires-race-across-southern-california"><img alt="" sizes="(min-width: 1024px) 636px, (min-width: 768px) 396px, 100vw" src="https://imageresizer.static9.net.au/nqUPV9YhNgQ4Scq4uFaIfALwhvs=/0x715:7961x5194/396x223/https%3A%2F%2Fprod.static9.net.au%2Ffs%2Fb835eed5-bb0a-4116-9052-7e896b919366" srcset="https://imageresizer.static9.net.au/nqUPV9YhNgQ4Scq4uFaIfALwhvs=/0x715:7961x5194/396x223/https%3A%2F%2Fprod.static9.net.au%2Ffs%2Fb835eed5-bb0a-4116-9052-7e896b919366 396w, https://imageresizer.static9.net.au/okRq2uDSGG3V-ia3atz4KhUvICY=/0x715:7961x5194/636x358/https%3A%2F%2Fprod.static9.net.au%2Ffs%2Fb835eed5-bb0a-4116-9052-7e896b919366 636w"/></a></div><div class="styles__Column-sc-2o34ro-3 jJDKrX"><div class="styles__Headline-sc-2o34ro-4 hpbOlz">Devastating wind storm worsens conditions for LA wildfires</div><div class="styles__Button-sc-2o34ro-1 eBjlmW"><a class="styles__ButtonLink-sc-2o34ro-2 hqpklJ" href="/content/2025/01/08/11/43/los-angeles-fires-in-pictures-wildfires-race-across-southern-california">View Gallery</a></div></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/monash-freeway-hallam-crash-six-teenagers-stopped-by-bystanders-after-crashing-allegedly-stolen-car/258ed5a1-109c-4202-8047-088e56bd092a" rel="" target="" title=""><strong><span>Six kids arrested after being stopped by members of the public</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"We looked across and the fire had jumped from one side of the road to the other side of the road," said resident Kelsey Trainor, who said the only road in and out of her neighbourhood was blocked. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"People were getting out of the cars with their dogs and babies and bags, they were crying and screaming."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Two other wildfires were burning in the hours before dawn on Wednesday (late Wednesday AEDT). One near a nature preserve in the inland foothills spread so rapidly that staff at a senior living center had to push dozens of residents in wheelchairs and hospital beds down the street to a parking lot.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Another prompted evacuations in Sylmar, a San Fernando Valley community that is the northernmost neighbourhood in LA.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>- Reported with Associated Press</span></em></div></div>