Palisades fire trucks bulldoze cars abandoned by Los Angeles locals trying to evacuate inferno: Live updates

Officials are bulldozing abandoned cars in Pacific Palisades in an effort to get rescue equipment up to the heart of the blaze.

Panicked residents abandoned their cars in gridlocked traffic on Palisades Drive, making it impossible for first responders to get to the inferno.

Now, extraordinary footage shows those cars being pushed out of the way by a bulldozer.

North of Pacific Palisades in the Santa Monica Mountains, the fire has now breached Topanga State Park and is burning through the area.

“State Parks has closed Topanga State Park as the Palisades Fire is currently burning on park property,” California State Parks spokesperson Adeline Yee said.

A resident told NBC news she was turned around by firefighters when she tried to escape her home in the hills due to the fire.

‘I did attempt to go down Palisades Drive, but it was like a tornado of fire all around me,’ she said.

‘The firefighters were there telling us to turn around. I sped back up the mountain.’

‘There were cars parked on the sidewalks like it was an apocalypse.’

The fire has once again expanded, with authorities now revealing it is more than 1,200 acres in size.

He is urging residents to follow orders from local authorities.

As the fire tears through Southern California at a startling rate, meteorologist Judson Jones revealed it’s destroying about ‘three football fields’ of land every sixty seconds.

Pacific Palisades is a known celebrity enclave, home to Miles and Keleigh Teller and Chris Pratt and his wife Katherine Schwarzenegger, among other A-listers.

J-Lo and Ben Affleck used to own a home in the area, as did Matt Damon.

Adam Levine and Behati Prinsloo also lived in the neighborhood until recently.

The City of Los Angeles revealed on Tuesday afternoon that ‘due to fire activity and weather conditions, the following schools are relocating:

Palisades Charter Elementary School and Marquez Charter Elementary School will relocate to Brentwood Elementary Science Magnet at 740 Gretna Green Way, Los Angeles, CA 90049.

Paul Revere Charter Middle School will relocate to University High School Charter at 11800 Texas Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90025.

Topanga Elementary Charter School students reported to Woodland Hills Academy at 20800 Burbank Blvd, Woodland Hills, 91367.

Affected schools are communicating directly with families.’

The fire is now occupying 770 acres, more than doubling in size in just half an hour.

At 2pm local time, it was just 300 acres.

The California Department of Forest and Fire Protection have just warned residents there is an immediate threat to their lives.

In a statement, the department said: ‘Immediate threat to life. This is a lawful order to LEAVE NOW. The area is lawfully closed to public access.’

An evacuation center has been set up at Westwood Recreation Center
at 1350 South Sepulveda Blvd for anybody seeking shelter.

There are reports coming out of Pacific Palisades that residents are finding it difficult to leave due to the amount of abandoned cars on the roads.

Police Academy star Steve Guttenberg said the fire is near his home and that people are abandoning their cars and making it hard for firetruck to make it up the road.

Guttenberg is urging his fellow neighbors to leave their keys in their car if they’re leaving their vehicle behind ‘so guys like me can move your car.’

‘We really need people to move their cars,’ he told KTLA. ‘So if you leave your car on Palisades Drive, leave the key in there.’

James Woods, 77, shared a video on Tuesday afternoon of the blaze near his home as he prepared to evacuate.

‘Standing in my driveway ready to evacuate. We’ve got a lot of planes going over dropping water,’ he said.

In the video, it appeared as though a house further up on the hills had already been engulfed in flames.

‘We were blessed to have LA fire and police depts doing their jobs so well,’ he later said.

‘We are safe and out. There are several elementary schools in our neighborhood and there was an enormous community effort to evacuate the children safely. Can not speak more highly of the LA fire and LAPD.’

Southern California Edison (SCE) shut off power to Cuthbert, Galahad, and parts of Malibu on Tuesday due to ‘dangerous fire weather,’ according to an alert on Tuesday.

The company expected the power to be out for at least eight hours and it could be longer if crews need daylight to visibly inspect power lines and equipment. The inspection is required before SCE will restore power.

Roughly 27,000 homes state-wide are without power, according to poweroutage.us.

According to meteorologist Paul Deano, the wildfire situation in California is ‘near worst case scenario’ for locals.

He said the winds reaching 55mph are pushing the fire further toward neighborhoods – putting more homes and civilian lives at risk.

Los Angeles Fire Station 23 has reportedly caught fire as the Pacific Palisades inferno continues to spread.

The Los Angeles Fire Department has issued a map illustrating the mandatory evacuation zone.

The 1,200-acre bush fire was first reported around 10:30am on Tuesday and authorities have described the flames as a blowtorch.

Authorities issued an ‘immediate’ evacuation order for Pacific Palisades, urging residents to ‘LEAVE NOW.’