Firefighters on Monday began to get an upper hand on the fire that burned into exclusive neighborhoods in Los Angeles’ Westside while a much larger fire in Northern California’s wine country raged out of control.
The Getty fire, which started early Monday on the side of the 405 Freeway near Getty Center. It quickly spread to the south and west toward neighborhoods, rapidly burning more than 500 acres and sending people fleeing from their homes in the dark. About 10,000 structures have been placed under mandatory evacuation orders. Several homes were lost, and celebrities like Arnold Schwarzenegger and LeBron James had to evacuate.
The evacuation zone was described by fire officials as a box: Mulholland Drive on the north side, the 405 Freeway on the east, Sunset Boulevard on the south and Temescal Canyon Road on the west.
Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Ralph Terrazas said despite firefighters’ efforts, at least five homes, including some on Tigertail Road, have been damaged in the blaze. That number likely will climb in the coming hours.
Mayor Eric Garcetti urged residents to leave if they are under mandatory evacuation orders, saying some have had only 15 minutes to flee as the flames approached.
“Get out when we say get out,” he said, urging homeowners not to try to fight the fire with garden hoses. “The only thing you cannot replace is you and your family.”
The roughly 600 firefighters battling the blaze early Monday braced for a challenging fight as fire weather conditions are expected to worsen through the day. Pre-dawn, embers were being cast a mile ahead of the body of the fire amid moderate winds. Thick smoke was visible across the Los Angeles Basin.
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Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, L.A. City Councilman Mike Bonin and California Gov. Gavin Newsom look at a home along Tigertail Road in Brentwood burned by the Getty fire. (Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)
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California Gov. Gavin Newsom, from left, with Los Angeles City Councilman Mike Bonin and L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti tour a home along Tigertail Road in Brentwood on Tuesday that was burned by the Getty fire. The National Weather Service issued a rare “extreme red flag warning” for Southern California through Thursday evening, saying winds could top 80 mph and be the strongest in more than a decade. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Traffic on the 405 Freeway flows as flames roar up a steep hillside near the Getty Center in Los Angeles. The Getty fire has forced evacuations and burned more than 600 acres. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
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Firefighters try to save a home from the Getty fire on Tigertail Road in Los Angeles on Monday morning. (Christian Monterrosa/Associated Press)
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A firefighting aircraft drops fire retardant on the Getty fire in Mandeville Canyon near the Brentwood Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles. (Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)
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A man walks past a burning home during the Getty fire in Los Angeles on Monday morning. (Christian Monterrosa/Associated Press)
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The sun rises over smoke-filled canyons above the Getty Center and a burned home on Tigertail Road as the Getty fire burns in Los Angeles. (Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)
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Firefighters head out for brush work along Sepulveda Boulevard in the Sepulveda Pass as the Getty fire as it burns in Los Angeles. (Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)
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Firefighters try to save a home on Tigertail Road during the Getty fire in Los Angeles on Monday morning. (Christian Monterrosa/Associated Press)
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Firefighters work heavy brush along Sepulveda Boulevard in the Sepulveda Pass as the Getty fire burns in Los Angeles. (Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)
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A firefighter sprays down hot spots on a home along the 12000 block of Sky Lane on Monday in Los Angeles. (Gary Coronado/Los Angeles Times)
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From left, Betsy Landis, 90, and her neighbor Nola Hyland, 79, who both evacuated from their homes at the end of Mandeville Canyon, talk with Rochelle Linnetz inside the Westwood Recreation Center on Sepulveda Boulevard that was turned into an evacuation center. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
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An L.A. firefighter keeps down flames at a burned home in the 1100 block of Tigertail Road in the Brentwood Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles. (Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)
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Alex Holbrook, a student emergency medical technician at UCLA, talks with Sylvia Snow, 95, inside the Westwood Recreation Center on Sepulveda Boulevard, which was turned into an evacuation center. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
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The sun rises over a smoke-filled canyon above the Getty museum as the Getty fire burns in Los Angeles. (Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)
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L.A. Fire Department arson team conducts an investigation near a utility pole of a possible area of origin of the Getty fire along the 1700 block of North Sepulveda Boulevard. (Gary Coronado/Los Angeles Times)
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Barn manager Stephanie Nagler leads a horse named Howie Doin to a horse trailer while helping to evacuate around 120 horses from the Sullivan Canyon Equestrian Community near the intersection of Rivera Ranch Road and Sunset Boulevard in Brentwood. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
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A helicopter makes a drop on the Getty fire, which was threatening thousands of homes in Brentwood and other hillside communities on the Westside of Los Angeles on Monday morning. (Gray Coronado/Los Angeles Times)
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Aerial view of homes shrouded in smoke from the Getty fire. (KTLA)
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Barn manager Stephanie Nagler, left, holds a rabbit named Chi Chi while helping to evacuate animals, mostly horses, from the Sullivan Canyon Equestrian Community near the intersection of Riviera Ranch Road and Sunset Boulevard in Brentwood. (Los Angeles Times)
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Firefighters work the Getty fire as it burns homes along Tigertail Road in the Brentwood Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles. (Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)
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Los Angeles firefighters mop up after a home was destroyed by the Getty fire along Tigertail Road in Los Angeles. (Gary Coronado/Los Angeles Times)
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Firefighters work in heavy brush along Sepulveda Boulevard in the Sepulveda Pass as the Getty fire burns in Los Angeles. (Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)
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A firefighter watches flames approach the Mandeville Canyon neighborhood during the Getty fire on Monday morning. (Christian Monterrosa/Associated Press)
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In Northern California, firefighters were bracing for another round of Diablo winds this week, days after monster winds topping 90 mph ripped through the area, making it difficult for officials to make any progress on the growing Kincade fire.
Santa Rosa residents were forced to evacuate in darkness early Sunday amid Pacific Gas & Electric Co. power outages, using flashlights and cellphones as light sources. The number of evacuated residences had increased to 185,000, said Jay Tracy, a spokesman with the California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection.
The fire grew almost 12,000 acres overnight into Monday and remained at just 5% containment as firefighters entered their fifth day battling the blaze. At least 96 structures have been destroyed, including 40 homes.
One firefighter suffered a minor burn and was taken by ambulance to a hospital, officials said Monday. Another who was burned more seriously was airlifted to UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento. No deaths have been reported in the massive blaze.
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A firefighter looks on as the Soda Rock winery along Highway 128 near Healdsburg is consumed by the Kincade fire early Sunday morning. (Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
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A firefighter mops up hot spots from the Kincade fire after it jumped Chalk Hill Road near Healdsburg on Sunday morning. (Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
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The ruins of a house smolder along Highway 128 near Healdsburg after it was consumed by the Kincade fire Sunday morning. (Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
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Firefighters battle the blaze at the Soda Rock winery along Highway 128 near Healdsburg on Sunday morning. (Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
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Thick smoke from the Kincade fire partially obscures the sun as it rises over trees along Chalk Hill Road near Healdsburg on Sunday morning. (Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
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Two men open a gate to allow firefighters access to a ranch along Highway 128 near Healdsburg as the Kincade fire flares up early Sunday morning. (Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
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The Soda Rock winery along Highway 128 near Healdsburg is consumed by the Kincade fire early Sunday morning. (Luis Sinco)
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The Soda Rock winery along Highway 128 near Healdsburg is consumed by the Kincade fire early Sunday morning. (Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
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A police cruiser patrols downtown Healdsburg, where power was cut ahead of expected high winds early Sunday morning, (Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
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Shopkeepers Sodhi Singh, left, and Navneet Singh prepare to close down their gas station and convenience store after the lights went out in Healdsburg on Saturday night. (Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
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Firefighters set a back fire in the hills above Healdsburg on Saturday. (Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
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A Boeing 747 supertanker drops fire retardant on a ridgeline above Healdsburg on Saturday. (Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
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Traffic jams Dry Creek Road in Healdsburg after authorities ordered the evacuation of the city on Saturday. (Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
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A huge plume of smoke rises from the Kincade fire in the hills around Geyserville on Friday. (Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
Winds are expected to pick up again Tuesday and reach their peak in the evening, with gusts up to 70 mph, said Spencer Tangen, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
Overnight, the 66,231-acre Kincade fire swept south of the town of Windsor on Shiloh Ridge, where homes were burned, although it was unclear how many structures were lost. Many more remain threatened, according to Cal Fire officials.
“We’ve been chasing this fire for the last four days. We finally got the break in the weather,” Ben Nichols, a Cal Fire division chief, said during the morning briefing in Santa Rosa. “We have to get out there and get this thing buttoned up and put it to bed.”
