LA Battles Massive Fires: 100,000 People Under Evacuation Orders

• Multiple major fires are tearing through parts of the Los Angeles area.
• The Palisades fire has burned through over 15,000 acres as of Wednesday.
• A new fire broke out Wednesday evening in the Hollywood Hills.

Emergency personnel across the Los Angeles area are battling multiple major fires.

Officials have ordered over 100,000 people to evacuate, five people have been reported dead, and over a thousand structures have been burned.

Images of people escaping their homes, abandoning their cars, and searching for safe harbor careened across television and social media on Wednesday. Planes dropped water on huge flames whipping through canyons and mountain passes.

And it’s showing little sign of slowing down, officials said. Dry conditions combined with high wind gusts of more than 90 miles per hour have helped fuel the multiple fires burning around the metropolitan area.

A total of five separate fires are now sweeping through parts of the region in and around Los Angeles after a new fire — called the Sunset Fire — broke out in the Hollywood Hills, near the iconic Hollywood sign, on Wednesday evening, forcing the LA fire chief to leave in the middle of a press conference. It has so far burned 10 acres as flames could be seen rising from the hills against the night sky.

Los Angeles Mayor Bass said during a press conference Wednesday evening that residents may receive more evacuation orders as wind conditions continue to be “strong and erratic.”

Ride-hailing companies such as Uber and Lyft have offered free rides to evacuation centers for Los Angeles residents. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said on Thursday that his company will be providing “free Starlink terminals to affected areas.”

Los Angeles schools would be closed on Thursday, impacting more than half a million students, LA Unified School District Superintendent Alberto Carvalho announced Wednesday.

The longest-burning of the now five active fires in Los Angeles County, the Palisades Fire, has burned over 15,000 acres, official said.

“Our entire town appears to be gone,” one Palisades resident told Business Insider.

The Eaton fire, impacting the Pasadena-Altadena region, has burned about 10,600 acres and continues to grow with zero percent containment, LA County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said at a press conference. The Hurst fire, in the north of the region near San Fernando, covered over 700 acres.

The fourth fire, the Woodley fire in the Sepulveda Basin, has burned 30 acres. Chief of Los Angeles Fire Department Kristin Crowley said that fire was under control as of Wednesday evening.

Evacuation orders and warnings continue to be issued throughout Wednesday evening, including a notice for residents living near the Hollywood Hills.

Pasadena Fire Chief Chad Augustin said Wednesday afternoon that he hoped milder wind conditions overnight would allow for more aircraft and additional resources to be directed at the Eaton fire.

“That’s what gives me confidence that we’re going to get…