FIRES ROAR THROUGH CALIFORNIA
A man walks past a burning home during the Getty fire on Monday in Los Angeles. Firefighters battled destructive wildfires in Northern California wine country and on the wealthy west side of Los Angeles on Monday, trying to beat back flames that forced tens of thousands to flee their homes.
LOS ANGELES — A wildfire swept through the star-studded hills of Los Angeles early Monday, destroying several large homes and forcing LeBron James and thousands of others to flee in the middle of the night. Meanwhile, a blaze in Northern California wine country exploded in size.
The flames that roared up a steep hillside near the Getty Center in Los Angeles’ Brentwood section illustrated the unprecedented danger the state faces as high winds batter both ends of California and threaten to turn any spark into a devastating inferno.
No deaths from either blaze were reported, but a firefighter was seriously injured in the wine country fire in Sonoma County.
About 2.2 million people were without electricity after California’s biggest utility, Pacific Gas & Electric, shut off power over the weekend in the northern part of the state to prevent its equipment from sparking blazes. More deliberate blackouts are possible in the coming days because of another round of high winds in the forecast.
The company, which was driven into bankruptcy because of liability from several deadly wildfires in recent years, admitted Monday that despite the outages, its power lines may have started two smaller fires over the weekend in the San Francisco Bay Area. It has also said its transmission lines may have been responsible for the Sonoma County fire.
That blaze, which broke out last week amid the vineyards and wineries north of San Francisco, doubled in just a day to at least 103 square miles, destroying 96 buildings, including at least 40 homes, and threatening 80,000 more structures, authorities said.
Nearly 200,000 people were under evacuation order because of the fire, mostly from the city of Santa Rosa.
The flames didn’t discriminate.
In wine country, farmworkers who toil in the vineyards were among those displaced.
In Los Angeles, James and former Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger were driven from their homes.
“Man these LA (fires) are no joke,” the Los Angeles Lakers star tweeted, using an emoji for the word “fires.” “Crazy night, man.”
The Hollywood premiere of Schwarzenegger’s “Terminator: Dark Fate” was canceled Monday night.
Anxious residents made their way down steep hillsides in the dark in Range Rovers, Teslas and Maseratis. They left behind homes decorated for Halloween — skeletons hanging from homes, goblin sitting on front steps, cobwebs draped over bushes — as a plume of smoke glowed like a giant pumpkin.
Tens of thousands of people were ordered to clear out as the fire spread to more than 600 acres and burned at least five homes, authorities said. That number was expected to climb.
The fire shut down southbound lanes of Interstate 405, a major commuting corridor and route to Los Angeles International Airport from the north.
Of the state’s 58 counties, 43 were under warnings for high fire danger Sunday.