A wildfire raged across an upscale section of Los Angeles on Tuesday, sending large billows of smoke over much of the metropolitan area and causing traffic jams as people fled their homes under evacuation orders.
At least 1,262 acres (510 hectares) of the Pacific Palisades area between Santa Monica and Malibu had burned, officials said, after they had already warned of extreme fire danger from dry, powerful winds. The size of the fire grew sixfold in a matter of hours on Tuesday.
Witnesses reported a number homes on fire with flames nearly scorching their cars when people fled the hills of Topanga Canyon, as the fire spread from there down to the Pacific Ocean.