CNN Crew Films Narrow Escape From ‘Apocalyptic’ Wildfire Ripping Through Los Angeles
A CNN camera crew narrowly escaped an “apocalyptic, hellish” wildfire on Tuesday that continues to tear through Los Angeles amid a sustained and violent windstorm.
Host Laura Coates played footage obtained by a crew including the network’s Los Angeles Correspondent Natasha Chen as they drove out of a smoke-filled inferno engulfing Santa Monica.
“Holy f---,” a crew member could be heard uttering behind the camera, which documented a hail of burning airborne embers carried in the wind. In the distance, fires raged from behind a row of power lines.
In an interview after her crew escaped the blaze, Chen said they followed an emergency vehicle out of the area.
Chen noted hearing an explosion, seeing houses on fire right up against the road. “I’m just holding my breath and I can feel the heat from inside the car,” she said.
Coates also relayed that Chen called it “the most terrifying exit that we’ve made from any assignment in a long time.”
As residents moved to flee the area Tuesday, traffic gridlock became so severe that many were forced to abandon their cars on Sunset Boulevard near the Palisades fire.
KNBC Los Angeles reporter Katherine Picazo documented an emergency crew bulldozing abandoned vehicles to clear a path for first responders.
Video shows bulldozer shoving cars abandoned on Sunset Blvd near #PalisadesFire. One driver tells us he had no choice but to leave his car after first responders instructed people to get out and leave immediately. @NBCNews @NBCLA pic.twitter.com/xDHhtdBBuE
— Katherine Picazo (@katnbcla) January 8, 2025
About 30,000 people have been ordered to leave their homes since the out-of-control brush fire erupted in LA’s affluent Pacific Palisades neighbourhood Tuesday morning.
The blaze had grown to more than 2,900 acres by the evening, extending into north Santa Monica.
Winds between 50 and 70 mph were recorded in the Los Angeles area Tuesday, and the National Weather Service warned powerful gusts would continue around the fire through at least Wednesday.
Meanwhile, two smaller, also uncontrolled blazes flared up overnight, one near Altadena in northern Los Angeles County and another by Sylmar in the San Fernando Valley.
The NWS said “particularly dangerous” “extreme fire conditions” in Los Angeles and Ventura counties endure into Thursday as the “life-threatening and destructive” windstorm continues its barrage on the area.
All schools in the Santa Monica–Malibu Unified School District and Pasadena Unified School District have been ordered closed on Wednesday.
