LOS ANGELES — Another fast-moving brush fire erupted in Los Angeles on Wednesday night, this time in the iconic Hollywood Hills, forcing more evacuations and stressing firefighting efforts in Southern California.
The Los Angeles Fire Department released an evacuation order shortly after 6 p.m. local time Wednesday for parts of the Hollywood Hills, a celebrity-populated neighborhood in central Los Angeles. As of 8:30 pm Local time, the blaze dubbed the Sunset Fire, consumed at least 50 acres and remains 0% contained, according to Cal Fire.
Mandatory evacuations were issued for Laurel Canyon Boulevard on the west Mulholland Drive on the North 101 Freeway on the east and Hollywood Boulevard on the south. Evacuate warnings were also issued for areas north of Sunset Boulevard between the city of Beverly Hills and the neighborhood of Hollywood.
Cal Fire said the Los Angeles Fire Division was responding to the blaze. Los Angeles Police Department officers were deployed to Hollywood to aid with alleviating evacuation traffic, according to Mayor Karen Bass.
“We are working urgently to close roads, redirect traffic, and expand access for LAFD vehicles to respond to the growing fire,” Bass said in a statement on
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s West Hollywood Station advised people to keep clear of the area for emergency personnel. It warned residents to “be prepared, pack important documents and collect family, children and pets now.”
The city of Beverly Hills said on X that its fire department is closely monitoring the Sunset Fire, which sparked near homes and the popular Runyon Canyon hiking trails. The city said officials have declared parts of Beverly Hills, areas north of Sunset Boulevard and east of Coldwater Canyon Drive, as a voluntary evacuation zone.
“We understand this is a heavily populated area, this is not a time to delay,” Los Angeles Fire Department spokeswoman Margaret Stewart told KABC-TV. “We need people to rapidly and calmly exit the area and head south.”
It feels like we’re being surrounded by the fires.
The fire is situated just west of the Hollywood Bowl music venue and about 10 miles southwest of the world-famous Hollywood Sign. The stretch of Sunset Boulevard near the fire is lined with well-known venues and landmarks, such as the TCL Chinese Theatre, which said in a social media statement Wednesday night that the theater was closed and staff had been sent home.
Images and videos shared on social media appeared to show the fire spreading upward while a large plume of smoke moved toward the Hollywood area.
Gary Baseman, 64, of Los Angeles, is about one of two dozen people who assembled at the top of an eight-story parking structure at The Grove, an upscale outdoor mall in Los Angeles, to watch the brush fires in Hollywood Hills. “I just needed to see for myself what’s going on,” said Baseman, an artist.
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Michael Carsh, who said he lives a mile away, gazed at the fire and smoke through binoculars. “I felt pretty safe, and now looking at this, it’s pretty scary. It feels like we’re being surrounded by the fires.” Carsh, 49, pointed to an area between the parking structure and the fire. “I have friends that live there and they’re holding out right now. But I’m saving a room for them.”
Dan Frieber, 39, said he lives in an apartment about 20 blocks from the brush fire and figured the roof of the parking structure would be a safe place to watch.
“This fire is like the darling of them all. It’s the one everyone cares about now,” said Frieber. “No disregard to the Palisades. This is just a bit more of the heart of L.A.”
