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L.A. Fire Expands as More High Winds Keep Evacuations in Place

L.A. Evacuations Head Into Second Day With Getty Fire Contained

(Bloomberg) -- The evacuation order covering some of the wealthiest neighborhoods in Los Angeles remains largely in place for a second day as firefighters battled a spreading blaze with warnings of more high winds ahead.

The order covers about 10,000 structures in an area bounded by Mulholland Drive, the 405 Freeway, Sunset Boulevard and Temescal Canyon Road, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said in a briefing Tuesday. The region now faces a new threat with Santa Ana winds expected to reach 70 miles (113 kilometers) per hour by day’s end.

L.A. Fire Expands as More High Winds Keep Evacuations in Place

“Please stay safe, and stay away until we lift that order,” Garcetti said. “‘Tonight at 11 p.m. there will be an extreme weather event.”

About 1,100 firefighters are battling the Getty Fire, named for the landmark Getty Center museum that sits just inside the evacuation area. The blaze, which erupted Monday, expanded by about 40 acres to 658 acres overnight and is only 5% contained, the mayor said.

Garcetti was asked about reports of a fire starting near a Los Angeles Department of Water and Power pole.

“We’re looking at that closely but we can’t release those conclusions,” he said. The department of water and power doesn’t shut down electricity like other utilities, and there weren’t anomalies reported at the scene before the fire started, Garcetti said.

L.A. Fire Expands as More High Winds Keep Evacuations in Place

Meanwhile, a neighboring utility, Edison International, returned power to almost 25,000 homes and businesses near the affected area.

The Getty Center museum -- which overlooks the freeway and the city from its perch near the top of the Santa Monica Mountains -- has so far been spared damage from the fire, according to a Twitter post. It was closed on Monday and Tuesday.

Mulholland Drive meanders through the Santa Monica Mountains, with the homes of celebrities and other wealthy people on side streets nearby. Eight homes have been lost in the fire, and five were damaged, Garcetti said Monday.

L.A. Fire Expands as More High Winds Keep Evacuations in Place

--With assistance from Brian K. Sullivan, Christopher Palmeri, Daniel Taub, David R. Baker and Mark Chediak.

To contact the reporters on this story: John Gittelsohn in Los Angeles at johngitt@bloomberg.net;Christopher Martin in New York at cmartin11@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Lynn Doan at ldoan6@bloomberg.net, Reg Gale, Steven Frank

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.