Hollywood stalwart James Woods has taken to social media to lament the destruction of his home in Pacific Palisades as brutal wildfires tear through much of Los Angeles and Southern California.
Academy award-winning Woods, 77, shared a clip of the view from his home overlooking an ocean sunset, writing: ‘I took this last night from our beautiful little home in the Palisades. Now all the fire alarms are going off at once.
‘It tests your soul, losing everything at once, I must say,’ he quipped. ‘I couldn’t believe our lovely little home in the hills held on this long. It feels like losing a loved one.’
He also declared that he and many of his neighbors no longer have insurance after a ‘major company’ supposedly canceled many of the policies four months ago.
The ferocious wildfire sparked yesterday morning around 10:30am in a Los Angeles suburb, home to many Hollywood celebrities.
I took this last night from our beautiful little home in the Palisades. Now all the fire alarms are going off at once remotely.
It tests your soul, losing everything at once, I must say. pic.twitter.com/nH0mLpxz5C
— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) January 8, 2025
Within 30 minutes it covered an area of 700 acres before hurricane-force winds whipped through the region and fanned the flames at breakneck speed.
The blaze now covers some 3,000 acres, engulfing an area packed with multimillion-dollar homes in the Santa Monica Mountains, and is destroying about ‘three football fields’ of land every 60 seconds, prompting a mass exodus of terrified residents.
Firefighters used bulldozers to push dozens of vehicles – including expensive models such as BMWs, Teslas and Mercedes – to one side, leaving many crumpled and with their alarms blaring.
Hundreds of firefighters swarmed the area, attacking the blaze from the ground and the air, while crews worked through steep terrain to cut back vegetation and create firebreaks.
Meanwhile, helicopters and firefighting planes flew overhead to dump water and other flame retardants in an attempt to quell the fire.
Around 30,000 people were ordered to evacuate the fast-spreading flames, which leveled multiple homes as powerful winds spread embers far and wide.
The apocalyptic inferno has torn through the ritzy neighborhoods home to many A-list celebrities, including Woods, Ben Affleck, Tom Hanks, and Miles Teller, among others.
Woods was just one of many celebrities sharing details of the wildfire and expressing their heartbreak.
Chris Pratt, who owns a home in the Hollywood Hills, and his mother-in-law, Maria Shriver, asked for followers to pray for those affected.
‘Please send prayers and strength tonight to everyone in Los Angeles affected by these devastating fires. Los Angeles is in a state of emergency and over 30,000 have been ordered to evacuate,’ Pratt, 45, captioned a slideshow, featuring a photo of a firefighter battling a blaze as well as views of smoke towering over Santa Monica.
He continued: ‘Thank you to the brave firefighters and first responders who are working tirelessly to protect lives, homes, and wildlife as they battle fast-moving wildfire fueled by fierce winds. You are true heroes, and we are endlessly grateful for your sacrifice and courage.’
The Guardians of the Galaxy star, who welcomed his third child with wife Katherine Schwarzenegger in November, urged his 45.2 million followers to ‘come together to support one another during this tough time.’
Shriver, 69, asked her followers to send their ‘prayers to Los Angeles,’ where ‘30,000 people have been ordered to evacuate as wildfires burn out of control.’
The Former First Lady of California reminded those in Los Angeles to ‘stay informed’ and applauded the men and women of the Los Angeles Fire Department and public officials that were working ‘tirelessly’ to protect their city and keep everyone safe.
Later, she took to her Instagram Story to ask those that are able to ‘leave bowls of water outside’ for wild animals fleeing from the fires.
Her daughter, Katherine, shared a list of helpful apps and resources, including the KTLA App for live updates, Alert LA County for emergency alerts and Notify LA.
Julianne Hough, who lives in Hollywood Hills, shared footage from her backyard, which showed a Canadair CL-415, a yellow airplane that is used to fight forest fires, flying through smoke.
‘Praying for everyone that had to evacuate and for the first responders and firefighters,’ she wrote on the video, uploaded to her Instagram Story.
Christie Brinkley reposted Shriver’s post, alongside a message of her own.
‘So sad to see all my old neighborhoods burning,’ she wrote. ‘My heart aches tonight for those affected. Please stay safe.’
She continued: ‘Thank you to the brave @losangelesfiredepartment. Praying for everyone in harm’s way tonight.’
Sarah Michelle Gellar expressed her frustration over how the city was handling evacuations.
‘City of LA you want everyone to evacuate yet you have complete gridlock and not one traffic cop on the roads helping @cityoflosangeles @karenbassla.’
Travis Barker’s daughter, Alabama Barker, revealed she was evacuated from her ‘home due to wild fires in Los Angeles’ and urged others to ‘please be safe!!’
In the frantic haste to get to safety, roadways became impassable when scores of people abandoned their vehicles and fled on foot, some toting suitcases.
The traffic jam on Palisades Drive prevented emergency vehicles from getting through and bulldozer was brought in to push the abandoned cars to the side and create a path. Video along the Pacific Coast Highway showed widespread destruction of homes and businesses along the famed roadway.
Pacific Palisades resident Kelsey Trainor said the only road in and out of her neighborhood was blocked. Ash fell all around them while fires burned on both sides of the road.
‘We looked across and the fire had jumped from one side of the road to the other side of the road,’ Trainor said. ‘People were getting out of the cars with their dogs and babies and bags, they were crying and screaming. ‘
A third wildfire started around 10:30 p.m. and quickly prompted evacuations in Sylmar, a San Fernando Valley community that is the northernmost neighborhood in Los Angeles. The causes of all three fires were under investigation.
Flames were being pushed by Santa Ana winds topping 60 mph (97 kph) in some places. The winds were expected to increase overnight, producing isolated gusts that could top 100 mph (160 kph) in mountains and foothills – including in areas that haven’t seen substantial rain in months.
The situation prompted the Los Angeles Fire Department to take the rare step of putting out a plea for off-duty firefighters to help. It was too windy for firefighting aircraft to fly, further hampering the fight.
The erratic weather caused President Joe Biden to cancel plans to travel to inland Riverside County, where he was to announce the establishment of two new national monuments in the state.
He remained in Los Angeles, where smoke was visible from his hotel, and was briefed on the wildfires. The Federal Emergency Management Agency approved a grant to help reimburse California for the firefighting cost.
Officials didn’t give an estimate of structures damaged or destroyed in the Pacific Palisades wildfire, but they said about 30,000 residents were under evacuation orders and more than 13,000 structures were under threat.
Gov. Gavin Newsom visited the scene and said many homes had burned.
By Tuesday evening the flames had spread into neighboring Malibu and several people there were being treated for burn injuries and a firefighter had a serious head injury and was taken to a hospital, according to Los Angeles Fire Department Capt. Erik Scott.
Things are expected to worsen overnight through Wednesday morning.
‘By no stretch of the imagination are we out of the woods,’ Newsom warned residents, saying the worst of the winds were expected between 10pm Tuesday and 5am Wednesday. He declared a state of emergency.
As of Tuesday evening, nearly 167,000 people were without power in Los Angeles county, according to the tracking website PowerOutage.us, due to the strong winds.
Recent dry winds, including the notorious Santa Anas, have contributed to warmer-than-average temperatures in Southern California, where there’s been very little rain so far this season.
Southern California hasn’t seen more than 0.1 inches (0.25 centimeters) of rain since early May.
