UPDATED: Forward progress on the Getty Fire was stopped at about 6:15 p.m., per Cal Fire. The blaze blackened about 25 acres near the Getty Center before firefighters got the upper hand on it.
PREVIOUSLY at 5:35 p.m.: Heads turned across West Los Angeles this afternoon as smoke rose near the Getty Center. The blaze, dubbed the Getty Fire, had spread to 20 acres by 5:30 p.m. It was moving northward away from structures, according to the Watch Fire app.
L.A. Fire Dept. Public Information Officer Lindsey Lantz told Fox11, “We are making good progress. We don’t have any official containment numbers to pass on [but the] smoke is getting a little bit thinner. Good news for the fire also is that we just haven’t had a ton of wind here, so it has not been as wind-driven as it potentially could be. This fire’s more topography-driven. It is moving uphill as fire tends to do, so our crews have a lot of work to do to catch up to it. But they’re making great progress … and we are hoping that continues and we see this out sooner rather than later.”
The fire was first spotted shortly after 4 p.m. burning in the hills near Getty Center Drive in Brentwood. It quickly grew into a five-acre blaze, with first responders on the scene. Additional resources, including five additional engines, two water tenders and four hand crews were requested, per Incident Command. Shortly thereafter, a Chinook helicopter descended and began drawing water from the Stone Canyon Reservoir to drop on the blaze.
Evacuation warnings were issued for two areas of Brentwood at about 4:40 p.m. An Evacuation Warning means anyone in the area should prepare to get out. An Evacuation Order means go. See map below for a detail of the areas under a warning.
A Getty Center employee told Deadline that guests were being evacuated and the facility was closed. No structures were threatened, according to officials. The trains to and from the Getty were still running — likely trying to transport people out.
Smoke was billowing above the 405 toward Bel-Air. The sounds of sirens filled the air in nearby neighborhoods. Fire trucks and police cars were seen on the 405 and along side streets. There was no initial word on any potential closure of the freeway.
While the region got a big shot of moisture from the rain over the weekend, temperatures on Wednesday were approaching 100 degrees in West L.A. Winds were out of the west at 5 mph with gusts to 15 mph.
The Sepulveda Pass is subject to frequent blazes. In 2019 another blaze there, also dubbed the Getty Fire, scorched more than 700 acres. In 2017, the Skirball Fire burned hundreds of acres and prompted apocalyptic scenes of morning commuters crawling along underneath fully-engulfed hillsides.
Erik Pedersen and Natalie Sitek contributed to this report.
