In short:
A fast-moving wildfire in Los Angeles has burned buildings and sparked evacuations.
The blaze has consumed more than 121 hectares and sent up a huge plume of smoke across the city.
The Los Angeles Fire Department has issued a mandatory evacuation order for a large area from the hills down to the coastline.
A fast-moving wildfire in Los Angeles has burned buildings and sparked evacuations.
The blaze, whipped up by "life-threatening" winds, has consumed more than 121 hectares and created a plume of smoke visible across the city.
Fire crews responded on Tuesday morning, local time, to a handful of small blazes across the region, including one that prompted evacuation orders for neighbourhoods of large homes in the foothills of the Pacific Palisades area in western Los Angeles.
Witnesses said at least two homes had caught fire, with footage from the scene showing flames roaring up the hillsides.
The Los Angeles Fire Department has issued a mandatory evacuation order for a large area from the hills down to the coastline.
'Strongest windstorm' in more than a decade
Smoke from the wildfire is seen from the Venice Beach section of Los Angeles. Â Â (AP: Jae C. Hong)
US President Joe Biden was in California on Tuesday and was expected to announce the creation of two new national monuments.
But the announcement was cancelled due to the strong winds.
The National Weather Service said what could be the strongest Santa Ana windstorm in more than a decade started on Tuesday, local time, across the Los Angeles and Ventura counties.
Authorities said the wind storm could possibly peak in the early hours of Wednesday, with gusts possibly reaching 129 kilometres per hour.
Actors, students evacuated
Actor James Woods has posted footage of flames burning through trees on a hill above his Pacific Palisades home.
"Standing in my driveway, getting ready to evacuate," Mr Woods said in the short video on X.
Actor Steve Guttenberg said he was trying to help to get friends out of the area, but the roads were jammed.
"If you leave your car … leave the key in there so a guy like me can move your car so that these fire trucks can get up there. It's really, really important," he told a reporter on broadcaster KTLA.
The Los Angeles Unified School District said it was temporarily relocating students from three campuses in the Pacific Palisades area due to the fire.
Utilities said they were considering pre-emptively cutting power to about a half-million customers across eight counties as a precaution against weather conditions that might damage equipment and spark a fire.
Recent dry winds, including the notorious Santa Anas, have contributed to warmer-than-average temperatures in Southern California, which has had little rain this season.
ABC/wires
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