Tens of thousands of residents in the western Los Angeles area remain under mandatory evacuation orders Wednesday morning after a wind-driven wildfire exploded in size Tuesday and swept through communities in the Pacific Palisades.

The Palisades Fire was first reported around 10:30 a.m. Tuesday in the 1100 block of North Piedra Morada Drive. By evening, the fire had exploded to more than 2,900 acres with no containment and was expected to keep spreading amid hurricane-force Santa Ana winds.

The latest CalFire updates can be found here.

There was no initial estimate for the number of structures damaged or destroyed. However, news footage showed dozens of homes and other structures ablaze.

Evacuations were ordered for the entire Palisades community down to the Pacific Ocean, according to CalFire. During a Tuesday afternoon press conference, officials said more than 10,000 homes in Pacific Palisades and Malibu were affected by the evacuation order. Evacuation warnings also extended into areas of Santa Monica and Calabasas.

An evacuation shelter for people and pets was established at the Westwood Recreation Center at 1350 S. Sepulveda Boulevard.

Dozens of Los Angeles County schools will be closed Wednesday due to the fire. A comprehensive list of closures can be found here.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Pacific Palisades is located about 10 miles from Malibu, where the Franklin Fire burned more than 4,000 acres and burned several homes after erupting during similar windy conditions in December.

Palisades Fire Resources: LAFD Alerts | CALFIRE Incident Page | LAFD on X

As the more than 2,900-acre Palisades Fire rages, a Southern California cultural touchstone – the Getty Villa along Pacific Coast Highway in Pacific Palisades – is threatened. 

In a statement, President and CEO of the J. Paul Getty Trust Katherine E. Fleming said the villa was swiftly closed Tuesday morning to non-emergency staff and irrigation was deployed throughout the grounds. 

Fleming added that extensive measures to clear brush from the surrounding areas had taken place earlier in the year as part of the villa’s fire mitigation efforts, though some trees and vegetation on the grounds have burned. 

“Museum galleries and library archives were sealed off from smoke by state-of-the-art air handling systems,” the statement noted and added that the double-walled construction of the galleries provides significant protection to the priceless collections housed in the museum.  

Villa officials extended their gratitude for the tireless efforts of first responders. 

“We, of course, are very concerned for our neighbors in the Pacific Palisades, Malibu, and the surrounding areas,” the statement adds.

Some mallgoers in a Santa Clarita Valley neighborhood were surprised by a trio of motorcyclists riding through the food court Saturday night.  

The chaotic scene unfolded at the Town Center Mall in Valencia where three suspects on two dirt bikes, likely juveniles, were captured on cellphone video obtained by KTLA cruising through the food court area at a relatively high speed.  

A restaurant manager at the mall, Chris Hernandez, said the fast-driving suspects evaded mall security, which was slow to respond.  

“It was loud. I saw the motorcycles come up through the mall,” the restaurant manager told KTLA’s Sandra Mitchell. “To me, it’s a big no, no because there’s little kids all over the place and somebody’s going to end up getting hurt.”  

Other mall employees who spoke to KTLA say this is not even the first time that dirt bikes riders have made their way inside the mall.  

“They’re very bold,” Matthew Montano, who works at a restaurant in the mall, said. “It’s usually happened in the last year, though, a little frequently.”  

So far, authorities with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department have not made any arrests, though Sgt. Guillermo Martinez said the three suspects could face felony charges if caught.  

“People are there for the shopping experience. They’re not going to expect having a motorcycle ride right past them,” he told KTLA. “That could be threat of serious danger, injury to them as well as to the riders of the motorcycles.”  

Just an hour after the mall incident, a teenager on a motorcycle who was reportedly driving in the wrong way in traffic at the intersection of Railroad Avenue and Oak Ridge Drive was killed.  

Several posts on social media report that it was one of the drivers in the mall motorcycle incident, though law enforcement officials have yet to confirm that.  

What officials with the sheriff’s department did say, however, is that they will be increasing patrols in the area.  

“We will be out there, and we will take a zero-tolerance approach,” Sgt. Martinez told KTLA. “If we see it, we will either cite, confiscate, arrest or impound depending on what the circumstances are, but we are ramping up enforcement.”  

Authorities added that they are seeing more of this type of dangerous activity, especially since e-bikes, many of which resemble dirt bikes, have become more common and that deputies on motorcycles and ATV’s will be enlisted to chase the suspects down.