Palisades Fire threatens Southern California cultural touchstone

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.