A wildfire in LA causes ‘significant damage’ to school made famous by Hollywood

A well-known high school in the Pacific Palisades area of ​​Los Angeles has reportedly suffered “significant damage” as wildfires rage through the US city.

Parts of Palisades Charter High School — which counts celebrities including Will.i.am and Forest Whitaker among its alumni and has been a Hollywood filming location itself — have been affected, local schools official Alberto Carvalho said.

In addition to the Palisades fire — which has quickly spread to cover nearly 3,000 acres — several other flames have ignited nearby. Thousands of people have been evacuated.

The school’s website says it is closed – and urged students and their families to avoid the area. The BBC has asked for further comment.

The school, which educates children ages 14-18, says its students come from a wide area of ​​West Los Angeles. Its buildings are known as a location for films including Carrie, Teen Wolf and Freaky Friday.

Los Angeles is under a state of emergency, and an interactive map controlled by fire officials confirms that the fast-moving fires have affected a piece of land on which the school sits.

The map notes that the Palisades Fire — like other nearby blazes — is completely uncontained. Around 30,000 people have been asked to leave their homes.

The new school term had not yet begun Tuesday, although a small number of students and staff were on site, according to the LA Times. They were quickly evacuated and no injuries have been reported.

The newspaper said the school’s sports facilities had been damaged, but it was unclear to what extent buildings had been affected. Firefighters were on the scene, the newspaper added.

Although he acknowledged the reports of injuries during a press conference Wednesday morning, Mr. Carvalho, LA Unified School District superintendent, did not elaborate.

A reporter for the BBC’s American partner, CBS News, confirmed that flames could be seen coming from the premises – but said it was not clear what was burning. An evacuee speaking at the scene described the fires as “armageddon”.

The separate Palisades Charter Elementary School nearby has also reportedly been caught in the fire. The two are among several schools in the area closed as a result of mandatory evacuation orders, Mr. Carvalho.

The wider Pacific Palisades neighborhood is known as an exclusive celebrity hangout. Schitt’s Creek actor Eugene Levy is among those who have been forced to leave their homes – and others, including Tom Hanks and Jennifer Aniston, have reportedly had to do the same.

More than 1,400 firefighters have been deployed to battle the “unprecedented” flames currently raging around Los Angeles, California Governor Gavin Newsom said earlier.

Fire ecologist Chad Hanson said January was still considered wildfire season in this part of California and the biggest influence was the Santa Ana winds.

“These winds are unique to Southern California,” he said, explaining that they result in “extreme, sustained wind events with fairly dramatic gusts.”

Additional reporting by Thomas Mackintosh

Do you have to evacuate because of the fires? If it is safe to do so, make contact.