Palisades fire: Evacuations, road closures, shelters, schools, forecast

Firefighters continue to battle the fast-moving Palisades fire that broke out Tuesday morning along Piedra Morada Drive in Pacific Palisades.

By Thursday afternoon, the blaze had grown to almost 20,000 acres, burning more than 5,000 homes, businesses and other buildings. It was 6% contained by evening.

The blaze has taxed firefighter resources and the local water supply. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Forecast

Thursday night, winds were set to increase before slowly dropping off until Friday afternoon, said National Weather Service meteorologist Carol Smith.

A red flag warning for critical fire weather is set to expire Friday evening at 6 p.m. for parts of Los Angeles and Ventura counties, and an incoming sea breeze may redirect the winds slightly.

Gusts will slow considerably over the weekend through Saturday, but are likely to pick up by Sunday into most of next week, according to a meteorologist with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection on Thursday.

Evacuations

• Mandatory evacuation orders have been issued for a wide swath of Pacific Palisades and Topanga and a portion of Malibu within the area north to Mulholland Drive, east to Kenter Avenue and south to Pacific Coast Highway.
  Mandatory evacuation orders have been issued in Santa Monica for all areas north of Montana Avenue from the beach to 11th Street.

• Portions of Calabasas and Malibu remained under evacuation warnings.

Read more: Live updates: Pacific Palisades fire burning out of control

Shelters

• Westwood Recreation Center, at 1350 S. Sepulveda Blvd. The shelter also accepts small animals.

• El Camino Real Charter High School, at 5440 Valley Circle Blvd., Woodland Hills. The shelter also accepts small animals.

• Pasadena Convention Center, at 300 E. Green St.

• Small animals are being accepted at the following locations:
  

  • El Camino High School, 5440 Valley Circle Blvd, Woodland Hills

  • Agoura Animal Care Center, 29525 Agoura Road, Agoura Hills

  • Baldwin Park Animal Care Center, 4275 Elton St., Baldwin Park

  • Carson Animal Care Center, 216 W Victoria St., Gardena

  • Castaic Animal Care Center, 31044 Charlie Canyon, Castaic

  • Downey Animal Care Center, 11258 Garfield Ave., Downey

  • Lancaster Animal Care Center, 5210 W. Ave. I, Lancaster

  • Palmdale Animal Care Center, 38550 Sierra Hwy., Palmdale

• Large animals are being accepted at the following locations:
  

  • Pomona Fairplex, 1101 W. McKinley Ave., Pomona

  • Industry Hills Expo, 16200 Temple Ave., City of Industry

  • L.A. Equestrian, 480 Riverside Drive, Burbank

  • Castaic Animal Care Center, 31044 Charlie Canyon, Castaic
    

Road closures

• The southbound side of Pacific Coast Highway is closed at Las Flores Canyon Road, Topanga Canyon Boulevard and Coastline Drive..

• The northbound side of PCH is closed at the McClure Tunnel in Santa Monica.
  

• Topanga Canyon Boulevard is closed in both directions between PCH and Mulholland Drive.

• The westbound 10 Freeway is closed at Lincoln Boulevard and northbound PCH.

• The 4th Street and 5th Street offramps from the westbound 10 Freeway are closed.

• Northbound Ocean Avenue, 7th Street and 26th Street are all closed at San Vicente Boulevard.

• Cold Canyon Road is closed from Piuma Road to Mulholland Highway.

• Malibu Canyon Road is closed from Piuma Road to PCH.

• Malibu Canyon Road is closed from Mulholland Highway to Malibu Knolls Road.

• Piuma Road is closed from Malibu Canyon Road to Rambla Pacifico Street.

• Rambla Pacifico Street is closed from Piuma Road to PCH.

• Saddle Peak Road is closed from Stunt Road to Tuna Canyon Road.

• Schueren Road is closed from Saddle Peak Road to Piuma Road.

• Stunt Road is closed from Mulholland Highway to Schueren Road.

• Tuna Canyon Road is closed from Saddle Peak Road to PCH.

• Old Topanga Canyon Road is closed from Topanga Canyon Boulevard to Mulholland Highway.

• Mulholland Highway is closed from Lower Brewster Road to Seminole Drive.

Read more: Dangerous winds prompt Southern California Edison to shut off power to thousands of customers. Here's where

Schools

On Thursday and Friday, all UCLA undergraduate classes were canceled, while graduate classes were pivoting to remote instruction.

Pepperdine University plans to hold undergraduate and most graduate classes online through Sunday, according to a statement posted on social media from the school's president.

All schools in the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District were closed Thursday.

All Los Angeles Unified district schools and offices will be closed Friday.

Meal distribution for LAUSD students will be available from 8 to 11 a.m. Friday at the following 16 sites:

• North region: Mulholland Middle School, Sepulveda Middle School, San Fernando Middle School, Richard E. Byrd Middle School

• East region: Hollenbeck Middle School, South Gate High School, Los Angeles Academy Middle School, John H. Liechty Middle School

• South region: Fremont High School, Harry Bridges Span School, Edwin Markham Middle School, Barack Obama Global Preparation Academy

• West region: Marina Del Rey Middle School, Sonia Sotomayor Arts and Sciences and Magnet, Berendo Middle School, Fairfax High School
  

Affected schools are communicating directly with families, who can visit lausd.org for updates. For additional support, parents can contact the district's family hotline at (213) 443-1300. The school system also will have mental health support available through a Student and Family Wellness Resource Line at (213) 241-3840, from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Santa Monica College announced its Malibu campus would be closed through Friday.

Several schools are also closed due to the Eaton fire, which broke out Tuesday night in Altadena. See a list of school closures here.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.