Thousands of Pacific Palisades residents were ordered to evacuate Tuesday when a fire broke out amid high winds.

The current honorary mayor of the prominent Los Angeles neighborhood, actor Eugene Levy, was on the run along with other residents. And like many others, the “Schitt’s Creek” actor was stuck in a traffic jam.

“The smoke over Temescal Canyon looked pretty black and intense,” Levy told The Times. “I couldn’t see any flames, but the smoke was very dark.”

The fire broke out around 10:30 a.m. and spread quickly, threatening many luxury homes in the West.

Residents fleeing along Sunset Boulevard gathered along Pacific Coast Highway, many calling family members still stuck in traffic; others cried when they were finally reunited.

Students and teachers at Cavalry Christian School stand in the Sunset Beach parking lot waiting to interact with students and family members. But the smoke quickly moved towards the shore. Around midday, ash fell from the sky along the coast.

“I thought it would be safer on the beach, but now I’m not so sure,” Daryl Goldsmith said. “The wind is vicious and I just hope it doesn’t burn down. … The poor fire department couldn’t get up there.”

Goldsmith was at her Palisades home with friends when she discovered the fire. It exploded quickly, she said.

As she rushed to evacuate, her husband stayed behind to help a disabled neighbor escape. Firefighters began directing traffic, but Goldsmith decided to park her car in the grass and walk to the shore.

While she waited on Sunset Beach, her husband was still stuck at the top of the hill.

Residents said when officials first issued evacuation orders, the fire quickly jumped from five miles up Palisades Drive to just a half-mile near Calvary Christian School.

Although evacuees initially used all lanes of Palisades Drive to escape, firefighters stopped cars on the road to tackle the new location along the evacuation route, said Erin Sheehy, whose husband was stuck in traffic. Some residents got out of their cars and began walking miles down to the coast.

The evacuees now waited for news of their homes.

“Things are looking bleak,” Magnolia Shin said around noon Tuesday, about an hour after leaving her home on Piedra Morada Drive. Shin said that before she left, she could feel the heat of the flames just 50 meters from her home. She didn’t have time to try to salvage anything from her home before evacuating.

“I couldn’t even get my rabbit,” she said. “I just left. I just grabbed my purse and drove away.”