The Hollywood Hills erupts in flames as more L.A. residents are forced to evacuate

LOS ANGELES – Another fast-spreading brush fire broke out in Los Angeles on Wednesday evening, this time in the famed Hollywood Hills, forcing nervous residents to make further evacuations as firefighters battled to contain more devastating blazes in the area.

The Los Angeles Fire Department issued an evacuation order for parts of the Hollywood Hills, a prominent neighborhood in central Los Angeles, shortly after 6 p.m. local time on Wednesday. According to Cal Fire as of 10 p.m. ET, the fire, dubbed the Sunset Fire, consumed at least 20 acres and remained 0% contained.

Mandatory evacuations were ordered from Laurel Canyon Boulevard in the west to Mulholland Drive in the north to the 101 Freeway in the east and to Hollywood Boulevard in the south. Cal Fire said the Los Angeles Fire Department responded to the fire.

“We understand this is a densely populated area, this is not a time to delay,” Los Angeles Fire Department spokeswoman Margaret Stewart told KABC-TV. “We need people to leave the area quickly and calmly and go south.”

“It feels like we are surrounded by fires”

The fire is west of the Hollywood Bowl music venue and about 10 miles southwest of the world-famous Hollywood sign. Images and videos shared on social media showed the fire appearing to be spreading uphill as a large plume of smoke moved toward Hollywood.

Gary Baseman, 64, of Los Angeles, is one of about two dozen people gathered at the top of an eight-story parking garage at The Grove, an upscale outdoor shopping center in Los Angeles, to watch the wildfires in the Hollywood Hills. “I just had to see for myself what was going on,” said Baseman, an artist.

Michael Carsh, who said he lives a mile away, peered at the fire and smoke through binoculars. “I felt pretty safe and now when I see it, it’s pretty scary. It feels like we’re surrounded by the fires.” Carsh, 49, pointed to an area between the parking garage and the fire. “I have friends who live there and they are hanging on right now. But I’ll save a room for her.”

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The Hollywood Hills erupts in flames as more L.A. residents are forced to evacuate

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