The first evacuation order covering neighborhoods closest to the start of the devastating Pacific Palisades wildfire didn’t come until about 40 minutes after some of those homes were already burning, according to an Associated Press analysis of emergency communications and interviews with survivors.
The wildfire, which would become one of the most destructive in California history, was spreading rapidly in ornamental plantings and burning homes by 11:27 a.m. on Jan. 7, recordings of scanner traffic reveal. So many people fled on their own, as wind-whipped flames raced over the nearby hills, that by the time officials issued the order to evacuate at 12:07 p.m., traffic was gridlocked.
