Firefighters and police swooped in Tuesday night, urgently rescuing elderly residents from a Pasadena senior center as flames from a raging Angeles National Forest fire crept dangerously close -- and the scenes are gut-wrenching.
You can see the dramatic evacuation of about 100 residents -- many in wheelchairs -- unfolding in a 7-Eleven parking lot across from The Terraces at Park Marino, with embers and ash swirling in the chaos of a nearby wildfire ... spurred by what meteorologists are calling one of L.A.’s worst windstorms in the last decade.
A police SWAT armored vehicle and a bus were brought in to whisk senior citizens away from the Eaton Fire -- the second major wildfire to hit L.A. County in the past 24 hours.
#WATCH | About 100 people in a senior center are being evacuated as they are rushed across the roadways due to the extreme fire making its way.#California #californiafires #californiaEvacuations #LosAngeles #PalisadesFire #palisadesfires #PacificPalisadesFire #PacificPallisades… pic.twitter.com/aZJ2stWZbx
— upuknews (@upuknews1) January 8, 2025
The blaze ignited around 6 PM Tuesday and quickly swallowed more than 400 acres of brush within just two hours.
Pasadena Fire Department crews said the relentless winds are making the flames behave erratically, spreading at breakneck speed -- just like the Pacific Palisades fire that kickstarted earlier the same day.
A high wind advisory is set to stay in effect until 6 PM Wednesday.