L.A. Fire Chief Kristin Crowley said the fire started in the 1100 block of North Piedra Miranda Drive near Fire Station 23 when winds were clocking at 25 mph, with gusts of up to 50 mph. Nearly 30,000 people were affected by evacuation-related orders, with 10,367 households threatened, officials said.

A live camera from the state's Alert California network shows billowing smoke from a burning hillside near the Pacific Palisades neighborhood in the Santa Monica Mountains. Dire warnings have been issued for the Los Angeles area after forecasters say there is the potential for the strongest wind event in more than a decade.

The fire ignited in Pacific Palisades amid "a life-threatening, destructive, widespread windstorm," officials said.

Meteorologist Geoff Fox alerts Southern Californians to brace for dangerous fire conditions as the notorious Santa Ana winds bring dry, gusty weather with mountain wave wind gusts that could reach 100 MPH,