Palisades fire: James Woods forced to evacuate his LA home after tweeting video of his deck surrounded by flames

On Wednesday, January 8, 2025, James Wood tweeted an upfront view of the Palisades fire in a short video recorded from his deck. In the clip, which appears to have been shot by a firefighter, the fire hadn't reached his home but could be seen right next to it. Recording the video from the deck, the Hercules actor was heard saying in it:

"You're looking good. Your house is not on fire. I'm here in case some embers land on it. Hope all your windows are closed!"

About half an hour after his first post on X, Woods shared another one, recording a house on fire two houses away from his own. In a third tweet, the 77-year-old wrote:

"We were blessed to have LA fire and police depts doing their jobs so well. We are safe and out. There are several elementary schools in our neighborhood and there was an enormous community effort to evacuate the children safely. Can not speak more highly of the LA fire and LAPD."

As he recorded the video of his surroundings, standing in his driveway, Woods saw multiple helicopters heading towards the fire to pour water over it. James isn't the only celebrity who had to evacuate their home as the Palisades fire grows to nearly 3,000 acres in LA.

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Eugene Levy got caught in traffic of residents trying to escape the Palisades fire

Among other LA resident celebrities affected by the Palisades fire is Schitt's Creek actor Eugene Levy, who recounted his experience of getting trapped in the traffic on Tuesday (January 7) to the LA Times over a phone call, saying:

"The smoke looked pretty black and intense over Temescal Canyon... I couldn't see any flames, but the smoke was very dark."

The traffic was the consequence of all the residents hitting the road to escape the Pacific Palisades neighborhood. Meanwhile, the Police Academy actor, Steve Guttenberg - who is also a Palisades resident - struggled to help his friends stuck up the hill, told KTLA that the abandoned vehicles had blocked the roads, saying:

"If anybody has a car, leave the keys in the car so we can move your car so that these firetrucks can get up Palisades Drive."

The president of the Pacific Palisades Community Council, Sue Kohl, was also among the people caught in the long line of cars. Kohl told the LA Times:

"The problem with Pacific Palisades, which is something we've been dealing with for a long time, is that the ways out are extremely limited."

According to Forbes, the Palisades fire began on Tuesday, January 7, at around 11 am local time and burned over 2,900 acres in about 24 hours. In light of the quick-spreading fire, over 30,000 residents from Palisades as well as the nearby areas were ordered to evacuate their homes by the Los Angeles Fire Department.

Per the outlet, Cal Fire reported 0% fire containment early Wednesday. The Hurst Fire, another wildfire around the LA area, broke out on Tuesday night near the Sylmar suburb and has grown to cover over 500 acres, leading to the Fire Department issuing more evacuation orders.

Another fire started burning simultaneously in California - in the Altadena, Pasadena, and Sierra Madre areas - and covered 1,000 acres as of Wednesday midnight local time. According to the City officials, over 550 homes in Pasadena are being evacuated.

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In light of the Palisades fire, the National Weather Service has issued a red flag warning of low humidity, warm temperatures, and strong winds across Southern California that spans from Tuesday to Wednesday at the moment.