Major brush fires burning in SoCal amid powerful windstorm

Evacuation orders were expanded Wednesday morning to parts of La Cañada Flintridge, including NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, as the Eaton Fire that began in the foothills above Altadena continued to burn uncontrolled.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Crescenta Valley station released a map that showed the new evacuation area.

A fast-moving brush fire continued raging in the Eaton Canyon area, forcing widespread evacuations and school closures while destroying an unknown number of homes and other structures.

"Residents in affected zones should evacuate immediately," the Sheriff's Department said. "Gather essential items Have an evacuation plan Stay informed through official channels such as Genasys Protect at protect.genasys.com."

The Eaton Fire was reported at about 6:20 p.m. Tuesday in the area of Altadena Drive and Midwick, according to Cal Fire.

As of 5:30 a.m., Cal Fire reported the fire was 2,227 acres and was 0% contained.

Another brush fire, dubbed the Tyler Fire, broke out in Riverside County Wednesday morning.

According to Cal Fire, the fire was reported around 3:30 a.m. at Tyler Street and 47th Avenue in the Coachella area. At least 15 acres have burned.

Additional details about the fire were not available.

An assisted living facility in Altadena was among the structures destroyed by the Eaton Fire, which has scorched about 1,000 acres so far.

Everyone at The Terraces at Park Marino was evacuated late Tuesday night after the wind-driven flames engulfed the building.

Zion Brown, an employee of the facility, described what those moments were like.

"The fire started coming from down the moment, we noticed it moving pretty quickly so we did start evacuating everybody," he said. "I was running up to the third story, second story, carrying people down, just picking them up because we do have a lot of wheelchair people in here... We were able to get everybody out of here in a timely manner before the building actually went into flames."

An assisted living facility in Altadena was among the structures destroyed by the Eaton Fire, which has scorched about 1,000 acres so far.

Additional evacuation orders were issued Wednesday morning for the Eaton Fire burning near the Altadena area.

According to the Angeles National Forest, residents north of the 210 Freeway and east of JPL Laboratories are now under evacuation orders. Residents north of the 210 Freeway and east of Angelus Crest to JPL are under an evacuation warning.

More than 52,300 residents and 20,890 structures are under mandatory evacuation orders, officials said. Nearly 47,000 residents and 18,000 structures are under warnings.

An evacuation center has been established at the Pasadena Convention Center.