A wildfire raged across an upscale section of Los Angeles on Tuesday, sending large billows of smoke over much of the metropolitan area and causing traffic jams as people fled their homes under evacuation orders.

The flames are threatening Pacific Palisades, an affluent coastal neighborhood that is home to about 24,000 people, roughly 20 miles west of downtown Los Angeles. Officials ordered residents to evacuate immediately. Part of the Pacific Coast Highway and several nearby schools were closed.

A wildfire burned about 200 acres (80 hectares) and threatened homes in an upscale section of Los Angeles on Tuesday, forcing evacuations after officials had already warned of extreme fire danger from dry,

Evacuation orders went into effect in Los Angeles' Pacific Palisades neighborhood, with multiple homes under immediate threat on Tuesday.

A fast-moving brush fire is spreading in the Southern California neighborhood of Pacific Palisades. High winds have dramatically raised the risk of wildfires for the next several days. A brush fire in Pacific Palisades has grown to more than 700 acres and is forcing residents in the area to leave their homes.

Celebrities were forced to evacuate on Tuesday as a quickly spreading fire raged in Pacific Palisades, California. The Context. The Pacific Palisades inferno began as a brush fire

Officials warned people near the Pacific Palisades area in Los Angeles to evacuate after a fast-moving fire broke out.