Rapid wind gusts, decreased air quality and canceled classes faced members of the Westwood community as fires tore through Los Angeles this week. 

The first of the fires – which started in the Pacific Palisades – broke out 10:30 a.m. Tuesday at Piedra Morada Drive and burned more than 19,000 acres by Thursday evening, according to the LA Times. 

As of 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Westwood and the UCLA campus are not under an evacuation warning or order. Although some students received notifications around 4 p.m. Thursday, those notifications were sent in error.

[Related: False evacuation warning sent out across Los Angeles County]

The cause of the Pacific Palisades fire was unknown as of early Thursday evening.

Gov. Gavin Newsom arrived at the scene in the Pacific Palisades on Tuesday afternoon, where he was joined by local fire department chiefs and elected local officials for a press conference at Will Rogers State Beach. 

LA Fire Department Chief Kristin Crowley said at the Tuesday conference that the fire was fueled by both strong winds and surrounding topography, making it “extremely challenging” for those assigned to the fire to stop its spread. 

Marqueece Harris-Dawson – who, as city council president, was acting mayor at the time of the press conference – said at the conference that LA Mayor Karen Bass was on her way back to the city from Ghana, to which she had traveled on behalf of the federal government. The City of LA declared a state of emergency due to the wind event and urged residents to stay off the roads to make room for emergency vehicles moving across the city, he said. 

“If you’re around the city and you have been spared, be thankful, but also be on guard,” Harris-Dawson said during the conference.

Those evacuating from the Pacific Palisades fire left the area throughout Tuesday. Gridlock halted traffic along the area’s winding hillside roads, causing people to abandon their cars and flee on foot. Emergency services employed bulldozers to clear vehicles from the road and make way for fire trucks. 

Although Getty Villa staff were concerned about the museum, as of Thursday afternoon, the villa remained largely undamaged, according to the LA Times. 

The Westwood Recreation Center on Sepulveda Boulevard was designated as an evacuation center. More than 230 evacuees sheltered in the center Wednesday night, and the center will stay open until everyone has somewhere to go, said Mimi Teller, the development communications manager with the American Red Cross Los Angeles Region. 

[Related: Westwood Recreation Center provides shelter, essential resources amid LA fires]

Another fast-moving fire broke out Tuesday evening in the Altadena hills near Eaton Canyon, prompting immediate evacuations for parts of Altadena and Pasadena.

By Wednesday morning, the Pacific Palisades fire had grown rapidly, following a night of increased wind speeds and decreased water pressure due to an overwhelming demand. 

In a press conference Wednesday evening, Janisse Quiñones, the CEO and chief engineer of the LA Department of Water and Power, said there were three million gallons of water available in tanks when the fire started. However, she said the department saw demand for water four times greater than ever seen in the system. 

“This fire was different and unprecedented because they didn’t have air resources to fight it, so you’re fighting a wildfire with a fire hydrant system,” Quiñones said at the conference. “Fire hydrants are not made to fight multiple houses – hundreds of houses – at a time.” 

LADWP has told residents they can expect to wait more than 24 hours to receive power in the event of an outage.

David Acuña, battalion chief and duty public information officer for Cal Fire, said in an interview that the hydrant system can handle a handful of structure fires but is not enough to keep up with more than 1,000 structure fires at one time. 

Bass, who has faced criticism for her absence on the first day of the fires, was also at the Wednesday evening press conference. A Sky News reporter questioned Bass at an airport on her absence, with the reporter asking Bass if she owes citizens an apology. 

By Wednesday night, there were five active fires in LA County, with several other smaller ignitions beginning around the county, such as multiple house fires in Studio City. 

A fire broke out in the Hollywood Hills just before 6 p.m. Wednesday. Deemed the Sunset Fire, officials were concerned with its ability to spread rapidly, and parts of the area were immediately evacuated. 

However, by Thursday morning, LAFD officials said the fire was 100% contained, and most evacuation orders were lifted for the area. 

Following the fires, school districts throughout LA County were closed. On Tuesday, schools affected by the Pacific Palisades fire were moved to other locations to operate. However, as new fires began around the county, schools – including all in the LA Unified School District – canceled classes for the week. 

At UCLA, more than 50 professors canceled classes or moved them online Wednesday, citing air quality concerns. 

Chancellor Julio Frenk then sent a campuswide email Wednesday evening announcing the cancellation of undergraduate classes Thursday and Friday and movement of graduate instruction online. 

“Even as UCLA’s central focus is on protecting our students, faculty and staff, I am also grateful that our university is doing what it can to support the broader L.A. community in a time of need,” said Frenk, whose chancellorship began one week ago, in the email. 

The UCLA Health system remains operational and treating patients, Frenk said in the email.

[Related: UCLA cancels in-person classes amid Los Angeles fires] 

Acuña said UCLA should stay on high alert, as dangerous wind conditions – which have the potential to push flames in different directions – are expected to continue into the weekend and following week. Acuña added that it is essential that residents have a go-bag prepared and stay up to date on evacuation information. 

There have also been at least 20 arrests for looting throughout the county, said LA County Sheriff Robert Luna at a Thursday morning press conference. Luna announced that the California National Guard has been called in.

UCPD responded to a mutual aid request in Santa Monica on Wednesday night. Officers arrested an individual after recovering a loaded handgun from an evacuation zone, according to a post from the social media platform X. 

“Entering evacuation zones with criminal intent is unacceptable and will not be tolerated,” the post said. 

While there have also been reports of deaths related to the fires, Luna said he was unsatisfied with the preliminary numbers and information received. By Thursday evening, at least 130,000 people were under evacuation.

“At one point, we’ll be able to do a more thorough search of these impacted areas – some of them looked like a bomb was dropped in them – where we will be able to bring in K-9s and other things to help us hopefully not discover too many fatalities,” Luna said. “This is a crisis, and we don’t know what to expect but we’re ready for everything.” 

As of 7:30 p.m. Thursday, 29,053 total acres have burned and more than 10,000 structures have been destroyed, according to Cal Fire.