A fast-moving wildfire in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, has reached the grounds of the Getty Villa Museum, which houses over 44,000 antiquities dating back to 6,500 B.C.E. The fire, fueled by strong winds and dry conditions, has prompted the evacuation of thousands of residents, with nearby landmarks like the Eames House and Villa Aurora also at risk.
Officials confirmed no damage to the Getty Villa Museum or its collection, but vegetation on the site has burned.
The Los Angeles Times first reported that an official from the L.A. fire department told the local radio that the Getty Villa Museum was “catching on fire” shortly before 5 p.m. PT on Tuesday. The fire, which broke out on Tuesday afternoon, has intensified due to low rainfall, low humidity, and strong Santa Ana winds. More than 30,000 people have been evacuated from the area. California governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency on Tuesday.
A video posted on X shows brush burning near the Villa. It is located along the Pacific Coast Highway and is 10 miles away from the affiliated Getty Center, which hosts most of the world-famous art collection.
Katherine E. Fleming, president and CEO of the J. Paul Getty Trust, said Tuesday that while vegetation on the museum’s grounds has burned, “staff and and the collection remain safe.”
“Additional fire prevention measures in place at the Villa include water storage on-site,” said Fleming in the statement. “Irrigation was immediately deployed throughout the grounds Tuesday morning. Museum galleries and library archives were sealed off from smoke by state-of-the-art air handling systems. The double-walled construction of the galleries also provides significant protection for the collections.”
The Getty Villa, which is modeled after the ancient Villa dei Papiri in Herculaneum, Italy, holds an important collection of sculptures, vases, jewelry, frescoes, and mosaics from ancient civilizations. Its campus has been closed twice, in 2017 and again in 2019, due to threat of wildfire.
The nearby Villa Aurora artist residency and Thomas Mann House issued a statement noting that the situation in the immediate vicinity “is especially dire and we must expect the worst.”
“The impact of the fires on our two houses will only become fully visible in the coming days,” the statement continues. A spokesperson confirmed on Wednesday that all fellows and employees of Villa Aurora and Thomas Mann House are safe.
While currently at risk, Case Study House 8, the historic Eames House built in 1949, also in the area of Pacific Palisades, was unharmed by the wildfires raging nearby as of 8 a.m. PT on Wednesday, but the windblown fires continue to claim other homes in the community and bring the fires nearer, according to managing director Bradley Kal Hagan.
“We are closely monitoring the situation and the Eames Foundation has taken every precaution to protect the site,” he said via email, adding that the foundation’s team worked quickly to remove a small number of objects from the house before they had to evacuate the building on Tuesday. Visits to the Eames House are cancelled until further notice.
“The loss and displacement caused by these fires is staggering, and we stand in solidarity with everyone affected during this incredibly difficult time,” Hagan added.
The picturesque Pacific Palisades neighborhood, which lies east of Los Angeles between the beach towns of Santa Monica and Malibu is also home to many film, TV, and music stars and is one of the most expensive neighborhoods in the U.S. As the fire spread, gridlocked roads forced some residents to abandon vehicles, while emergency responders went door-to-door enforcing evacuations. Since the fire broke out, more than 1,000 structures have been destroyed, L.A. County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said at a news conference on Wednesday.
As of Wednesday afternoon, blazes in Palisades, Eaton, and Hurst have ripped through a total of 22 square miles, according to the AP, with the Eaton fire claiming two lives. About 155,000 people are under evacuation orders, per CNN.
“This morning, we woke up to a dark cloud over all of Los Angeles,” said L.A. County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath. “But it is darkest for those who are most intimately impacted by these fires. It has been an immensely painful 24 hours.”
Several L.A. museums and galleries have temporarily shuttered amid severe weather warnings. The institutions closed on Wednesday included the Hammer Museum (closed through Thursday), Huntington Library, the Broad (through Thursday), the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden (until further notice), MOCA Grand Avenue and MOCA Geffen (through Thursday), the Norton Simon Museum (through Friday), and the Getty Center (through Sunday). Fowler Museum has moved the opening of its upcoming show “Fire Kinship” from this weekend to January 23.
The L.A. outposts of galleries including Night Gallery, Sean Kelly, Various Small Fires, Lisson Gallery, and Jeffrey Deitch also closed for the day. Gagosian has postponed the opening of Alex Israel’s “Noir” exhibition, originally slated for January 9, until further notice.
This article was updated on January 8 at 8:30 p.m. ET.