A 25-acre brush fire erupted near the Getty Center on Wednesday, Sept. 9, sending evacuation warnings into Bel Air before firefighters stopped its spread by early evening.
The Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) reported the blaze, dubbed the Getty fire, around 4:30 p.m. near the Getty Center parking lot at 1200 Getty Center Drive along the northbound 405 Freeway. By 5:30 p.m. the fire had grown to 20 acres, and the LAFD issued evacuation warnings for two Genasys zones covering an area bounded roughly by Promontory Road to the north, Sunset Boulevard to the south, the 405 to the east and Bundy Drive to the west.
Crews stopped forward progress around 6:15 p.m., the LAFD said on X. About 185 firefighters remained on scene Wednesday evening for mop-up, with assistance from the Los Angeles County Fire Department, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and the Los Angeles Police Department, according to the Westside Current.
No injuries were reported. No homes were damaged, the LAFD said.
The department lifted both evacuation warnings around 8:40 p.m., according to the Los Angeles Times. Mayor Karen Bass confirmed the all-clear on X, writing that the LAFD "remains on the ground."
LAFD spokesperson Lyndsey Lantz told Fox11 on Wednesday afternoon, as the fire was actively burning, that conditions had worked in crews' favor. "We just haven't had a ton of wind here, so it has not been as wind-driven as it potentially could be," Lantz said, as reported by Deadline. She described the blaze as "topography-driven," moving uphill through steep brush.
A Chinook helicopter drew water from the Stone Canyon Reservoir to attack the flames from above, according to the Santa Monica Daily Press.
The fire forced the Getty Center to close and evacuate visitors Wednesday afternoon. The museum said in a later post on X on Thursday that it would remain closed Sept. 10 to support ongoing LAFD access. The Getty Villa in Pacific Palisades was not affected and stayed open on its normal schedule.
Mount Saint Mary's University spokesperson Debbie Ream said the school's Chalon campus, which sits inside the evacuation warning zone, canceled in-person classes around 5:30 p.m. Wednesday. The roughly 400 students who live on campus were told to prepare to shelter in place.
Southern California was experiencing extreme heat at the time, with temperatures climbing past 100 degrees and high humidity making conditions feel 5 to 10 degrees hotter, according to the National Weather Service.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation. Residents can check real-time evacuation zone maps at Genasys.com.






