Getty Villa Museum 'catches on fire' as Pacific Palisades blaze rips across LA

The Getty Villa Museum is "catching on fire" according to sources monitoring the spread of the devastating Pacific Palisades wildfire tearing through L.A.

The Los Angeles Times is reporting that the Getty Villa Museum is "catching on fire" citing an unidentified official heard over Los Angeles Fire Department radio. LAFD and the Getty Foundation did not immediately respond to the L.A. Times request for comment. NBC News reported shortly after the L.A. Times reported the story that the building was not on fire presently but was in serious danger.

NBC News reported that the Getty Foundation issued a statement saying the works inside the museum are safe but the grounds around the building are catching fire but no the building itself.

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California Gov. Gavin Newsom said during a news conference on Tuesday the worst of the winds are expected between 10 p.m. Tuesday and 5 a.m. Wednesday.

"We're not out of the woods by any stretch of the imagination. You may feel at home that you're fine down in Riverside County, San Bernardino County, down in Ventura County, other parts of the state but there's a reason we prepositioned hundreds of assets and personnel on Sunday in anticipation of this wind event," Newsom said. "You heard the chief say that from 10 p.m. tonight until 5 a.m tomorrow there will be peak winds. And having just quite literally an hour or so ago gone up the canyon and saw first hand the impact of these swirling winds and the embers and the number structures that are destroyed."

Forecasters predicted the windstorm would last for days, producing isolated gusts that could top 100 mph (160 kph) in mountains and foothills — including in areas that haven’t seen substantial rain in months. The National Weather service said it could be the strongest Santa Ana windstorm in more than a decade across Los Angeles and Ventura counties.

Chief Kristin Crowley of the Los Angeles Fire Department told The New York Times on Tuesday that nearly 30,000 people in the greater Los Angeles area are under evacuation orders this evening as the Palisades fire continues to rage.

10,000 households and more than 13,000 structures are under threat from the blaze, according to Crowley.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said he saw “many structures already destroyed.” Officials did not give an exact number of structures damaged or destroyed in the blaze.