Residents of Pacific Palisades are facing traffic, uncertainty as the fire approaches

Thousands of Pacific Palisades residents were urged to evacuate Thursday as the fire raged amid strong winds.

The current celebrity mayor of Los Angeles’ celebrity-filled neighborhood, actor Eugene Levy, was on the run with other residents. And like many others, the “Schitt’s Creek” actor was stuck on the road.

“The smoke looked dark and thick over Temescal Canyon,” Levy told The Times. “I could not see the flame but the smoke was very dark.

The fire broke out around 10:30 a.m. and quickly spread, threatening several upper-level homes on the west side.

Residents fleeing down Sunset Boulevard gathered near Pacific Coast Highway, many calling for family members still stranded on the road; others cried as they finally got together.

Cavalry Christian School students and teachers posted in the Sunset Beach parking lot, waiting to connect with students and family members. But the smoke quickly moved closer to the shore. By noon, ash was rising from the sky along the coast.

“I realized it’s safer in the ocean, but now I’m not sure,” said Daryl Goldsmith. “The wind is getting bad and I hope things don’t get too hot. … The poor firefighters couldn’t get up there.”

Goldsmith was at his home in Palisades with friends when he saw the fire. It exploded quickly, he said.

As she ran to get out, her husband stayed behind to help a disabled neighbor escape. Firefighters began directing traffic, but Goldsmith decided to throw his car onto the grass and decided to walk to the beach.

As she waited at Sunset Beach, her husband was still clinging to the hill.

Residents said that when officials started issuing evacuation orders, the fire quickly spread from five kilometers up Palisades Drive to half a mile, near Cavlary Christian School.

When rescuers began using all lanes of Palisades Drive to escape, firefighters stopped vehicles on the road to fight the new area, said Erin Sheehy, whose husband was stuck in traffic. Some residents got out of their cars and started walking the miles down to the beach.

The escapees were now waiting to hear from their homes.

“It looks bad,” Magnolia Shin said at noon Tuesday, about an hour after leaving her home on Piedra Morada Drive. Shin said he could feel the heat of the flames before he left, 50 meters away from his home. He didn’t have time to try to save anything in his home before he left.

“I couldn’t even find my rabbit.” he said. “I just left. I just took my bag and left.”