A video capturing an aerial shot of the Palisades Fire from a California park viewpoint has gone viral on TikTok.
The clip was posted by Dylan Mayer (@mayerwellness) and has amassed 1.3 million views since it was shared on January 8. A caption shared with the post reads: "Earlier today overlooking LA from #TopangaStatePark & the #PalisadesFire #wildfire #parkermesaoverlook."
As noted by the hashtags shared in the post, the footage was captured from the Parker Mesa Overlook, a hiking trail at Topanga State Park, which offers views of the Los Angeles basin, the Pacific Ocean and islands off the California coast, according to the California State Parks website.
The footage begins with a view of an empty bench against the sound of heavy winds with bushes shown being blown to the side. The camera then pans across the screen to show clouds of smoke over the landscape.
In a post on his Instagram account, where Mayer shared the same clip, he wrote "PalisadesFire growing exponentially with this wind. Almost knocked all 210lbs of me over multiple times. Scary s***."
According to a note posted Thursday at the Topanga State Park website, the park is now closed due to the Palisades Fire. It's one of several wildfires that have blazed across parts of the Los Angeles County area in the past few days.
The Palisades Fire is the most destructive wildfire in LA history, having destroyed more than 1,100 structures and ravaged 15,832 acres since it broke out on Tuesday. It was reported to be spreading rapidly, advancing at five football fields per minute, with firefighting efforts being met by dangerous "tornado-like" winds.
In post on X, formerly Twitter, shared on Wednesday, the Los Angeles County Fire Department said that the Palisades Fire was at 2,921 acres, with "0 percent" contained.
"Extreme fire behavior, short & long-range spotting, continues to challenge firefighting efforts for the Palisades fire. Winds gusts up to 60 MPH are expected to continue through Thursday," the post said.
Residents have been ordered to evacuate their homes, and over 258,000 customers across the state are reported to be without power, according to Poweroutage.us.
A state of emergency was declared on Tuesday by California Governor Gavin Newsom, with Southern California facing "life-threatening" winds and extreme fire weather through Thursday, his office said in a statement.
The National Weather Service (NWS) has warned that "high winds and low relative humidity will continue critical fire weather conditions in southern California through Friday," with a Critical Fire Weather Red Flag Warning issued for portions of Los Angeles and Ventura counties.
"Winds of 20 to 40 mph, with stronger winds in the terrain, low relative humidity, and dry fuels have contributed to the dangerous conditions," the NWS said.
'Very Sad'
TikTok users were shocked by the view captured in the viral clip.
Ronita wrote: "Oh my God, the devastation," and Aunt May said: "Very sad to see..."
User msmrsro noted: "My God, the winds! My cousin is a lifelong CA resident and she says she's never experienced winds like they've had lately."
User lifestooshort9800 said: "The winds are horrible. Been in San Bernardino Ontario area yesterday and it's horrible. Thank God heading back to Arizona today."
Lee Rennolds noted: "This is awful..." and ayewizzle said: "My heart hurts :("
Newsweek has contacted the original poster via TikTok and the L.A. County Fire Department via email for comment. This video has not been independently verified.
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