AIR7 video shows destruction in Pacific Palisades after inferno

Video recorded by AIR7 showed the widespread destruction in Pacific Palisades after a wildfire that has grown to more than 17,000 acres ripped through the area.

PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. (KABC) — An apocalyptic scene of destruction in Pacific Palisades was visible from AIR7 on Thursday morning as the helicopter surveyed the aftermath of the Palisades Fire.

The footage showed several buildings were destroyed at Palisades Charter High School on Bowdoin Street.

“It’s hard to describe the destruction down here,” ABC7 helicopter reporter Scott Reiff said. “It’s just so devastating. I didn’t think this was going to happen. We came up over the hill, the smoke cleared, and what we’re seeing down here is destruction on a scale that we’ve never seen anything close to this.”

In the hillside area along the coast dotted with celebrity homes, block after block of California Mission Style homes and bungalows were reduced to charred remains. Ornate iron railing wrapped around the smoldering frame of one house.

Roughly 180,000 people are under evacuation orders, and the fires have consumed about 45 square miles – roughly the size of San Francisco. The Palisades Fire is already the most destructive in Los Angeles’ history.

“World News Tonight” anchor David Muir joined ABC7 in studio Thursday to discuss the wildfires that have devastated Southern California.

In Palisades Village, the public library, two major grocery stores, a pair of banks and several boutiques were destroyed.

“It’s just really weird coming back to somewhere that doesn’t really exist anymore,” said Dylan Vincent, who said his elementary school had burned down.

Flare-ups overnight Wednesday illuminated the Santa Monica Mountains above Pacific Palisades.

The toll from the fires is still being calculated. At a Thursday morning news conference, L.A. Fire Chief Kristin Crowley said the Palisades Fire along the coast burned thousands of structures. “It is safe to say that the Palisades fire is one of the most destructive natural disasters in the history of Los Angeles,” she said.