A brush fire that quickly swelled to more than 2,920 acres amid a strong windstorm in Pacific Palisades by Tuesday evening had burned homes and forced roughly 30,000 residents to evacuate, as wind-driven embers spread throughout the hillside community.

More than 10,360 homes were threatened by the Palisades fire, officials said at an afternoon news conference at Will Rogers State Beach. Broadcast and social media videos showed houses fully engulfed in flames. Air tankers and water-dropping helicopters made drops as firefighters from across the region rushed to the scene.

Even the vegetation around the Los Angeles Fire Department’s Palisades station was burning, though the building itself was not on fire, said Margaret Stewart, an LAFD spokesperson.And late in the day, fire broke out in the brush at the iconic Getty Villa, a rambling compound full of rare historic artifacts near the Pacific Ocean. But the building and its collections did not burn, officials said.

Some 30 vehicles that were ditched along Sunset Boulevard by people fleeing the massive fire would have to be moved by a county dozer to provide clear access for firefighters and others, authorities said.

A state of emergency was declared for the city of Los Angeles, City Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson said. The city had 250 firefighters battling the blaze, along with additional resources from several agencies from around the state.

“The worst part of this wind event is yet to come,” Harris-Dawson added, referring to the strong gusts that were expected overnight.

Peak winds were expected from 10 p.m. Tuesday to 5 a.m. today, officials said.

“By no stretch of the imagination are we out of the woods,” said Gov. Gavin Newsom, who appeared with local officials at the news conference.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency approved a grant to help with firefighting resources, he announced.

Newsom was surprised to learn that despite the obvious danger, some residents did not heed evacuation orders.

The Palisades fire was initially reported around 10:30 a.m. in the area of Piedra Morada and Monte Hermoso drives, LAFD spokesperson David Ortiz said. The blaze later jumped Palisades Drive and was burning on both sides of the road.

Capt. Erik Scott, an LAFD spokesperson, said the fire was burning in a westward direction near the Pacific Palisades Highlands community.

The fire was “rapidly spreading due to the significant winds that we have,” Scott said in a 12:30 p.m. update.

Multiple structures could be seen burning in the fire zone, and there were repeated reports of police and fire crews working to rescue people from burning buildings, but there were no immediate reports of injuries. On at least two occasions, crews responded to homes where people were in residential swimming pools to escape the flames.

Evacuation orders were issued in a polygon-shaped area from Merrimac Road on the northeast, west to Topanga Canyon Boulevard and south to Pacific Coast Highway, according to the LAFD. The orders essentially cover the bulk of Pacific Palisades.

LAFD Chief Kristin Crowley told reporters Tuesday afternoon that roughly 30,000 people were under evacuation orders, with the fire endangering roughly 13,200 structures, including 10,300 homes.

People outside the evacuation area were asked to shelter in place.

The nearby city of Malibu issued evacuation warnings for an area north of Pacific Coast Highway and south of Rambla Pacifico Street, between Carbon Beach Terrace on the west and Las Flores Mesa Drive on the east. Malibu officials noted the fire was spreading rapidly with “long-range spotting.”

An evacuation center was set up at the Westwood Recreation Center, 1350 S. Sepulveda Blvd., just east of the 405 Freeway in West Los Angeles, officials said. The site accepts small animals, fire officials said.

Dark gray smoke could be seen from the Santa Monica Pier. Air tankers were making drops as firefighters from the area rushed to the scene.

“We were just looking at the smoke. All of a sudden we saw fire everywhere,” coastal resident Krishan Chaudry told KCBS Channel 2.

The wind was blowing near Pacific Palisades at 46 mph, KCBS Channel 2 reported on Tuesday morning, with embers landing on neighborhoods miles away.

The fire erupted amid Santa Ana winds that forecasters said could develop into Southern California’s worst windstorm in a decade. Red flag warnings of critical fire danger were expected to remain in place until Thursday evening.

Around 10 a.m., a neighbor knocked on Tom Hill’s home on Chattanooga Avenue to tell him the Palisades fire was moving closer.

Hill, 65, saw the fire about four blocks from his home as his phone was inundated with emergency alerts. He climbed on his roof and saw the area surrounded by plumes of smoke.

“It was like snow, all the ashes falling on my car,” Hill said. “It was really tough to breathe.”

Within the hour, he had packed up anything valuable or sentimental — jewelry, collectible baseball cards, home videos of his son — into his car and headed out.

The roads were gridlocked; Hill said it took him an hour and a half to drive to a lookout in Santa Monica within a few miles of his home. From the lookout, he watched the smoke and flames continue to travel.

Nervous from all the commotion, Hill’s Chihuahua Clyde was shaking throughout the drive. Hill, a former headhunter who retired last year, has lived in Pacific Palisades for about 20 years.

While he knew the neighborhood was in a fire zone, Hill never expected the flames to reach his home. Typically, he said, fires stay within the Topanga Canyon and don’t travel down to his house.

Several friends reached out to Hill and offered him a place to stay while he waits to see what happens to his home.

“I don’t know when or if we’ll be going back,” Hill said. “It’s pretty bad still. The wind’s just driving it so hard, you can’t control it. We’ll just say a prayer and cross our fingers. Hope tomorrow’s a better day.”

As Griffin Finck, 26, saw the fire move in on his childhood home, he climbed on the roof and hosed the house down.

Finck and his parents grabbed photos and important documents, as well as clothes and guitars, before they left their home around Marquez Avenue.

As they drove away, they saw some neighbors walking to evacuate and gave them a ride, too.

The fire was about 2 miles from their home when they left, Finck said.

It took about two hours for the family to drive from their home to a Santa Monica outlook. The drive normally takes 10 minutes, Finck said.

As they waited and watched the fire grow, Finck’s parents reached out to loved ones and made plans for where they could stay.

City News Service contributed to this report.