See photos of fire, smoke and flight as wildfires race across Southern California

Strong winds that sent wildfires ripping through the mountains and foothills around Los Angeles on Tuesday fed a spectacle of smoke, flames and flight.

Vivid orange flames lit the sky in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood, where firefighters dragged hoses to meet blazes flaring up in brush dried out by persistent drought. Others fought to protect structures from the fires.

The fast-moving fires forced residents to evacuate. One woman wept as she stood next to her car as bright flames burned in the background. Another person ran alongside a line of cars as smoke filled the skyline.

As the Pacific Palisades fire scorched more than 200 acres, billowing smoke was visible for miles. One lone beachgoer carrying a surfboard walked along the coast beneath a dark plume from the fire. Another sat, appearing to glance over her shoulder at a white plume that nearly filled the sky. And a pair of bicyclists pedaled along the beach against an afternoon sky made twilight by the looming smoke.

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