A rapidly growing wildfire raged across an upscale section of Los Angeles on Tuesday, destroying homes and creating traffic jams as 30,000 people evacuated beneath huge plumes of smoke that covered much of the metropolitan area.

The cause is under investigation, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Evacuation warnings went into effect in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood with multiple homes under immediate threat,

Firefighters scrambled to corral a fast-moving wildfire in the Los Angeles hillsides dotted with celebrity homes as a fierce windstorm hit Southern