(TNS) — The cantilevered palaces of Los Angeles' elite were under siege. "Apocalypse bags" were packed. LeBron James fled with his family and couldn't find a hotel room. News copters filmed the fire copters, as drivers on the 405 Freeway sailed through the fiery vortex and lived to Instagram it.

The Getty fire broke out along the freeway by Getty Center Drive after 1:30 a.m. Monday and blew up to more than 600 acres under Santa Ana winds, destroying eight homes and damaging five in Brentwood. Thousands of people were ordered to evacuate some of the priciest enclaves on Earth.

(TNS) — A growing brush fire was threatening thousands of homes in Brentwood and other Westside hillside communities, burning several structures and prompting widespread evacuations early Monday.

The Getty fire broke out shortly before 2 a.m. along the 405 Freeway near the Getty Center and spread to the south and west, rapidly burning 400 acres and sending people fleeing from their homes in the dark. About 3,300 homes were under mandatory evacuation orders.

TNS) — Stay up to date on the wildfires with breaking news alerts. Sign up here.

This story was updated at 5:30 a.m. Monday. Check back for the latest information.

Firefighters are battling several major wildfires across California, including an explosive Sonoma County blaze that has engulfed 54.000 acres, the state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection reports.

(TNS) — A fast-moving wildfire ignited late Wednesday in a remote, mountainous stretch of northeastern Sonoma County, rapidly growing to an estimated 5,000 acres amid intense winds and prompting evacuations outside Geyserville.

The fire is burning near The Geysers geothermal plant in the Mayacamas Mountains and the glow of flames is visible throughout the area.

(TNS) - California residents face up to 10 years of widespread, precautionary forced power shut-offs until Pacific Gas & Electric Corp., the bankrupt utility giant, will be able to prevent its power transmission lines from sparking fires, the company’s top official said.

The sobering projection came from company Chief Executive William D. Johnson at an emergency meeting Friday of the California Public Utilities Commission in San Francisco.

(TNS) - This week marks 30 years since the massive 6.9 magnitude Loma Prieta earthquake hit the Bay Area, killing 63 people, injuring nearly 4,000 and causing extensive damage that left thousands homeless.

Generally, people in this part of the state are not too concerned about quakes. Should they be?

Earthquakes, big and small, are a common occurrence in California. Residents hear reports of them all the time – most recently the 4.5 magnitude quake that hit near Pleasant Grove on Monday. The reports are usually just far enough away from the Yuba-Sutter area that residents tend to think things like that won’t happen here.

(TNS) — In the aftermath of the Loma Prieta 6.9 temblor and its aftershocks in Northern California, hundreds of underground utility pipes began “bleeding” out the region’s water supply.

(TNS) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom is set to unveil the state's new earthquake early warning app, MyShake, at 11 a.m. Thursday, available on iOS and Android on the 30th anniversary of the magnitude 6.9 Loma Prieta earthquake. The announcement will be streamed live.

How much warning would MyShake have provided if an earthquake warning system were available in 1989?

(TNS) — The inventory of woes from last week’s PG&E’s power shutdown across Northern and Central California continues to come in:

Students at UC Berkeley worrying that the intentional outage may have resulted in the loss of two years of research into fighting drug-resistant forms of cancer. Businesses that lost income from the cutoff even as PG&E’s website crash sowed widespread confusion and chaos. Reports of vehicle collisions at intersections where the power to traffic lights had been cut. And scores of elderly people and others whose lives are dependent on electricity living through desperate hours of wondering how they’d manage to get by until power was restored.

(TNS) — Classes were canceled. Frozen foods melted. Hospitals switched to emergency generators. Blooms withered in florists’ coolers. Unused food was jettisoned at shuttered restaurants. Lines formed at gas stations. Cellphones faded out.

That’s what happened Wednesday when the state’s largest utility shut off power to millions of Californians in a drastic attempt to avoid the killer wildfires that have charred hundreds of thousands of acres, caused billions of dollars in damage and spurred cries for widespread change in how electricity is delivered over the state’s aging grid.