Rapidly spreading wildfire reaches Getty Villa museum in California

A rapidly spreading wildfire in southern California reached the grounds of the Getty Villa museum north of Santa Monica on Tuesday, but officials said no structures had burned and the collection was safe.

The Pacific Palisades fire, fueled by a major windstorm and prompting mass evacuations in Los Angeles county, burned some trees and vegetation on site at the Getty Villa, but museum leaders said the galleries and archives were protected.

The Villa is located along the Pacific Coast Highway and is roughly 10 miles away from the affiliated Getty Center, the site of the main museum of the world-famous art institution.

The Getty Villa had “made extensive efforts to clear brush from the surrounding area as part of its fire mitigation efforts throughout the year”, Katherine E Fleming, president and CEO of the J Paul Getty Trust, said in a statement early Tuesday evening. While the blazes reached some of the vegetation on the property, “staff and the collection remain safe”, she said.

Fire prevention measures at the Villa include water storage on-site, with irrigation immediately deployed throughout the grounds on Tuesday morning, Fleming said, adding: “Museum galleries and library archives were sealed off from smoke by state-of-the-art air handling systems. The double-walled construction of the galleries also provides significant protection for the collections.”

Footage spread on social media showing some greenery ablaze near a Getty Villa sign, but the video appeared to be of the driveway entrance and a nearby building that is separate from the Villa.

After the Palisades fire broke out around 10.30am and had burned nearly 3,000 acres by evening. An unusual and ferocious windstorm was spreading the fire, burning homes and forcing thousands to flee the Pacific Palisades, an affluent community along the ocean.

The Villa is a free museum that houses in Greek and Roman antiquities in a recreated Roman country home. It quickly closed to non-emergency staff on Tuesday morning and will remain closed to the public through at least next Monday.

The Getty Center, which houses a museum and research institutes, has also previously been threatened by nearby fires, but has extensive prevention plans in place to shield its vast collection.

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