WATCH: Abandoned, Bulldozed, Burned Cars in Palisades Fire

LOS ANGELES, California — Dozens of abandoned cars still line Sunset Boulevard near the Lake Shrine in Pacific Palisades, where terrified residents who were stuck in traffic during the evacuation were forced to run for their lives.

The first order to evacuate only came at 12:07 p.m. on Tuesday, about 90 minutes after the fire had broken out and was spreading rapidly, spread by strong winds. Many residents had already begun leaving. Sunset Boulevard was still moving slowly at that time, but a short time later, there was gridlock.

Fire engines were trying to move in the opposite direction on the crowded roads, uphill and toward the growing fire. Some Los Angeles authorities seemed unaware of the extent of the danger, and there were no police officers directing traffic at that time.

As smoke began blowing toward terrified drivers trapped at the intersection of Sunset and Palisades Drive, some simply left their cars and ran downhill, towards the Pacific Coast Highway. Others were told explicitly to abandon their vehicles. The L.A. Fire Department then brought a bulldozer in to clear a path among the cars so that emergency vehicles could move through.

What was left now looks like a war zone. Cars were crumpled into each other on the eastbound side of Sunset; on the westbound side, many cars had burned completely.

Novelist Lowell Caulfiel, who lost his entire apartment building in the fire, expressed his frustration at the fact that residents had been trapped in their vehicles while state and local politicians were holding a press conference at the local beach parking lot:

Miraculously, despite the gridlock, not one resident of Pacific Palisades died, though thousands of homes were completely destroyed.

The Lake Shrine itself, a beautiful historic landmark and spiritual center, appears to have survived, thanks to firefighters — who had water pressure in their hydrants, unlike other parts of the Palisades — but many surrounding buildings were damaged or destroyed, including both commercial and residential buildings.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.