Dangerous Pacific Palisades fire threatens famous Getty Villa Museum

One of the most famous and beloved art museums in the world was under threat after a Southern California brush fire, fueled by extremely high winds, rapidly spread across a Los Angeles coastal community on Tuesday.

The Getty Villa Museum, which is home to a large collection of artifacts and antiquities from Rome and Greece, is located directly off the Pacific Coast Highway in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles, according to the museum's website. The area quickly became consumed by flames Tuesday when high-speed Santa Ana winds created fire risks across parts of Southern California.

By late afternoon, Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley said the Pacific Palisades fire had grown to 1,200 acres — threatening over 10,000 households and 13,000 structures. Mass evacuation orders were also issued for about 30,000 residents.

Earlier Tuesday, aerial footage and images shared on social media showed smoke approaching the Getty Villa as the fire moved through the area. While some trees and vegetation on the villa site have burned, the museum said the villa and its staff were currently safe from the fire.

The villa, which is already closed to the public on Tuesdays, was "swiftly closed" to non-emergency staff after the fire started, according to Katherine E. Fleming, president and CEO of the J. Paul Getty Trust, which operates the museum. The villa will remain closed through at least Jan. 13.

"We, of course, are very concerned for our neighbors in the Pacific Palisades, Malibu, and the surrounding areas," Fleming said in a statement late Tuesday afternoon. "Fortunately, Getty had made extensive efforts to clear brush from the surrounding area as part of its fire mitigation efforts throughout the year."

California wildfire map: Track the Palisades Fire as evacuations ordered in Los Angeles

Getty Villa implements fire prevent measures

Fleming said additional fire prevention measures were in place at the villa, including on-site water storage and irrigation that was immediately deployed throughout the grounds on Tuesday morning.

Museum galleries and library archives were sealed off from the smoke by "state-of-the-art air handling systems" and double-walled construction also provided "significant protection" for the collections, according to Fleming.

"We are grateful for the tireless work of the Los Angeles Fire Department, Los Angeles County Fire Department, and other agencies to keep the Villa and its staff safe, as well as for the on-site presence of fire trucks throughout the day," Fleming said.

What is the Getty Villa?

Billionaire oilman and art patron J. Paul Getty opened the Getty Villa to the public in 1974, according to the nonprofit Los Angeles Conservancy and the museum's website. The villa, which was modeled after an ancient Roman country house, was built to house Getty's "vast collection" of Classical and Renaissance-era art, the Los Angeles Conservancy said.

The villa features the museum's collection of Roman and Greek antiquities and also has an outdoor theater that hosts classic and classically inspired theater productions, according to the museum's 2023 fact book. The rest of Getty's collection is housed at the Getty Center in Brentwood, California.

The J. Paul Getty Trust said in 2020 that both the Getty Center and Getty Villa see nearly two million visitors a year from all over the world.

Last month, the villa was closed to the public due to the Franklin Fire in Malibu, which scorched over 4,000 acres.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Getty Villa Museum threatened by dangerous Pacific Palisades wildfire