A massive wildfire reached Getty Villa in LA. How the museum protected its collection.

As videos and images circulated of flames and smoke from an explosive wildfire approaching the Getty Villa museum in Los Angeles, art lovers worried the facility's world class collection of antiques and ancient artifacts would be burnt to a crisp.

Officials for the museum and education center were quick to dispel those concerns – citing extensive "fire mitigation efforts" they had implemented throughout the year.

Those efforts include clearing brush from the surrounding land, the maintenance of on-site water storage and "state-of-the-art air handling systems," which sealed off museum galleries and library archives from the pluming smoke outside. Another layer of protection: the double-walled construction of the galleries.

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The blaze has had only limited impacts to the museum's grounds, which sits off the scenic Pacific Coast Highway in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles. "Some trees and vegetation on site have burned, but no structures are on fire, and staff and the collection remain safe," said a statement released on the facility's social media pages.

Fueled by powerful Santa Ana winds, multiple wildfires rapidly spread across Southern California on Tuesday. The largest of the blazes, the Pacific Palisades Fire, which burned some of the Getty Villa's land, had scorched nearly 3,000 acres as of Wednesday morning, triggering evacuation orders for more than 30,000 residents, according to Cal Fire, the state's firefighting agency.

"We, of course, are very concerned for our neighbors in the Pacific Palisades, Malibu, and the surrounding areas," said Katherine E. Fleming, president and CEO of the J. Paul Getty Trust, which operates the museum, in a statement. "Fortunately, Getty had made extensive efforts to clear brush from the surrounding area as part of its fire mitigation efforts throughout the year."

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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 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.

Nearly two million visitors visit the Getty Villa and Getty Center each year, the J. Paul Getty Trust said in 2020.

The Getty Villa was closed to the public when wildfires spread onto its grounds on Tuesday, and will remain closed until at least Monday. The Getty Center, which is not near the raging fires, closed on Wednesday "in an abundance of caution and to keep roads clear in the surrounding areas."

More: Which landmarks are affected by the wildfires in Los Angeles? Here's what we know.

Is the Getty Center also protected from fires? The short answer is yes.

The world renowned Getty Center museum, located in Brentwood just north of Sunset Boulevard, considers itself "the safest place for art during a fire."

Built in 1997, the center was constructed with wildfire prevention in mind. The campus' exterior and interior walls are "built of reinforced concrete or fire-protected steel," an article published on the Getty website in 2019 says. Its roof is covered in fire-resistant stone aggregate. Fire separations are designed into the construction so doors can isolate specific areas of the campus and protect others that are at risk.

Outside, drought resistant plants and shady oaks provide an extra layer of defense.

As for smoke, a carbon-filtered air conditioning system allows crews to increase pressure flow to keep smoke and ash out, the facility's website says.

"We have a very significant building here,” Mike Rogers, museum's director of facilities, said in an interview for the Getty website. “It was well thought-out and carefully constructed, and is very carefully maintained and operated. I’m very proud of that, and of our incredible team. We feel very safe here."

Contributing: Thao Nguyen, USA TODAY

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: How Getty museums protect precious art from raging wildfires in LA