Wildfire evacuations expand to Getty Center, one of Los Angeles' leading museums
As wildfires continue engulfing Los Angeles, the latest evacuation warnings Saturday afternoon included the Getty Center ? home to one of the city's most prized art collections.
The evacuation warning in Brentwood, a neighborhood west of the 405 freeway, comes just days after the museum's other campus, the Getty Villa, was in the line of fire. Both the Getty Center and Getty Villa are closed until at least Jan. 16.
As of Saturday morning, the center was "complying" with evacuation alerts and was closed, "with only emergency staff on site," Alexandria Sivak, a museum representative, told the USA TODAY Network.
Here's what to know about the Getty Center as explosive wildfires burn in the Los Angeles area.
Live wildfire updates: Largest LA fire grows again on Saturday; authorities probe cause
What is the Getty Center?
Opened in 1997, the Getty Center is home to several parts of the Getty Trust, including a museum, library, and dozens of acres of gardens.
The museum features an expansive collection of European paintings, drawings, sculptures, and other rotating exhibitions. Among the museum's most valuable artworks is Vincent Van Gogh's "Irises."
Is the Getty Center fireproof?
Designed with wildfire prevention in mind, Getty has previous called the Getty Center "the safest place for art during a fire."
When a 600-acre fire broke out around the center in October 2019, the museum said there was no need to evacuate its artworks because they were safe inside the campus.
"We have a very significant building here,” Mike Rogers, museum's director of facilities, said in the 2019 article. “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."
The center's buildings are made of fire-resistant stone, concrete, and protected steel, and the roof is covered in fire-resistant stone aggregate. The buildings also include fire separations so that doors can isolate specific areas of the campus in the event of fire.
Outside, drought-resistant plants and an expansive irrigation system provide an extra layer of defense.
Is the Getty Villa safe from the fires?
As of Jan. 10, the Getty Villa's staff, artworks, and buildings are safe from the fires, according to a statement on the museum's Instagram page.
The fires burned trees and vegetation on the museum's grounds, but museum officials said this week they employed extensive "fire mitigation efforts" to protect the collection. The villa sits off the Pacific Coast Highway in the Pacific Palisades area, which has seen the worst of the wildfires.
"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 earlier this week. "Fortunately, Getty had made extensive efforts to clear brush from the surrounding area as part of its fire mitigation efforts throughout the year."
This article originally appeared on USATNetwork: Getty Center included in latest evacuation warning as fires hit LA