8:49
The wind, fires and terrain filled with bone-dry vegetation from lack of rain in the area had formed a perfect storm for the disaster, Crowl said.
![\"PHOTO:](\"http://a.abcnews.com/images/US/calif-fire45-rt-ml-250108_1736363440574_hpMain_4x3t_384.jpg\")
\"The fire is being fueled by a combination of strong winds and surrounding topography, which is making it extremely challenging for our personnel that are assigned to this incident,\" Crowley said.
The conflagrations caused officials to close several iconic landmarks around Los Angeles, including access to the Hollywood sign, the Los Angeles Zoo, Griffith Park and the Griffith Observatory.
Nearly 1.2 million customers were also without power midday on Wednesday due to burning trees falling on powerlines or Southern California Edison shutting down power in an attempt to prevent the fires from spreading, officials of the utility company said.
That number was closer to 400,000 by midnight, according to Poweroutage.us.
After signing the emergency declaration, Biden said he was sending in federal assistance to help suppress the fires, including 10 Navy helicopters.
The president also said fire crews from Oregon, Washington, Arizona and elsewhere were headed to Los Angeles County to help.
Actor Steve Guttenberg told ABC's \"Good Morning America,\" that at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, it was a typically beautiful, sunny Southern California day. But 90 minutes later, he said, \"Everything was black and the fire was raging.\"
\"Everything was on fire on both sides,\" Guttenberg said of his path to safety. \"I couldn't see more than three feet in front of my car. The smoke was so thick. It looked like a volcano was on the sides of the hills, and all of a sudden people were just fleeing. It was two miles of cars packed.\"
Los Angeles County's famed Sunset Boulevard, which runs through Pacific Palisades, was lined with cars Wednesday as desperate residents rushed to get out of harm's way. But firefighters said people, apparently fearful of getting trapped by the flames while sitting in a traffic jam, abandoned their cars on Sunset Boulevard, prompting fire crews to use a bulldozer to push vehicles out of the way and clear a path for first responders.
Pacific Palisades resident Tricia Rakusin told ABC News on Wednesday that when the fire started she began hosing down her home and the trees and shrubbery around it, but soon realized she and her family had to evacuate after seeing flames creeping up to her residence.
She said she fled down Sunset Boulevard only to get stuck in traffic.
\"I've never been so petrified,\" Rakusin said. \"It's absolutely unreal. We have never experienced anything like this in this area.\"
Rakusin's husband, Kenny, said that their home insurance carrier recently dropped them and other residents in the area because of the fire risks.
\"We don't know whether our house is standing or not, but if it's not standing, I don't know what we're going to do,\" he said.
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