Strong winds cancel BeachLife Festival, knock over scaffolding and fuel brush fires across LA County

Strong winds wreaked havoc across Los Angeles County on Sunday, temporarily postponing a music festival, fueling brush fires and leaving a mess in several cities in the form of downed trees and scaffolding. 

Music Festival Canceled

Concert goers at the BeachLife Festival in Redondo Beach were evacuated early Sunday evening because of the powerful gusts of wind ripping through the area. 

At around 5:30 p.m., a post on the festival's Instagram story said that the event would be postponed for at least an hour because of the weather, where winds reaching more than 30 miles per hour were reported.

However, the festival was canceled altogether because of the potential danger, officials said. 

"No show is worth a life, and in our Community, BeachLife stays committed above all to put the safety of our kids, families and music lovers first," said the festival's Instagram post. "In the coming days, we will be unwinding the collateral consequences of this decision, and we ask for your support and patience while we do."

SkyCal flew over the festival's location, where two large but empty concert venues could be seen as hundreds of people milled about a nearby parking lot as they waited to be let back in. 

Monday afternoon, Redondo Beach public safety officials and festival organizers issued an official statement saying performances were cancelled after 40 MPH (with maximum gusts reaching 51.1 MPH) winds began to compromise the free standing stage structures, creating a public safety risk and life hazard to the attendees and event personnel.

By 5:28 p.m., all attendees were told by way of a public address system to remain clear of the free-standing stages and seek refuge away from potential hazards. Evacuation orders were then given and by 5:50 p.m. 95 % of the 7,500 attendees had cleared out, three hours before the festival's end.

My Morning Jacket, Fleet Foxes and ZZ Top were headliners for Sunday's events, according to the festival's website. 

BeachLife Festival is held on the beach at 239 North Harbor Drive.

Toppled Trees

In Mar Vista, a massive tree appeared to have fallen into the middle of a road and onto at least two parked cars a little before 3 p.m. Sunday afternoon. 

Video posted on Citizen App showed the snapped trunk surrounded by police tape as several onlookers watched police. 

The huge tree appeared to be covering multiple lanes in the 12700 block of Zanja Street, which were blocked to other traffic by officers. 

"I'm lucky I wasn't in there," said Adan Reyes, who had his car totaled by the toppled tree. "Good thing of all this is nobody really hurt. ... Everybody is okay so that's good news."

It's unclear when the tree would be removed from the street, but cleanup began shortly after the incident was reported.

The fallen tree also apparently caused damage to a stoplight in the area, police said. 

No injuries were reported. 

Downed Scaffolding

Several stories of scaffolding were knocked over by strong winds in Hollywood on Sunday. 

Firefighters say that the 4-5 story tall scaffolding was "swept outward" away from the construction site they were next to in the 1000 block of N. St. Andrews Place by the winds at around 2 p.m., according to a statement from Los Angeles Fire Department officials. 

The scaffolding fell onto power lines in the area, firefighters said. 

"LAFD Urban Search and Rescue specialists are on scene assessing the situation," LAFD said.

No injuries were reported as no one was on the scaffolding at the time that it fell. 

Pedestrians and traffic were routed away from the area because of the unstable scaffolding, which remained teetering over the road at the latest. 

Santa Monica Boulevard between N. Wilton Place and N. Western Avenue was expected to be closed as the situation continued, firefighters said. 

Brush fires

In North Hollywood, a small quarter-acre brushfire temporarily caused northbound lanes of SR-170 to be closed as heavy smoke billowed from the area. 

The blaze, which has since been contained, sparked on the embankment just south of the Burbank Boulevard off-ramp for unknown reasons a little before 3 p.m., according to Los Angeles Fire Department firefighters. 

The SigAlert, which was issued at 3:30 p.m., has been canceled by California Highway Patrol officers. 

A different fire also kept firefighters busy in the Sepulveda Basin, where an archery range and nearby park were impacted by firefighting operations. 

The two-acre fire was reported at around 3:30 p.m. near the 6100 block of N. Woodley Avenue, according to Los Angeles Fire Department crews. It was being fueled by the strong winds, which were gusting between 20 and 30 miles per hour. 

Employees and customers at a nearby archery range off the 405 Freeway were temporarily evacuated because of the potential danger from the flames, as the wind pushed the fire line in their direction. 

It took crews just under an hour and 20 minutes to contain the fire, which ripped through vegetation in the area. 

There were no injuries reported in this incident either. 

The cause remains under investigation.