Studio City House Fire Puts an L.A. Neighborhood on Edge

Even in parts of Los Angeles that had not been touched by the multiple wildfires raging across the area, residents were on edge on Thursday. The dry and windy conditions that had helped the fires spread persisted, meaning a small blaze could quickly turn destructive.

Just before 9 p.m. on Wednesday, those fears seemed to be realized in Studio City, a neighborhood north of Hollywood, when a four-story home on a hillside caught fire and sent embers swirling through the air. The Los Angeles Fire Department warned residents of a potential evacuation.

Sean Ingalsbe had been anxious about that scenario all day. Mr. Ingalsbe, 24, is a caretaker for his bedridden father and lives with his siblings and several pets in Studio City.

“I’ve been so stressed and so worried,” he said. “If we have to evacuate, it’s hard to get him up,” he added of his father. Earlier in the day, while loading a car in case he had to leave, he felt a panic attack overwhelm him.

Several homes were caught up in the fire in Studio City, according to overhead footage broadcast by KTLA 5, a local television station. Firefighters battled the blaze, which was dubbed the Sunswept fire, and video showed a firefighting aircraft passing over the burning home.

Around 10 p.m. came relief: The fire had been extinguished, the fire department said, with no injuries reported. The extent of the damage to some nearby homes was still being assessed.

It was a reprieve for Mr. Ingalsbe, but sleep was still elusive. Hours later, he said, he was still shaken from his panic attack, which had sent his pulse rising and given him a headache.

Many of his neighbors had already left the area, he said, and as of 1 a.m. Thursday there was still no power. “My entire neighborhood pretty much is pitch-black,” he said.

A generator that he had bought for the family would not arrive until Friday, and until then he was worried about other things: power for the oxygen machine that his father used, the food in the refrigerator that could spoil and the future of the city he had grown up in. “People are never going to forget this,” he said.