UPDATE (Jan 13): As of Monday afternoon, the museum says that the staff, art collections and buildings remain safe. Some trees and vegetation on the property have burned, but the structures have been unaffected). The Getty Villa will be closed until further notice, and the Getty Center in Brentwood—which is just east of the fire—will also be closed likely until Monday, January 20. The museum also shared a photo of the Getty Villa taken during the afternoon on January 9, which you can see below.
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Our original story appears below.
The fast-moving Palisades Fire has already burned more than 1,200 acres and forced tens of thousands of Angelenos in the coastal canyon community to evacuate. The wind-fueled wildfire has damaged and destroyed homes, and the state-updated map of the incident area shows it uncomfortably close to a pair of L.A. landmarks, including the Lake Shrine and the Getty Villa.
Reports on social media and local news channels circulated that the iconic antiquities museum may have caught fire, but just after 5pm on Tuesday, the Getty Villa released a statement to clarify that “some trees and vegetation on site have burned, but staff and the collection remain safe.”
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) map from right around the same time shows the perimeter of the fire surrounding the northeast end of the property, but the building itself in the clear. According to a statement from Katherine E. Fleming, president and CEO of the J. Paul Getty Trust, the museum had been clearing brush from the area throughout the year and took additional steps once the fire broke out on Tuesday morning, including deploying irrigation and sealing off the galleries and archives from smoke. Fleming also notes that the galleries’ double-walled construction provides “significant protection” for the Greek and Roman objects on display.
It’s not the first time a Getty institution has contended with the threat of wildfires recently. In 2019, the Getty Fire came very close to the Getty Center in Brentwood; similar steps were taken to secure that property’s collections.
It’s also worth pointing out that images circulating of a fire on the hillside behind the sign for the Getty Villa don’t actually show any museum buildings; instead, that hilltop structure is the Villa de Leon, a privately-owned, Italian-inspired mansion that sits just south of the museum along PCH. The actual Getty Villa is situated in a canyon just up Getty Villa Drive.
Since it’s a Tuesday, the museum was already closed to the public (and closed to non-emergency staff once the fire broke out). The Getty Villa says it will remain closed as least through Monday, January 13.
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You can read the full statement from Fleming in the Instagram post above, or reproduced below.
“A brush fire started late this morning in the Pacific Palisades, fueled by extremely high winds. We swiftly closed the Villa to non-emergency staff, and the site is closed to the public on Tuesdays. The Getty Villa will remain closed at least through Monday, January 13. We, of course, are very concerned for our neighbors in the Pacific Palisades, Malibu, and the surrounding areas.
“Fortunately, Getty had made extensive efforts to clear brush from the surrounding area as part of its fire mitigation efforts throughout the year. Some trees and vegetation on site have burned, but staff and the collection remain safe. Additional fire prevention measures in place at the Villa include water storage on-site. Irrigation was immediately deployed throughout the grounds Tuesday morning. Museum galleries and library archives were sealed off from smoke by state-of-the-art air handling systems. The double-walled construction of the galleries also provides significant protection for the collections.
“We are grateful for the tireless work of the Los Angeles Fire Department, Los Angeles County Fire Department, and other agencies to keep the Villa and its staff safe, as well as for the on-site presence of fire trucks throughout the day.”