High winds that weather officials have called "life-threatening and destructive" are hitting Southern California Tuesday, sparking a major brush fire in Pacific Palisades and prompting thousands of power outages.

A damaging Santa Ana wind event was peaking early Wednesday and winds were expected to stay strong through early afternoon in Southern California, fueling three wildfires that were quickly expanding early Wednesday around the Los Angeles metro area.

Dire warnings have been issued for the Los Angeles area, with a dangerous threat for the strongest wind event in more than a decade. Outages and extreme fire behaviours are major risks