Clear Skies After Skirball Fire Scorches Bel Air Foothills

A video went viral on Wednesday, December 6, showing the Skirball Fire burning through foothills west of Interstate 405 in Los Angeles, darkening the sky with smoke. However, drivers on Thursday were met with a very different scene.To some commenters, Wednesday’s scene looked apocalyptic, while others compared it to Mordor, the fictional, fire-filled region controlled by the evil Sauron in JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy.On Thursday, Angelina Akkad shot this video along the same stretch of road near the Getty Center, and though the foothills have been blackened by fire, no flames are seen and the sky is clear and bright.Despite the relatively calm scenes, mandatory evacuation orders remained in place on Thursday for areas to the west of the road, where the fire was burning the day before. Officials also told those east of the 405 to be ready to leave, should they be required to. By noon on Thursday, the fire was spread across 475 acres and was 20 percent contained. Credit: Instagram/angelinaakkad via Storyful