The Fort Worth Press - Thousands told to flee wildfire near Los Angeles

USD -
AED 3.673005
AFN 68.386442
ALL 93.021933
AMD 389.349314
ANG 1.803734
AOA 913.000031
ARS 1002.721397
AUD 1.53358
AWG 1.8
AZN 1.702057
BAM 1.854577
BBD 2.020785
BDT 119.602116
BGN 1.858799
BHD 0.376916
BIF 2956.030306
BMD 1
BND 1.344124
BOB 6.930721
BRL 5.790848
BSD 1.000863
BTN 84.433613
BWP 13.672612
BYN 3.275301
BYR 19600
BZD 2.017372
CAD 1.39639
CDF 2864.999911
CHF 0.88374
CLF 0.035265
CLP 973.069559
CNY 7.241401
CNH 7.24719
COP 4396.59
CRC 508.251983
CUC 1
CUP 26.5
CVE 104.558213
CZK 24.0877
DJF 178.22092
DKK 7.087555
DOP 60.364405
DZD 133.750861
EGP 49.678296
ERN 15
ETB 124.782215
EUR 0.950275
FJD 2.269701
FKP 0.789317
GBP 0.791103
GEL 2.740301
GGP 0.789317
GHS 15.887842
GIP 0.789317
GMD 71.000247
GNF 8627.008472
GTQ 7.726299
GYD 209.391416
HKD 7.782965
HNL 25.291226
HRK 7.133259
HTG 131.472895
HUF 390.756993
IDR 15903.25
ILS 3.732285
IMP 0.789317
INR 84.493503
IQD 1311.043259
IRR 42092.505939
ISK 138.290123
JEP 0.789317
JMD 158.639851
JOD 0.709302
JPY 154.656495
KES 129.249619
KGS 86.506766
KHR 4038.536303
KMF 467.499881
KPW 899.999621
KRW 1398.125025
KWD 0.30759
KYD 0.834076
KZT 497.17423
LAK 21976.521459
LBP 89633.50686
LKR 291.187013
LRD 181.150969
LSL 18.152914
LTL 2.95274
LVL 0.60489
LYD 4.883414
MAD 9.998293
MDL 18.214834
MGA 4685.233124
MKD 58.48862
MMK 3247.960992
MNT 3397.999946
MOP 8.024142
MRU 39.785889
MUR 46.412517
MVR 15.460006
MWK 1735.461174
MXN 20.325297
MYR 4.464971
MZN 63.950307
NAD 18.152914
NGN 1680.590024
NIO 36.829479
NOK 11.03348
NPR 135.09167
NZD 1.703345
OMR 0.385001
PAB 1.000778
PEN 3.7981
PGK 4.029035
PHP 59.039501
PKR 278.226704
PLN 4.126669
PYG 7838.117183
QAR 3.649699
RON 4.729799
RSD 111.205995
RUB 101.000437
RWF 1380.157217
SAR 3.754257
SBD 8.355531
SCR 13.619994
SDG 601.497088
SEK 11.030315
SGD 1.343699
SHP 0.789317
SLE 22.575045
SLL 20969.504736
SOS 571.975839
SRD 35.43028
STD 20697.981008
SVC 8.757041
SYP 2512.529858
SZL 18.142596
THB 34.647019
TJS 10.658746
TMT 3.5
TND 3.159078
TOP 2.342102
TRY 34.465475
TTD 6.776157
TWD 32.567494
TZS 2652.359028
UAH 41.269214
UGX 3693.413492
UYU 42.784805
UZS 12854.406494
VES 46.433371
VND 25422.5
VUV 118.722009
WST 2.791591
XAF 622.001915
XAG 0.032192
XAU 0.000375
XCD 2.70255
XDR 0.761528
XOF 622.001915
XPF 113.087675
YER 249.924998
ZAR 18.116198
ZMK 9001.198706
ZMW 27.697968
ZWL 321.999592
  • SCS

    -0.0200

    13.07

    -0.15%

  • NGG

    -0.3100

    63.27

    -0.49%

  • AZN

    -0.6000

    63.2

    -0.95%

  • BTI

    0.1500

    37.08

    +0.4%

  • CMSC

    -0.0450

    24.52

    -0.18%

  • BCE

    -0.3100

    27

    -1.15%

  • RBGPF

    59.6900

    59.69

    +100%

  • RIO

    -0.0400

    62.39

    -0.06%

  • BP

    -0.0100

    29.08

    -0.03%

  • BCC

    -0.7700

    137.41

    -0.56%

  • GSK

    -0.1100

    33.35

    -0.33%

  • RYCEF

    -0.0800

    6.61

    -1.21%

  • CMSD

    -0.0836

    24.26

    -0.34%

  • JRI

    -0.0300

    13.23

    -0.23%

  • RELX

    -0.1800

    45.11

    -0.4%

  • VOD

    0.0200

    8.94

    +0.22%

Thousands told to flee wildfire near Los Angeles
Thousands told to flee wildfire near Los Angeles / Photo: © AFP

Thousands told to flee wildfire near Los Angeles

Thousands of people were urged to flee an out-of-control wildfire burning around communities near Los Angeles on Thursday, with dozens of homes already lost to the fast-moving flames.

Text size:

Fierce seasonal winds were casting embers up to three miles (five kilometers) from the seat of the fire around Camarillo, with new blazes getting established on hillsides, farmland and in residential areas.

The Mountain Fire grew rapidly from a standing start early Wednesday, and after 24 hours had consumed almost 20,000 acres (8,100 hectares), with towering flames leaping unpredictably and sending residents scrambling.

"We've been up all night watching this. I haven't slept," Erica Preciado told one local broadcaster as she drove her family out of the danger zone.

"We're just trying to get a safe place. I didn't even know what to take. I just have everything in my car," she said, gesturing tearfully to her packed vehicle.

A number of houses have been destroyed, some consumed by the flames in a matter of minutes.

One man told broadcaster KTLA he and his family had fled their home of 27 years, finding out later that it had been destroyed.

"It's all gone," he said, his voice catching. "It's all gone."

Ventura County Fire Department officials said they were throwing resources at the blaze.

That included crews on the ground defending homes with hose lines working alongside bulldozers that were trying to remove fuels.

Helicopter pilots worked throughout the night dropping water, said Ventura County fire captain Trevor Johnson, predicting that the fight would continue for some time.

"We're going to have an active presence in there for days to come," he told reporters.

Hoses ran dry for crews battling the flames at one point late Wednesday, Ventura County Fire Chief Dustin Gardner said.

He said hundreds of fire trucks had been pumping water all night, putting a strain on resources.

"We have been fighting fire actively now for 26 hours, and we found all of those fire trucks hooked up to all of those hydrants, and we drained water systems down," he told reporters.

That affected supplies higher up hillsides, and forced crews to shuttle water up to the blazes.

He said while it was not a common problem, it is known to happen in major incidents.

"It's normal enough that we plan for it, so it's impactful, but it will be mitigated," he said.

- 'Diminish' -

Damage assessment teams were making their way through areas where the fire had burned in a bid to understand how many properties had been affected.

Emergency managers said they did not know how many homes had been lost, but news crews on the ground found dozens in flames or utterly destroyed, with some estimates as high as 100.

The cause of the fire was not immediately known, but meteorologists had raised a Red Flag Warning in the area, indicating dangerous fire conditions.

They said two years of above-average rainfall had sparked abundant growth of vegetation, which was now all bone-dry after a long, hot summer.

Seasonal Santa Ana winds from California's desert interior had brought gusts at one point as high as 80 miles (130 kilometers) an hour, making firefighting conditions exceedingly difficult.

Rich Thompson of the National Weather Service said those winds had eased slightly on Thursday, and were expected to drop considerably by the evening.

"We expect Santa Ana winds gusting from the northeast at about 25 to 35 miles per hour through the afternoon hours, along with humidity dropping down to around 10 to 15 percent," he said.

"Fortunately, by mid-late afternoon, we expect those Santa Ana winds to diminish in strength."

Electricity companies had cut power to tens of thousands of customers in the area -- a common strategy in California during high winds in a bid to reduce the risk of new fires from toppled power lines.

W.Lane--TFWP