Evacuations have been ordered in Southern California as wildfires ravage the region

CAMARILLO, Calif. (AP) — California was battered Wednesday by powerful winds fueling a fast-moving wildfire that destroyed dozens of homes and forced thousands of residents to flee as forecasters warned of the possibility of “extreme and life-threatening” fires.

Northwest of Los Angeles, the Mountain Fire exploded in size and led to evacuation orders for more than 10,000 people as it threatened 3,500 structures in suburban communities, farms and agricultural areas around Camarillo, according to a statement from Gov. Gavin Newsom. The area east of the Pacific coast city of Ventura will receive federal aid after a request from Newsom was granted, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said Wednesday.

The fire raged in a region that has seen some of California’s most destructive fires over the years. A thick plume of smoke rose hundreds of feet into the air Wednesday, blanketing entire neighborhoods and limiting visibility for firefighters and evacuees. The fire grew from less than half a square mile to 16 square miles (62 square kilometers) in just over five hours.

Ventura County Fire Captain Trevor Johnson described crews racing their engines toward homes threatened by flames to save lives.

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“This is as intense as it gets. I’m sure the hair on the back of the firefighters’ necks stood up,” he said during a press conference on Wednesday afternoon.

In one spot, flames licked the burning remains of a house. The roof was reduced to just a few charred shingles.

Two people apparently suffered smoke inhalation and were taken to hospitals, fire officials said. No firefighters reported any significant injuries.

The erratic winds and limited visibility kept fixed-wing aircraft on the ground, with gusts reaching speeds of 60 miles per hour, said weather service meteorologist Bryan Lewis. Water-dropping helicopters were still flying.

First responders urged residents to evacuate. Officers contacted 14,000 people urging them to leave as embers spread up to four kilometers away, sparking new flames.

“This fire is spreading dangerously quickly,” Ventura County Fire Chief Dustin Gardner said.

Aerial footage from local television networks showed dozens of homes in flames in several neighborhoods as embers were thrown from house to house. Other footage captures horses trotting alongside evacuating vehicles.

Jade Katz, who said she is disabled and cannot drive, waited for a friend to pick her up near her Camarillo Heights home with a suitcase full of medications and Bella, her Great Dane service dog. But the friend couldn’t reach her, so first responders sent a police car to escort her out Wednesday afternoon, when a helicopter dropped water on the house across from her home.

“When we left the neighborhood, there were five or eight houses that had already burned to the ground,” said Katz, 35, who was in a car with roommate Shannon Kelly, 28. They plan to spend the night a friend in Los Angeles.

Officials said they used all resources, including water-dropping helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft dropping fire retardant, but the fire was still burning out of control as of Wednesday afternoon. Andrew Dowd, a Ventura County fire spokesman, said he had no details on how many buildings were damaged.

Gus Garcia, owner of a ranch south of the fire, said he is waiting to see if conditions will change before deciding whether to evacuate his horses and livestock. At around 12.30pm his animals were still safe and he tried to stay out of the way while others got their livestock out.

His ranch is surrounded by others with horses and alpacas, and Garcia said his neighbors in the canyon didn’t seem panicked.

“The horse community is preparing for this because it is always possible here,” he said.

Meanwhile, to the south, Los Angeles County Fire Department crews tried to contain a wildfire near Malibu’s Broad Beach, while authorities briefly closed the Pacific Coast Highway as flames burned near multimillion-dollar properties. Residents were urged to shelter in place as planes dropped water on the 50-acre Broad Fire. By 12:30, 15% was under control and forward progress stopped. Fire officials said two buildings were on fire.

The National Weather Service office for the Los Angeles area changed the red flag warning for increased fire danger with the rare label of “particularly hazardous situation,” and officials in several counties urged residents to be on the lookout for fast-spreading fires, power outages and crashes. trees amid the latest round of infamous Santa Ana winds.

With forecast wind gusts between 50 mph and 100 mph and humidity as low as 8%, parts of Southern California could experience conditions ripe for “extreme and life-threatening” fire behavior through Thursday, the weather service said. said.

Forecasters also issued red flag warnings through Thursday from California’s central coast through the San Francisco Bay Area and into counties to the north, where strong winds were also expected.

Utilities in California have begun turning off equipment during high winds and extreme fire danger, after a series of massive and deadly wildfires in recent years were sparked by power lines and other infrastructure. On Wednesday, more than 65,000 customers in Southern California were preventively without power, and more than 20,000 in Northern California.

Wednesday’s fires burned in the same areas as other recent devastating fires, including the 2018 Woolsey Fire, which killed three people and destroyed 1,600 homes near Los Angeles, and the 2017 Thomas Fire, which burned more than destroyed a thousand houses and other structures. Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties. Southern California Edison has paid tens of millions of dollars to settle claims after its equipment was blamed for both fires.

By MARCIO J. SANCHEZ, CHRISTOPHER WEBER and STEFANIE DAZIO Associated Press___

Dazio and Weber reported from Los Angeles. Associated Press journalists Ryan Pearson in Los Angeles, Amy Taxin in Orange County, California, Olga Rodriguez and Janie Har in San Francisco contributed to this report.