California wildfires spread to 11,000 acres, near Los Angeles
Wildfires in the US west coast state of California have spread to more than 11,000 acres in mountains north of Los Angeles as they continue to burn out of control, threatening about 1,300 homes, officials say.
The fast-moving fire was burning in the hillsides of Santa Clarita and prompted hundreds of evacuations on Saturday with only 10-percent containment as firefighters continued to battle the fire overnight, local news outlets reported.
"We were experiencing 50- to 100-foot flame links running across these ridges and down these slopes and doing the kind of things we normally expect to see at 2 pm," said Los Angeles County Fire Department Battalion Chief Dennis Cross.
"It's been a really tough fire and a really tough fire season so far," he added.
This is while southern California firefighters faced another day of triple-digit heat from a dome of high pressure over the region, and as Central Coast temperatures remained more moderate, conditions included winds and low humidity.
Hundreds of county and Angeles National Forest firefighters battled the fire, aided by three dozen water-dropping helicopters and retardant-dropping airplanes.
"It just continues to move. It's not slowing down," county fire inspector Joey Marron emphasized late Friday.
Meanwhile, evacuation orders were in effect for homes in the Soledad Canyon along the 14 Freeway to Agua Dulce Canyon Road. Up to 300 homes in the Little Tujunga area, from Bear Divide to Gold Creek, were under mandatory evacuations.
Another 100 homes were evacuated Saturday, according to the Angeles National Forest's Twitter.
Fire crews were further concerned about the persisting high temperatures and low humidity that could continue to fuel the fire, local reports said as weather forecasters expected temperatures of about 108 degree in the area by the afternoon.
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