Thousands evacuated as wildfires ravage homes near Los Angeles

Thousands of people have been ordered to evacuate from a wildfire northwest of Los Angeles as fierce seasonal winds blew flames into ranches and neighbourhoods, destroying dozens of homes.

The wildfire has destroyed 132 structures in less than two days, fire officials said on Thursday.

Firefighters and police cleared residents from neighbourhoods near Camarillo before homes were set ablaze by embers blown 3.2km (2 miles) from the firefront, Ventura County Fire Department Captain Tony McHale said.

“It’s like trying to put out a blowtorch with a squirt gun,” said McHale of the fire, which started in a hillside canyon on Wednesday and tore west, driven by Santa Ana winds.

Fuelled by abundant grass and scrub, with wind gusts up to 130km/h (80 mph), the blaze had burned more than 8,094 hectares (20,000 acres) by Thursday evening, authorities said.

Several civilians were injured and a “significant” number of homes, businesses and other structures were destroyed, McHale added.

Ventura County fire department officials said they were throwing resources at the blaze in an area that is home to 30,000 people, but that changing wind patterns meant there was hope the fire could die down in the coming days.

At least 400 homes had been evacuated, Ventura County Sheriff Jim Fryhoff said, adding that 250 residents had chosen to stay behind.

“I urge everyone to stay out of the areas that are impacted. The fire is still very dangerous,” he said.

The cause of the fire was not immediately known, but meteorologists had raised a Red Flag Warning and a rare Particularly Dangerous Situation (PDS) warning in the area, indicating dangerous fire conditions.

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

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.

The United States is experiencing a strong wildfire year with 3.3 million hectares (8.1 million acres) burned to date, compared with an annual, full-year average of about 2.8 million hectares (7 million acres) over the last decade, according to National Interagency Fire Center data.