A “dangerously fast” wildfire fanned by hurricane-strength winds was burning out of control near Los Angeles on Wednesday, with thousands of residents ordered to evacuate and some taken to the hospital. Multiple large homes were destroyed as the fire tore through neighbourhoods, blanketing a huge area in thick smoke. Fierce gusts up to 80 miles p/h (130 kilometres) were fuelling flames that were scorching through farmland.
The mountain fire was reported near Moorpark, 40 miles north-west of Los Angeles, on Wednesday morning. By afternoon it had exploded to 10,400 acres (4,200 hectares), Ventura County Fire Department said, and flames had reached a suburb of Camarillo, home to around 70,000 people. Local broadcasters showed luxury homes in the Camarillo Heights area engulfed in flames, many utterly destroyed.
Further up the hillsides, aerial footage showed people frantically loading horses into trailers at sprawling ranch properties as swirling flames loomed nearby. “It’s bad out there, but we’re getting them all out,” one woman told local broadcaster KTLA as she drove horses out of the area. “(The fire) was surrounding on both sides.
.. It’s just all over the place.
It’s not one clear fire line. It’s everywhere.” Firefighters had no official figures for the number of properties affected by the blaze, with conditions on the ground too dangerous to allow damage assessment.
There was no immediate figure for the number of people hurt, but officials said some .