Thousands under evacuation near Los Angeles as wildfire torches homes
Adds comment from fire official, climate context
By David Swanson and Kanishka Singh
SANTA PAULA, California, Nov 7 (Reuters) -Over ten thousand people were ordered to evacuate communities northwest of Los Angeles as fierce seasonal winds drove a wildfire down tinder-dry hillsides intoranches and homes, authorities said.
Firefighters and police cleared residents from neighborhoods near Camarillo before homes were set ablaze by embers blown two miles (3.2 km) from the fire front, Ventura County fire department Captain Tony McHale said by phone from near the blaze.
"It's like trying to put out a blowtorch with a squirt gun," said McHale of the fire which began in a hillside canyon on Wednesday then tore west, driven by Santa Ana winds.
Fueled by abundant grass and scrub, with wind gusts up to 80 mph (130 kph), the blaze has burned over 14,500 acres (5,900 hectares), authorities said.
Climate scientists say warming temperatures have created wet winters that allow California's coastal chaparral - small trees, shrubs and bushes - to thrive. Record-high temperatures this summer have turned hillsides into unlit bonfires.
Several civilians wereinjured and a significant number of homes, businesses and other structures destroyed, McHale said, adding that it was too dangerous to enter the area to assess damage.
California Governor Gavin Newsom said the fire threatened3,500 structures.
Schools in Ventura County were closed through Friday due to the fires, according to the county's office of education.
The fire expanded in size on Wednesday after powerful winds came into contact with very dry air.
Southern California Edison EIX.N began shutting off power to customers in areas where its equipment was considered at high risk of sparking a wildfire, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The United States is experiencing a strong wildfire year with 8.1 million acres burned to date, compared with an annual, full-year average of around 7 million acres over the last decade, according to National Interagency Fire Center data.
California wildfires have so far this year burned more than three times as much land as last year at this time when the state's fire season was more benign, according to Cal Fire data.
Reporting by David Swanson in Santa Paula, Kanishka Singh in Washington and Andrew Hay in New Mexico,
Editing by Alexandra Hudson and Marguerita Choy
Berita Terkini
Penafian: Entiti XM Group menyediakan perkhidmatan pelaksanaan sahaja dan akses ke Kemudahan Dagangan Atas Talian, yang membolehkan sesorang melihat dan/atau menggunakan kandungan yang ada di dalam atau melalui laman web, tidak bertujuan untuk mengubah atau memperluas, juga tidak mengubah atau mengembangkannya. Akses dan penggunaan tersebut tertakluk kepada: (i) Terma dan Syarat; (ii) Amaran Risiko; dan Penafian Penuh. Oleh itu, kandungan sedemikian disediakan tidak lebih dari sekadar maklumat umum. Terutamanya, perlu diketahui bahawa kandungan Kemudahan Dagangan Atas Talian bukan permintaan, atau tawaran untuk melakukan transaksi dalam pasaran kewangan. Berdagang dalam mana-mana pasaran kewangan melibatkan tahap risiko yang besar terhadap modal anda.
Semua bahan yang diterbitkan di Kemudahan Dagangan Atas Talian kami bertujuan hanya untuk tujuan pendidikan/maklumat dan tidak mengandungi – dan tidak boleh dianggap mengandungi nasihat kewangan, cukai pelaburan atau dagangan dan cadangan, atau rekod harga dagangan kami, atau tawaran, atau permintaan untuk suatu transaksi dalam sebarang instrumen kewangan atau promosi kewangan yang tidak diminta kepada anda.
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