US wildfire threatens thousands as evacuations spread

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON

Tens of thousands of residents have been forced to flee their homes in southern California as weather conditions accelerate a growing wildfire, authorities said early Tuesday.

Authorities initially said they recovered a body from a car crash near the evacuation zone but later clarified that the body at the site of a rollover crash was of an animal, not a human.

The Thomas fire is now estimated to span 31,000 acres and is being fueled by strong winds as it races through the city of Ventura.

The fire is out of control and homes and buildings continue to be in danger throughout the area, Ventura County said on its website.

So far, 27,000 people have evacuated the area, authorities said before issuing an expanded mandatory evacuation order that will likely drive up that number.

Ventura County Sheriff Jeff Dean urged residents to abide by the evacuation orders during a late Monday night press conference.

“We saw the disasters and the losses that happened up north in Sonoma and this is a fast, very dangerous moving fire,” he said, referring to wildfires that ravaged parts of northern California earlier this year.

Firefighters have been stymied by roaring winds that have hit between 25 and 50 miles per hour (40 to 65 kilometers per hour), sending burning embers swirling across wide expanses.

The winds, known as Santa Anas, are yearly occurrences in the south of the state fueled by high-pressure air masses to the east.

And the intensity of the fire has thwarted access attempts, authorities said.

“The prospects for containment really are not good. Really, Mother Nature is going to decide when we have the ability to put it out because it is pushing hard with the wind,” Ventura County Fire Chief Mark Lorenzen said as firefighters prepared to battle the inferno overnight.

To the east, a fire in Sylmar has grown to more than 4,000 acrea and has prompted evacuations in northern Los Angeles. The Creek fire is “very fast moving”, authorities said at a Tuesday morning news conference.