A fire spread rapidly on Wednesday northwest of Los Angeles, destroying houses and agricultural land, fueled by violent winds which brought it to the gates of upscale suburbs of a city of 70,000 inhabitants, the fire season not being finished in California.
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The authorities ordered residents of the areas most at risk to evacuate, north of the city of Camarillo, located about sixty kilometers from the center of Los Angeles.
AFP
Several injured people were taken to hospital and many buildings were threatened by the flames.
The hills overlooking the town of Camarillo and its 70,000 inhabitants are enveloped in a thick cloud of smoke and the winds, which reach 130 km/h, are expected to persist until the end of the day Thursday and complicate the work of the firefighters, who cannot fully deploy their air assets.
AFP
The fire broke out in the morning on Wednesday and already covered more than 3,600 hectares by mid-afternoon. Several homes, including luxury homes, but also agricultural fields and orchards were destroyed by the flames, according to firefighters.
More than 21,000 homes are without power, with California routinely cutting power to avoid sparking new fires fueled by high winds and overloaded networks.
“The situation is terrible,” an employee of a horse ranch told a local television channel. “We are trying to get them all out,” she added against a backdrop of images showing the animals installed in trailers to be evacuated.
AFP
Gail Liacko had to leave her house very quickly on this “normal morning”, which still saw America wake up with the election of Republican Donald Trump.
“All of a sudden our outdoor furniture was covered in soot […] smoke filled the street […] it was very surreal. We don’t know what to bring in these moments of absolute panic.”
A few dozen kilometers further south, another fire broke out near Malibu, threatening the luxury properties that dot the coast.
After two rainy winters which provided a relative respite, California is experiencing a very active fire season this year. The “Golden State” suffered several heat waves this summer, signs of global warming, and suffered the fourth largest fire in its history in July-August.
AFP
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