Zürcher Nachrichten - Thousands told to flee wildfire near Los Angeles

EUR -
AED 3.826681
AFN 70.961758
ALL 98.138602
AMD 405.652886
ANG 1.877182
AOA 951.190259
ARS 1045.720247
AUD 1.602814
AWG 1.877897
AZN 1.775245
BAM 1.955573
BBD 2.102956
BDT 124.465544
BGN 1.955294
BHD 0.392554
BIF 3076.642669
BMD 1.041829
BND 1.403837
BOB 7.197164
BRL 6.043693
BSD 1.041579
BTN 87.914489
BWP 14.229347
BYN 3.408604
BYR 20419.848375
BZD 2.099456
CAD 1.456529
CDF 2991.091432
CHF 0.930957
CLF 0.036923
CLP 1018.83097
CNY 7.54601
CNH 7.562783
COP 4573.368835
CRC 530.538382
CUC 1.041829
CUP 27.608468
CVE 110.252195
CZK 25.343745
DJF 185.478458
DKK 7.457729
DOP 62.772709
DZD 139.835759
EGP 51.726992
ERN 15.627435
ETB 127.508391
FJD 2.371151
FKP 0.822333
GBP 0.831435
GEL 2.855018
GGP 0.822333
GHS 16.456089
GIP 0.822333
GMD 73.970229
GNF 8977.957272
GTQ 8.040066
GYD 217.904692
HKD 8.110066
HNL 26.320943
HRK 7.431636
HTG 136.72412
HUF 411.522823
IDR 16610.452733
ILS 3.856892
IMP 0.822333
INR 87.968134
IQD 1364.44153
IRR 43834.955489
ISK 145.523076
JEP 0.822333
JMD 165.930728
JOD 0.738765
JPY 161.244275
KES 134.884334
KGS 90.122166
KHR 4193.512952
KMF 492.268155
KPW 937.645704
KRW 1463.259646
KWD 0.320727
KYD 0.867999
KZT 520.059599
LAK 22878.342838
LBP 93271.167197
LKR 303.144792
LRD 187.998165
LSL 18.795317
LTL 3.076251
LVL 0.630192
LYD 5.086409
MAD 10.478083
MDL 18.997794
MGA 4861.435378
MKD 61.522855
MMK 3383.819949
MNT 3540.134882
MOP 8.35093
MRU 41.443187
MUR 48.810083
MVR 16.10707
MWK 1806.090235
MXN 21.283008
MYR 4.654932
MZN 66.583684
NAD 18.795317
NGN 1767.675143
NIO 38.325549
NOK 11.53576
NPR 140.663663
NZD 1.785942
OMR 0.400943
PAB 1.041579
PEN 3.949541
PGK 4.193513
PHP 61.404399
PKR 289.239507
PLN 4.337676
PYG 8131.055634
QAR 3.798559
RON 4.978071
RSD 116.991412
RUB 108.671879
RWF 1421.834864
SAR 3.911473
SBD 8.734231
SCR 14.272055
SDG 626.663972
SEK 11.497837
SGD 1.402931
SHP 0.822333
SLE 23.68116
SLL 21846.638123
SOS 595.230868
SRD 36.978718
STD 21563.75683
SVC 9.113941
SYP 2617.626467
SZL 18.788818
THB 35.922648
TJS 11.092512
TMT 3.646401
TND 3.309016
TOP 2.440072
TRY 35.9978
TTD 7.074178
TWD 33.946439
TZS 2770.578216
UAH 43.089995
UGX 3848.553017
USD 1.041829
UYU 44.294855
UZS 13362.448044
VES 48.506662
VND 26482.251319
VUV 123.688032
WST 2.90836
XAF 655.880824
XAG 0.033274
XAU 0.000384
XCD 2.815595
XDR 0.792308
XOF 655.880824
XPF 119.331742
YER 260.379151
ZAR 18.915093
ZMK 9377.71492
ZMW 28.772658
ZWL 335.468513
  • SCS

    0.2300

    13.27

    +1.73%

  • CMSD

    0.0150

    24.46

    +0.06%

  • RIO

    -0.2200

    62.35

    -0.35%

  • BCC

    3.4200

    143.78

    +2.38%

  • GSK

    0.2600

    33.96

    +0.77%

  • CMSC

    0.0320

    24.672

    +0.13%

  • NGG

    1.0296

    63.11

    +1.63%

  • RBGPF

    59.2400

    59.24

    +100%

  • BTI

    0.4000

    37.38

    +1.07%

  • BP

    0.2000

    29.72

    +0.67%

  • BCE

    0.0900

    26.77

    +0.34%

  • RELX

    0.9900

    46.75

    +2.12%

  • RYCEF

    -0.0100

    6.79

    -0.15%

  • AZN

    1.3700

    65.63

    +2.09%

  • VOD

    0.1323

    8.73

    +1.52%

  • JRI

    -0.0200

    13.21

    -0.15%

Thousands told to flee wildfire near Los Angeles
Thousands told to flee wildfire near Los Angeles / Photo: ETIENNE LAURENT - AFP

Thousands told to flee wildfire near Los Angeles

Thousands of people were urged to flee an out-of-control wildfire burning around communities near Los Angeles on Thursday, with dozens of homes already lost to the fast-moving flames.

Text size:

Fierce seasonal winds were casting embers up to three miles (five kilometers) from the seat of the fire around Camarillo, with new blazes getting established on hillsides, farmland and in residential areas.

The Mountain Fire grew rapidly from a standing start early Wednesday, and after 24 hours had consumed almost 20,000 acres (8,100 hectares), with towering flames leaping unpredictably and sending residents scrambling.

"We've been up all night watching this. I haven't slept," Erica Preciado told one local broadcaster as she drove her family out of the danger zone.

"We're just trying to get a safe place. I didn't even know what to take. I just have everything in my car," she said, gesturing tearfully to her packed vehicle.

A number of houses have been destroyed, some consumed by the flames in a matter of minutes.

One man told broadcaster KTLA he and his family had fled their home of 27 years, finding out later that it had been destroyed.

"It's all gone," he said, his voice catching. "It's all gone."

Ventura County Fire Department officials said they were throwing resources at the blaze.

That included crews on the ground defending homes with hose lines working alongside bulldozers that were trying to remove fuels.

Helicopter pilots worked throughout the night dropping water, said Ventura County fire captain Trevor Johnson, predicting that the fight would continue for some time.

"We're going to have an active presence in there for days to come," he told reporters.

Hoses ran dry for crews battling the flames at one point late Wednesday, Ventura County Fire Chief Dustin Gardner said.

He said hundreds of fire trucks had been pumping water all night, putting a strain on resources.

"We have been fighting fire actively now for 26 hours, and we found all of those fire trucks hooked up to all of those hydrants, and we drained water systems down," he told reporters.

That affected supplies higher up hillsides, and forced crews to shuttle water up to the blazes.

He said while it was not a common problem, it is known to happen in major incidents.

"It's normal enough that we plan for it, so it's impactful, but it will be mitigated," he said.

- 'Diminish' -

Damage assessment teams were making their way through areas where the fire had burned in a bid to understand how many properties had been affected.

Emergency managers said they did not know how many homes had been lost, but news crews on the ground found dozens in flames or utterly destroyed, with some estimates as high as 100.

The cause of the fire was not immediately known, but meteorologists had raised a Red Flag Warning in the area, indicating dangerous fire conditions.

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

Seasonal Santa Ana winds from California's desert interior had brought gusts at one point as high as 80 miles (130 kilometers) an hour, making firefighting conditions exceedingly difficult.

Rich Thompson of the National Weather Service said those winds had eased slightly on Thursday, and were expected to drop considerably by the evening.

"We expect Santa Ana winds gusting from the northeast at about 25 to 35 miles per hour through the afternoon hours, along with humidity dropping down to around 10 to 15 percent," he said.

"Fortunately, by mid-late afternoon, we expect those Santa Ana winds to diminish in strength."

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.

O.Pereira--NZN