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.
Fierce seasonal winds were casting embers up to five kilometres from the seat of the fire around Camarillo, with new spots burning on hillsides, farmland and in residential areas.
The Mountain Fire grew rapidly from a standing start early Wednesday, and by the following day had consumed 8,100 hectares, with towering flames leaping unpredictably and sending residents scrambling.
A number of houses have been destroyed, some consumed by flames in minutes.
Ventura County Fire Department officials said they were throwing resources at the blaze in an area that is home to 30,000 people.
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.
Damage assessment teams were making their way through areas that 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.