Los Angeles-Area Wildfire Burns Homes and Forces Evacuations

(Bloomberg) -- A rapidly growing brush fire in the Los Angeles area is burning out of control after destroying homes and triggering evacuations northwest of Malibu.  

The Mountain Fire had scorched nearly 20,500 acres (8,300 hectares) in Ventura County, about 20 miles inland from the coastal city, as of 5:30 p.m. local time Thursday, according to county emergency officials, prompting California Governor Gavin Newsom to declare a state of emergency in the county. It’s one of a handful of blazes that sparked this week in California, which is on high alert from an outbreak of seasonal Santa Ana winds that began to flare over the weekend. 

“Damage to structures, residences, infrastructure, power and electrical — you name it. Firefighters are dealing with it out on the ground,” said Ventura County Fire Captain Trevor Johnson at a briefing Thursday morning. More than 14,000 evacuation notices have been sent, Sheriff Jim Fryhoff said. 

“This is a dangerous fire that’s spreading quickly and threatening lives,” Newsom said in a release, adding the Federal Emergency Management Agency has provided a grant to help pay for firefighting resources.

The National Weather Service warned dangerous conditions would continue into Thursday evening, as gusts of up to 60 miles (97 kilometers) per hour barrel down mountain passes and canyons throughout southern California. The winds — known as the Santa Anas, Diablos or sundowners — are typical for this time of year, driven by high pressure systems that develop outside the state in the Great Basin and funnel in through California’s mountains. 

“This is one of the stronger events we’ve had in the last few years,” said Nick Nauslar, fire science and operations officer for the Storm Prediction Center, noting gusts reached 100 mph (161 kph) in some places. 

Though gusts are expected to taper late Thursday, another round of dry seasonal winds is possible next week. With no rain or dense fog into the forecast before then, Nauslar said, southern California will be “in the same place and maybe even in a worse place, because you just had a strong Santa Ana event that helped dry out the fuels even more.” 

High winds have begun to weaken across northern California, though the landscape there also remains extremely dry. A pair of fires erupted Wednesday and Thursday on or near national forest lands, according to data from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, known as Cal Fire.

California utilities have been shutting off power intermittently since Monday to prevent fires from downed lines or other equipment. Edison International’s southern California utility had stopped service to about 59,000 homes and businesses as of Thursday afternoon, according to the company’s website. In northern and central California, PG&E Corp. had 12,000 customers offline. San Diego Gas & Electric Co. shut power to about 900 customers. 

(Updates acreage burned and declaration of state of emergency in second paragraph.)

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