Thousands of residents were evacuated from their homes as a raging wildfire threatened hundreds of homes east of the United States city of Los Angeles on Friday, fire officers said.
About 1 400 firefighters were battling to bring the 1 548ha fire under control as it menaced homes and forced the closure of two major freeways, causing traffic chaos.
”Around 2 000 people have been evacuated as a result of this fire,” said San Bernardino county fire department’s fire information officer, Gil Sanchez.
”Our major concern is that there a lot of homes around the fire. It’s a high priority to us as we have houses threatened and lives potentially threatened,” he said.
The blaze, one of three in southern California being fanned by high temperatures and strong winds, erupted on Tuesday in the area of Fontana and Rancho Cucamonga, in San Bernardino County.
Firefighters were frantically ploughing open fields between residential areas to prevent the flames from crossing them while building fire breaks around threatened areas.
Officials said they were in for a tough fight as extremely hot and dry weather conditions looked set to push into next week as winds of up to 25kph were forecast to further whip up the flames.
Meanwhile, Los Angeles, 100km southwest of the Fontana fire, was swathed in a thick layer of smoke that blocked out the morning sunlight as fires burned in three locations around the city.
California and the American west are annually plagued by waves of wildfires that destroy homes and tens of thousands of hectares of forest.
Years of drought and particularly hot weather have seriously exacerbated the problem. — Sapa-AFP