Thousands of people evacuated to safe places due to massive fire in California

An intense and rapidly spreading wildfire swept across Southern California on Thursday, forcing the evacuation of thousands of people in just 24 hours, with hundreds of firefighters battling the blaze.

Several people have been injured and taken to hospitals by the fire, nicknamed “Mountain”, which threatens about 3,500 homes and has already destroyed about 8,000 hectares of land.

The flames that started Wednesday morning in Ventura County, north of Los Angeles, have already ravaged several neighborhoods and destroyed dozens of homes, but officials have not yet been able to provide a preliminary estimate of the damage.

Don DeLeon recalled the stressful moments when he had to flee his home with his six dogs.

“We saw our neighbors’ houses burning in flames and I thought it was time to get out,” he said. “We left, and I came back five minutes later to get my phone and the house was already on fire, destroyed.”

Ventura Sheriff Jim Fryhoff said Wednesday that more than 14,000 residents received evacuation orders or warnings, primarily in the cities of Camarillo, Somis and Moorpark.

“We know this is a painful time,” Fryhoff said. “The fire is extremely dangerous,” the official said, stressing the need to follow evacuation orders in the area where about 30,000 people live.

He commented, “This fire is very active and unpredictable, we have many resources in action, and we want to guarantee that everyone looking for shelter is safe.”

“I couldn’t sleep, I was trying to find a safe place,” area resident Erica Preciado told local media. Of flames.

“I took some photos, documents and a few things and left very quickly,” she said, crying.

Another resident told KTLA television that he and his family evacuated their 27-year-old home, only to discover it had been destroyed in the flames.

“There was nothing left,” she said, her voice breaking. “There was nothing left.”

– Climate Recipe –

Firefighters dropped water from helicopters overnight and several teams are trying to control the fire on the ground, although strong winds and low humidity have complicated the situation.

To make matters worse, water shortages began early in the morning, Ventura Fire Chief Dustin Gardner said.

“We’ve been fighting the fire for 26 hours, and we put all these trucks on hydrants, and we drained the water reserves,” Gardner told reporters.

Gardner explained that although this is not common, it is also not unusual. “We are prepared for it, so it will impact us but we will minimize it,” he said.

According to Southland Supplier Company, about 70,000 people in the area were left without power service due to the preventive outages. The measure, which is common to avoid new incidents of collapse of poles during fires, could be expanded, leaving hundreds of people without electricity in the coming hours.

The cause of the fire is under investigation, but climate experts said the flames began just as an intense red alert was issued for the area.

“Which means very high winds, very low humidity and a lot of fuel,” said Rich Thompson, a meteorologist with the U.S. National Weather Service.

The area received two years of heavy rain, promoting the growth of grass, which now becomes ideal fuel for the rapid spread of fires under drought, heat and wind.

Weather conditions improved slightly this Thursday, but the area remains on red alert.

“We expect winds to be from the north-east at 40 to 56 kilometers per hour by the afternoon and humidity levels to be between 10% to 15%,” Thompson said.

The California government secured additional resources and deployed teams to 19 counties across the state in anticipation of weather warnings conducive to dangerous fires in many areas of coastal and inland California.

pr/ag/arm