An intense wildfire, which is spreading rapidly and has already destroyed more than 130 homes, prompted evacuation orders on Thursday for thousands of residents of Southern California, on the west coast of the United States, where hundreds of firefighters are battling the flames.
The first inspections point to 132 homes destroyed and 88 damaged.
The flames, which started Wednesday morning in Ventura County, north of Los Angeles, threaten a large area where about 30,000 people live.
Authorities reported on Thursday afternoon that the fire was only 5% controlled, although the winds are expected to favor the work of firefighters during the night.
Dawn Deleon, one of the residents of the area, told the press the stressful minutes she had to flee her home with her six dogs.
“We saw the neighbors’ houses burning in flames, and I thought it was time to get out of there,” he said. “We left, and I came back five minutes later to get my phone and the house was already on fire, destroyed.”
California Governor Gavin Newsom visited the affected communities on Thursday and declared a state of emergency in the hardest hit area of Ventura.
More than 14,000 residents received evacuation orders or warnings mainly in the towns of Camarillo, Somis and Moorpark, Ventura Sheriff Jim Fryhoff reported Wednesday.
Firefighters dropped water from helicopters throughout the night, and several teams are trying to contain the fire on the ground. However, strong winds and low humidity complicate the situation.
Some 70,000 people in the region were left without electricity service due to preventive outages, according to the Southland supplier company. The measure is common during fires to avoid new flare-ups due to falling poles.
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