Thousands of people are under evacuation orders as a fast-moving wildfire continues to rage in Southern California amid a major heatwave
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LOS ANGELES — Thousands of people are under evacuation orders as a fast-moving wildfire continues to rage in Southern California amid a major heatwave.
The Canyon Fire broke out around 1:25 P.M. local time (2025 GMT) on Thursday near Piru, a small historic town located in eastern Ventura County and dozens of kilometres northwest of Los Angeles. The blaze grew rapidly to over 4,800 acres (about 19.4 square km), according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire).
As of Friday morning, the containment has reached 25 per cent, said the LA County Fire Department on social media, Xinhua news agency reported.
The blaze, burning east with a rapid rate of spread, has crossed into Los Angeles County, Cal Fire said in an incident update.
Authorities said that five zones are under evacuation order in Los Angeles County with about 2,700 residents evacuated and 700 structures affected. Another six zones in Los Angeles County remain under evacuation warning, with 14,000 residents and 5,000 structures covered by the warning.
In Ventura County, five zones are under evacuation order and two areas are under evacuation warning, according to the county's fire department as the firefighters bravely try to douse the fire and prevent it from spreading further and engulf more areas in the region.
There are around 400 personnel assigned to putting out the massive fire, Cal Fire said.
The temperature in the area reached 37.8 degrees Celsius on Thursday, with 15-17 per cent humidity, according to the US National Weather Service.
"Although a few degrees of cooling is expected through the weekend, a very warm air mass will remain in place," said National Weather Service Los Angeles, adding that onshore flow will keep temperatures from exceeding record levels, but temperatures are expected to remain above seasonal normals "as high pressure aloft lingers over the Southwestern United States."
Wildfires are becoming more frequent in the US as temperatures rise due to global warming.