Los Angeles: Thousands of residents have been ordered to evacuate as a fast-moving wildfire continues to tear through Southern California amid a severe heatwave.
The Canyon Fire ignited around 1:25 p.m. local time (2025 GMT) on Thursday near Piru, a small historic town in eastern Ventura County, located dozens of kilometres northwest of Los Angeles. According to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire), the blaze spread rapidly, consuming more than 4,800 acres (about 19.4 square km).
By Friday morning, containment had reached 25 per cent, the Los Angeles County Fire Department said on social media, citing Xinhua news agency. Cal Fire reported that the fire, burning eastward at a rapid pace, had crossed into Los Angeles County.
Authorities confirmed that five zones in Los Angeles County are under evacuation orders, forcing about 2,700 residents to leave their homes, with 700 structures affected. An additional six zones in the county remain under evacuation warnings, covering approximately 14,000 residents and 5,000 structures.
In Ventura County, five zones are under evacuation orders, while two areas remain under evacuation warnings, the county fire department said, as firefighters work relentlessly to contain the blaze and prevent it from spreading to more communities.
Around 400 personnel have been deployed to battle the massive fire, Cal Fire added.
Temperatures in the region soared to 37.8 degrees Celsius on Thursday, with humidity levels between 15 and 17 per cent, 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,” the National Weather Service in Los Angeles stated. It noted that while onshore winds will prevent temperatures from breaking records, they will still remain above seasonal norms “as high pressure aloft lingers over the Southwestern United States.”
Wildfires in the US are becoming increasingly frequent as global temperatures rise due to climate change.
With IANS inputs