The morning sun rises through the smoke of fire in the canyons east of North Tustin, California. Photos / AP
The morning sun rises through the smoke of fire in the canyons east of North Tustin, California. Photos / AP
A fast-moving wildfire forced evacuation orders for 60,000 people in Southern California today as powerful winds across the state prompted power to be cut to hundreds of thousands to prevent utility equipment from sparking new blazes.
The smoky fire exploded in size to over 7.8 sq km within a fewhours of breaking out shortly after dawn in Orange County, south of Los Angeles. Strong gusts pushed flames along brushy ridges in Silverado Canyon toward houses in the city of Irvine, home to about 280,000 people.
Kelsey Brewer and her three roommates decided to leave their townhouse before the evacuation order came in. The question was where to go in the pandemic. They decided on the home of her girlfriend's mother, who has ample space and lives alone.
"We literally talked about it this morning," Brewer said, adding that she feels lucky to have a safe place to go. "We can only imagine how screwed everyone else feels. There's nowhere you can go to feel safe."
Smoke and flames from the Silverado fire threatens areas near Irvine, California.
More than 300,000 power customers — estimated at about a million people — were in the dark in the northern part of the state as officials issued warnings for what could be the strongest winds in California this year.
Firefighting crews that had been at the ready overnight quickly contained small blazes that broke out in Northern California's Sonoma and Shasta counties. The causes were under investigation.
North of San Francisco, a Mount St Helena weather station recorded a hurricane-force gust of 143 km/h and sustained winds of 122 km/h.
The "shut-offs probably did prevent dangerous fires last night. It's almost impossible to imagine that winds of this magnitude would not have sparked major conflagrations in years past," Daniel Swain, a climate scientist with UCLA and the National Centre for Atmospheric Research, said on Twitter.
Winds had calmed slightly but the conditions were expected to prevail to tomorrow.
Scientists have said climate change has made California much drier, meaning trees and other plants are more flammable. October and November are traditionally the worst months for fires, but already this year 8600 wildfires in the state have scorched a record 16,600 sq km and destroyed about 9,200 homes, businesses and other buildings. There have been 31 deaths.
