LOS ANGELES, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) -- A fast-moving wildfire fueled by heavy winds continued spreading Thursday in Ventura County, in the south of the U.S. state of California, after destroying dozens of homes and forcing thousands of residents to flee.
The blaze, dubbed Mountain Fire, occurred Wednesday morning at Moorpark, 60 kilometers northwest of Los Angeles downtown. It exploded in size in only a few hours and reached a suburb of Camarillo, home to around 70,000 people.
According to the Ventura County Fire Department (VCFD), as of Thursday morning, the fire was 14,500 acres (58.68 square kilometers) with zero containment.
Evacuation orders were issued for more than 10,000 people so far as the wildfire threatened 3,500 structures in suburban communities, ranches and agricultural areas around Camarillo.
Efforts to battle the blaze continued through the night on the ground and with night flying helicopters, VCFD said, adding that at least 800 firefighters were assigned to the blaze and hundreds more were arriving from around California.
Damage estimates were expected to begin Thursday, but the department said numerous structures were impacted. Local broadcasters showed many luxury homes engulfed in flames, many utterly destroyed, as a thick plume of smoke rose hundreds of feet into the sky.
The National Weather Service office for the Los Angeles area said the fast-spreading blaze was fueled by fierce gusts up to 80 miles (130 kilometers) an hour on Wednesday and the strong winds were expected to decrease significantly by Thursday night.
Officials in several Southern California counties urged residents to be on watch for fast-spreading blazes, power outages and downed trees amid the latest round of notorious Santa Ana winds.
The Santa Ana winds, also sometimes called the devil winds, are strong, extremely dry downslope winds that originate inland and affect coastal Southern California. The winds always create critical fire weather conditions for the region every winter.
There were more than 30,000 customers without power statewide early Thursday, including about 3,000 in Ventura County and about 4,000 in Los Angeles County, according to poweroutage.us.
