SAN FRANSISCO--California firefighters on Friday sought to take advantage of a lull in winds to gain ground on a pair of fast-moving wildfires, including one that has forced the evacuation of about 50,000 residents in suburbs north of Los Angeles.
California Governor Gavin Newsom on Friday declared a local emergency to assist in fighting that blaze and another one in the wine-growing region of Sonoma County that has destroyed nearly 50 structures and forced the evacuation of 2,000 people.
In Los Angeles County, crews worked overnight to battle the Tick Fire that started on Thursday and has grown to char 4,300 acres (1,700 hectares), threatening 15,000 homes and businesses, officials said. The blaze has upended life in the suburban Santa Clarita Valley, about 40 miles (60 km) north of downtown Los Angeles, which has been used as the backdrop for many movies and television productions and is home to the Magic Mountain amusement park.
"This is the largest evacuation that we've had in Santa Clarita," Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger told a news conference, putting the number of people ordered to evacuate at 50,000. "This is being done to make sure that we protect not only life but property but also allow our firefighters and first responders to get up there to fight these fires."
The fire, which was only 5 percent contained, has destroyed six structures, Los Angeles County Fire Chief Daryl Osby said, adding that figure would rise. Already on Friday morning, images from a television news helicopter showed flames licking a house in the area as firefighters tried to stop the blaze spreading to other homes in that subdivision and up dry, brush-covered canyons.
Smoke from the two fires was disrupting life in two of California's biggest cities. A smokey haze drifting toward the Bay Area of San Francisco prompted warnings to residents to stay indoors, close windows and use masks. Los Angeles officials closed dozens of schools in the San Fernando Valley, just south of the Tick blaze, because of fears over hazardous breathing conditions.
California's wildfires often erupt in the fall, whipped by hot, dry winds that blow westward after a dry summer. In November 2018, at least 85 people died in the Camp Fire in Northern California, the deadliest wildfire in state history.
Overnight, winds around the Tick Fire reached speeds of 60 miles per hour (100 kph). They weakened to 20 mph (30 kph) on Friday but scorching temperatures of above 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius) were complicating the firefighting effort, Osby said.
By Friday evening or this weekend, the winds could shift and increase in speed, potentially drawing the fire into a wooded area where it would burn through plentiful fuel and gain strength, Osby said.
