California fires: Links for information, live streaming and news coverage.
AP Photo/Mike Meadows. Click here for more AP photos.
With wildfires burning in Southern California and the weather outlook a bit bleak, here are links for information and news coverage.
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection
Los Angeles area:
County of Los Angeles Fire Department
San Diego area:
Here is the latest information Monday evening from AP:
Two huge wildfires driven by strong Santa Ana winds threatened neighborhoods near Los Angeles on Monday, forcing frantic evacuations on smoke- and traffic-choked highways, burning several mobile homes and causing at least two deaths.
One fatality was a man who appeared to have been a transient living in a makeshift shelter, authorities said. A motorist died around midday Monday in a head-on crash on a freeway entrance ramp as traffic tried to turn around to escape flames.
Firefighters were struggling with a 5,000-acre blaze in the San Fernando Valley’s northeastern corner when a new blaze erupted at midmorning a few miles to the west in mountains above the Porter Ranch area and quickly grew to 2,000 acres as wind blew up to 45 mph, with gusts reaching 70 mph.
“It is a blowtorch we can’t get in front of,” said Los Angeles County fire Inspector Frank Garrido.
Fire officials could not immediately estimate how many homes in Porter Ranch were in the fire’s path. Fire officials alerted other communities as far south as Malibu, 20 miles away.
The first fire was burning where neighborhoods abut rugged canyonlands below the mountainous Angeles National Forest. About 1,200 people evacuated because of the Marek Fire, which was just 5 percent contained.
Los Angeles County fire Capt. Mark Savage said 37 or 38 mobile homes were destroyed by that blaze early Monday. About 1,000 firefighters from multiple agencies were deployed.
“We could have had an army there and it would not have stopped it,” Los Angeles Fire Department Battalion Chief Mario Rueda said. “Wind is king here. It’s dictating everything we are doing.”
