A new wildfire has broken out north of Los Angeles, prompting authorities to order the evacuation of thousands of homes in the southwestern US city, where at least 10 people have already died.
Fueled by strong Santa Ana winds, the Kenneth Fire, which was registered at 3:34 p.m. local time (11:34 p.m. Thursday in Lisbon), "is threatening nearby communities and infrastructure, prompting rapid evacuation orders," the Los Angeles Fire Service, known as CalFire, announced.
Firefighters from Los Angeles and Ventura counties have been mobilized to the area to contain the blaze, which currently spans 50 acres and remains out of control.
The blaze has "challenging terrain and persistent winds that are complicating firefighting efforts," Cal Fire added.
The authorities' evacuation orders affect the cities of West Hills, Valley Circle, Ingomar, Woodlake and Burbank.
The Kenneth Fire started less than 2 miles from El Camino Real Charter High School, where many people had sought shelter from the Palisades fire. The two fires are about 11 miles apart.
The blaze joins five active fires that have been burning in Los Angeles since Tuesday, mostly along the Pacific Coast and Santa Monica, including Pacific Palisades.
The fire in Pacific Palisades, one of Los Angeles' wealthiest neighborhoods, has burned more than 27 square miles and more than 5,300 homes and other buildings, the city's fire chief said.
The Palisades Fire is already the most destructive in Los Angeles history.
In total, the wildfires have killed 10 people and destroyed more than 46 square miles and more than 10,000 homes and other buildings.
At least 180,000 people remain under mandatory evacuation orders.
AccuWeather, a company that provides data on the impact of extreme weather events, on Thursday raised its estimate of damage and economic losses from the fires to between $135 billion and $150 billion (€131 billion and €146 billion).
