Thousands of people continue to be evacuated today and others are on alert due to the rapid spread of a new fire north of Los Angeles, fueled by strong winds that have hit the area, according to US authorities.
The fire started on Wednesday morning north of Castaic, located in northern Los Angeles County, in the state of California, where in less than two hours at least 2,000 hectares burned after the fire spread due to very strong wind gusts, which reached 100 kilometers per hour.
The most recent data from the California Fire Department indicated that the area burned in this latest fire would be just over 4,000 hectares, with a very low containment of the flames, of only 14%.
Authorities are fighting the spread of new fires and evacuation orders have been issued around Castaic Lake, affecting more than 19,000 residents, according to local media.
This new fire joins more than 200 fires that have raged in California in recent weeks, causing at least 28 deaths and devastating thousands of acres of land, forcing the evacuation of more than 150,000 people.
Firefighters are also working on a new fire that started this morning and forced the closure of part of the 405 freeway in the Sepulveda Pass area, which extends towards Bel-Air.
More than 4,000 firefighters are deployed to extinguish these fires, some of which are still not completely contained and others that are very large, such as the Palisades fire, which has already burned more than 23,400 acres, and the Eaton fire, with more than 14,000 acres burned, according to the most recent data released by local authorities.
The National Weather Service issued a red alert for the area through Friday morning, warning of dry conditions and strong winds that will remain at "critical levels" for Southern California through the end of this week.
The main cause of the spread of the fires are the so-called Santa Ana winds, which can reach speeds of more than 150 kilometers per hour and currents of superheated air that blow from the interior of the country towards the California coast, contributing to the out-of-control fires.
Embers and other burning elements are carried by the wind, traveling long distances and when they fall, causing new fires.
According to experts, the flames of these fires consume approximately 14 hectares of land per minute, which forced authorities to issue evacuation orders due to the danger of the flames.
