by According to officials, a wind-driven wildfire broke out Thursday morning in hills along Interstate 5 in northeastern Los Angeles County, and firefighters with air support rushed to contain it.
About 60 miles (100 kilometers) north of downtown Los Angeles, in a sparsely populated area, the King Fire, which started at 1 a.m., burned about a square mile (2.5 square kilometers) of tinder-dry brush.
There were evacuation advisories for inhabitants of outlying homes and an order for an RV park to shelter in place. On the social media site X, the Angeles National Forest stated that the fire was 40% suppressed as of the evening.
Before morning, personnel fought fires that raced along hillsides, forcing the California roadway Patrol to block several roadway lanes. In a mountainous region popular for hiking and boating, off-ramps and on-ramps were closed close to Smokey Bear Road and a number of nearby roads just north of Pyramid Lake.
The fire is located a few miles north of the Canyon Fire, which started on August 7 and caused evacuations, damaged seven buildings, and injured three firefighters. After scorching over 8 square miles (22 square kilometers) of Ventura and Los Angeles counties, it was completely contained Thursday morning.
According to the Los Angeles County Fire Department, firefighters were also fighting a fire in northern Los Angeles County that had spread to 400 acres (162 hectares) and caused one firefighter to sustain minor injuries. On Thursday night, firefighters halted the Hawk Fire’s advancement and limited it to 6%.
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The evacuation order was later lowered, and officials now advise residents in the small village of Acton to be ready to leave the area where the fire is located, according to the fire department. For those displaced from their houses, a recreation center was established in Palmdale.
Since it began on August 1, the Gifford Fire, California’s biggest fire so far this year, has burned through Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, covering an area of around 207 square miles (536 square kilometers). On Thursday, it was 41% contained.
The National Weather Service for Los Angeles issued a warning last week that the lack of rain in Southern California had dried out vegetation, making it ripe for fire, increasing the risk of wildfires.
