California wildfires: New blaze erupts amid ‘extreme red flag warning' after goats save Reagan presidential library

Flames threatening homes east of Los Angeles, local reports say

A new 200-acre wildfire has broken out in southern California, prompting authorities to order people out of their homes as at least four dwellings were destroyed.

The brush fire ignited in San Bernardino, east of Los Angeles, early on Thursday morning and threatened a neighbourhood called North Park, according to local media.

Evacuations were ordered and residents put up in a nearby school. Flames tore through a number of homes, a Los Angeles Times photographed reported, amid strongly gusting wind.

The new blaze erupted after the National Weather Service issued an ”extreme red flag warning” for strong, dry winds that could exacerbate the spate of massive fires ravaging the state.

On Thursday morning experts said that “extremely critical and life threatening fire weather conditions” would persist for part of southern California until Friday.

With California tinder-dry and fires burning in both the north and south, the state was at the mercy of strong winds, on high alert for any new flames that could run wild and weary from intentional blackouts aimed at preventing power lines from sparking more destruction.

As Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) deliberately switched off power to homes and businesses to prevent fire, it has failed to communicate with California officials, given conflicting accounts about when the lights would go out and advised people to get information “the old-fashioned way, through calling on a landline”.

The company is still struggling to get it right, weeks after it first started plunging millions of people into darkness to prevent strong winds from toppling its power lines and igniting fires.

PG&E’s widespread outages have come in waves, leading to reprimands from state officials and growing anger as the blackouts stretch on for days in Northern California.

Elsewhere in the state, hundreds of goats were credited with helping to prevent wildfires burning the Ronald Reagan presidential library.

Some 500 of the gluttonous goats were deployed earlier this year to eat away at flammable scrub surrounding the complex near Simi Valley, which is northwest of LA.

The 13-acre gap allowed firefighters to douse flames from the so-called Easy Fire that had been whipped up by gale-force winds.

“They believe that fire break made their job easier,” said Melissa Giller, a library spokeswoman. “The brush only went so far, it didn’t reach the library, because the goats ate it all.”

With names including Vincent Van Goat and Selena Goatmez, the mainly Boer goats like to eat noxious weeds and other invasive species that fuel wildfires, said Scott Morris, 43, owner of local company 805 Goats.

The presidential library houses papers and memorabilia from Reagan’s 1981-1989 administrations, and the Cold War leader is buried there next to his wife Nancy. Items on display include an Air Force One jet and a piece of the Berlin Wall.

Additional reporting by agencies