California wildfires: First 'extreme red flag warning' issued

Some 21 million people live in areas impacted by warning

Fast moving wildfires fed by dangerous Santa Ana winds has whipped through parts of Southern California, leading to an unprecedented danger warning from officials and thousands of evacuations.

The fires have thrived on the hot and dry conditions in the state, and have brought thousands of wildfires out to battle the blazes.

Among the most worrisome is the Getty Fire, which Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti called an “act of god” started by a broken tree branch that was whipped by strong winds into a power line.

Another, the Easy Fire, began on Wednesday morning, and quickly grew to encompass around 1,300 acres, and prompted federal aid to help California handle that blaze, which ran nearby to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

During a press conference on Tuesday evening that included Mr Garcetti, officials said that utility crews had completed brush clearance in the area where the Getty Fire started as recently as July. But, even with those precautions, unforeseen circumstances could have damaging impacts.

“In this unfortunate situation, it could have been a tree branch, could have been a palm frond from across the freeway, a Mylar balloon balloon — any of those things entering into the area are things that we cannot control and so that makes the challenge of how to deliver reliable power [and] at the same time be vigilant on a windy day such as we had these last few days,” said Marty Adams, the general manager of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.

As the fire spread, officials with the National Weather Service issued its first-ever “extreme red flag warning”, which accompanied dramatic images of the fires as it whipped through America’s second most populous metropolitan area.

The Getty fire had burned 745 acres, and was 27 per cent contained, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. Evacuations for thousands of people — including Los Angeles Laker player LeBron James — remained in effect on Wednesday afternoon.

Other fires in the state include the much larger Kincade Fire, which was 30 per cent contained as of Wednesday afternoon but had burned 76,825 acres. The Easy Fire, which started on Wednesday, had burned 1,300 acres, and forced the evacuation of the Ronald Reagan presidential library.

As many as 365,000 homes and businesses were without electricity as well, after Pacific Gas & Electric shut of power to millions of people, saying that the measure was being taken in order to prevent new fires from starting.

Southern California Edison, another utility in the state, had shut off power to another 68,000 homes and businesses.

The dramatic imagery coming from near the blaze has included footage of the blaze from helicopters, as well as footage from citizens posted online. One such video appeared to show a horse running back towards the flames in order to help guide other horses to safety. Some posted on Twitter that their commute had more than doubled their commute as a result of the fires, which have blocked off some routes to get to work.

But the blazes also provided an opportunity for acts of generosity, including from James, who sent a taco truck to help first responders after he was evacuated from his home in Los Angeles.