Wildfires continue to rage across California by Alex Deakin
As two huge wildfires continue to rage across southern California, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has declared a state of emergency in Los Angeles and Ventura counties. Thousands of residents have now been evacuated, as more than 1,000 fire fighters tackle the blazes.
High pressure over the eastern USA earlier this week created the first Santa Ana winds of the season, helping drive the fires. These strong offshore winds are extremely dry and sweep through Southern California in the late autumn. Wind gusts of more than 60mph (97kph) were forecast to hit California through Tuesday.
So far the blazes have scorched over 4700 acres (1900 hectares) of land, with the largest blaze to the north of the San Fernando Valley. The second fire was raging east of the main blaze, with the strong winds blowing smoke into nearby Los Angeles.
The fire risk is expected to continue over the next 24 hours, with the winds lowering the afternoon humidity to near 10%.
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