L.A. Declares Emergency as 200K Evacuate SoCal Wildfires

Intense Santa Ana winds fueling powerful Southern California wildfires have forced the evacuation of nearly 200,000 people across the region, with some 50,000 acres affected by the blazes. California Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency in Ventura County, where more than 1,000 firefighters and others are trying to contain the fires that have destroyed at least 150 structures so far. “This fire is very dangerous and spreading rapidly, but we’ll continue to attack it with all we’ve got,” Brown said. Meanwhile, a quickly growing wildfire near the Angeles National Forest jumped the 210 Freeway, prompting Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti to declare a state of emergency for the city. Up to 150,000 people were evacuated from that area alone. “We want to be really clear with folks. We have lost structures—we have not lost lives. Do not wait, leave your homes,” Garcetti said. “We are erring on a side of abundance of caution for those evacuations because this wind could pick up and go a different direction. We simply don’t know what this fire will do.”