The fire, which has already ravaged 1,600 hectares near Los Angeles, mobilizes a thousand firefighters.
California has not finished its fires. Despite unprecedented measures of prevention, several major fires broke out around Los Angeles on Friday, October, forcing tens of thousands of people to be evacuated.
A fire of some 1,600 hectares, called Saddleridge Fire, occurred in a neighborhood north of the metropolis on Thursday night. It spread rapidly during the night, fueled by warm winds characteristic of this state, and dry soil. About 25 houses were destroyed or damaged in this residential area where the authorities issued evacuation orders. A man in his fifties died because of the fires.
While the Camp Fire had killed more than 80 people a year ago, the authorities have deployed 250 police to enforce the evacuation orders, which concern 23,000 homes and about 100,000 people. "People have to leave as much as they can"Los Angeles police chief Michel Moore said at a press briefing before the break of day. "When you are asked to leave, it means you have to leave. "
Emergency shelter centers have been set up to accommodate evacuees. Firefighters in Los Angeles are mobilizing about 450 of them to fight these fires"Major emergency" by the authorities.
Power cuts to prevent fires
These dangerous conditions were expected to last at least until late Friday, warned the US Weather Services (NWS). Gusts of wind, which can reach more than 100 km / h, are likely to damage trees and power lines, they said. Local TVs broadcast impressive images of flames licking homes or threatening several roads, which were cut off from traffic.
A little more than a hundred kilometers east of Los Angeles, another fire had started. A helicopter and more than 200 firefighters were fighting the flames, destroying at least 74 buildings, local firefighters said on their website. No casualties have been deplored for the moment. "The light around us was so bright orange, it felt like it was in our garden", told an inhabitant of the area on the local channel KTLA 5.
Thursday night, preventative electricity cuts, decided the day before by the US operator PG & E due to weather forecasts conducive to forest fires, had powerless hundreds of thousands of customers near San Francisco and the north of the city. California. In the night of Thursday to Friday, the operator announced to have restored the electricity for half of the affected customers, but more than 300 000 people remained affected by these cuts.
