Red alert: Firefighters struggle to contain major wildfires ravaging southern California

Firefighters monitor a section of one of southern California’s largest and most destructive wildfires on the 101 freeway north of Ventura.

They occasionally used a flare device to burn-off brush close to the roadside. Strong Santa Ana winds are rapidly pushing multiple wildfires across the region, which are expanding to tens of thousands of acres and destroying hundreds of homes and other buildings. Calmer conditions helped crews protect the Ventura County resort town of Ojai, where most of the 7,000 residents were under new evacuation orders.