Wildfire drives 1500 from homes

UNITED STATES

A RAPIDLY spreading wildfire chewed through a rugged Southern California mountain range yesterday, destroying at least 10 homes, threatening more than 500 other residences and forcing some 1500 people to flee.

Five people were injured as more than 1000 firefighters, 13 helicopters and six air tankers battled the flames as they pushed eastward along the San Jacinto Mountains, a desert range 145 kilometres east of Los Angeles, Cal Fire Riverside chief John Hawkins said.

A man near the origin of the fire suffered serious burns, Hawkins said.

Four firefighters were also injured, including two who suffered heat exhaustion.

Hawkins said the number of homes destroyed would probably triple as authorities made their way into the charred areas to assess the damage.

The wind-fed fire that started on Thursday was one of the ‘‘most rapidly spreading, dangerous fires that I’ve seen’’ in his 50 years as a firefighter.

The fire was estimated at 17 square miles (44 sq km) yesterday, with 10 per cent containment, but it was growing, causing concern that the direction could change in the area, which is known as a wind tunnel.

‘‘The conditions at the front right now are very dangerous,’’ Hawkins said.

Authorities still have not determined what caused the fire.

Evacuation orders were issued in five towns.

Flames were marching toward the hardscrabble town of Cabazon, where hundreds scrambled to leave in the pre-dawn hours yesterday as the mountain ridge behind their homes glowed red.

Most of Southern California’s severe wildfires are associated with Santa Ana winds caused by high pressure over the West that sends a clockwise flow of air rushing down into the region.