Wildfire near Los Angeles

Hundreds flee as wildfire rages near LA

A massive wildfire is raging in the rugged countryside outside Los Angeles, forcing the closure of California's scenic coastal highway as hundreds of residents are evacuated.

SMH,

4 May,, 2013

Wind-driven flames ripped through tinder-dry brush and were soon racing towards the Pacific Ocean, incinerating more than 32 square kilometres (8000 acres) and putting about 2000 homes at risk.

Television footage showed at least one home ablaze in an isolated canyon as about 600 firefighters fanned out across the vast area to try and staunch the rapidly advancing wall of fire.

"We have conditions that are very dramatic, very dangerous for firefighters. This fire is growing," Ventura County Fire Department spokesman Tom Kruschke told NBC4 television.

"We are asking members of the public to be very aware - this is very dangerous. This is still a moving fire."

The blaze fanned by strong winds ravaged hillsides and canyons in Ventura County northwest of Los Angeles, threatening homes around the towns of Newbury Park and Camarillo, north of Malibu.

A 13-kilometre section of the Pacific Coast Highway was closed from about 16km west of Malibu, the California Highway Patrol said on its Twitter feed.

California State University at Channel Islands announced it was cancelling all classes and activities at its Camarillo site "due to the (fire) and heavy smoke drifting onto the campus".

Live television pictures showed flames and smoke billowing up from the tinder-dry hillside above the Dos Vientos neighbourhood of Newbury Park, where residents were ordered to evacuate.

Helicopters could be seen drawing water from a nearby lake to drop on the flames, in video shown by KTLA 5 television.

Wildfires are common across the western United States in the northern summer, and in southern California they are often fanned by strong offshore Santa Ana winds that more typically blow up in the fall and winter.