A wildfire tearing through mountains near Los Angeles has forced thousands of evacuations. The Canyon Fire ignited at around 1.30pm local time (9.30pm BST) and ravaged over 2.3 square miles (six square kilometers) in five hours.
Ventura County emergency response said none of the blaze had been contained on Thursday and the inferno was spreading eastwards. The fire is burning just south of Lake Piru, a reservoir in Los Padres National Forest. It is close to Lake Castaic, a popular recreation area already burned by a wildfire in January.
The Hughes Fire burned about 15 square miles (39 square kilometers) in six hours and put 50,000 people under evacuation orders or warnings.
In LA County, about 4,200 residents and 1,400 buildings are under an evacuation order. Another 12,500 residents are subject to an evacuation warning, according to Andrew Dowd, a spokesperson for the Venture County Fire Department.