Over 130 houses destroyed in California wildfire

Fire has destroyed over 130 homes in California, the United States.

Firefighters, on Friday, November 8, 2024, said they had made progress in their fight as a turn in the weather offered a break.

Hurricane-strength winds this week fueled an explosion in the Mountain Fire near Camarillo, outside Los Angeles, which grew rapidly to over 20,000 acres (8,000 hectares).

Thousands of people in the path of the inferno were forced to flee, some with only minutes to gather possessions and pets as unpredictable flames leapt from home to home.

Robin Wallace said the home she grew up in in California was destroyed minutes after everyone fled.

Wallace said: “We were expecting we’d be able to go back and get some things. But of course, that didn’t work out.

“It was completely gone by the afternoon. It went very quickly.”

Linda Fefferman said she knew she had to go when she smelled smoke.

“I’m trying to load the car with animals and important papers, my oxygen concentrator, and when it got too smoky for me, I knew I had to get out,” she told AFP.

A neighbour with a chainsaw helped remove a fallen tree that was blocking her path.

She said: “I went down to the Goodwill parking lot, watched the smoke, you know, probably our own house burning.

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“Nothing is left. It’s gone. It’s all gone.”

Fefferman said she thought 14 or 15 houses on her street had been destroyed by the flames.

Authorities said on Thursday that initial inspections revealed at least 132 homes had been lost, with 88 more damaged in California.

The area is home to around 30,000 people, with approximately 10,000 having been told to evacuate.

The blaze erupted on Wednesday morning and spread rapidly, fanned by fierce seasonal Santa Ana winds from California’s desert interior.

Gusts up to 80 miles (130 kilometres) an hour pushed smoke and flames sideways, with terrifying footage showing fire engulfing brush, orchards and properties.

Those winds dropped on Friday, with meteorologists saying they did not expect them to return for at least a few days.

That was welcome news for firefighters, some of whom had been on the frontlines for 36 hours straight.

Two relatively wet years have left California’s countryside flush with vegetation that is now dry and exceedingly flammable after a long, hot summer.

While fires, drought and strong winds are characteristics of the local environment, scientists say human-caused climate change is affecting weather patterns and increasing the likelihood of catastrophic events.

The Star