Wind-driven California wildfire picks up pace, forces evacuations

0 Comments | AFP, September, 2006

LOS ANGELES (AFP) — Forestry and fire officials called for hundreds of residents to be evacuated after a fierce wildfire raging outside Los Angeles regained momentum. Stronger winds saw the blaze jump towards residential areas in the Lockwood Valley region of Ventura County, around 70 miles northwest of Los Angeles.

"We have recommended evacuation for people living in that area ... we're talking about several hundred homes," a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection told AFP. "We caught a break on Monday but the winds have been stronger today and the fire has jumped across roads in places. We have been jammed with calls from people and our message to people in the affected areas is 'leave'." Since the blaze erupted on September 4, apparently...