PICTURES

VIDEO: 2 killed, 100 Buildings Burn to Dust in California Fast Moving Wildfire

Sat Jun 25, 2016 15:17:03

A fast-moving central California wildfire that more than doubled in size on Friday (June 24) has killed two people and destroyed 100 structures.

The fire has led hundreds of residents to evacuate and the Kern County Fire Department.

High temperatures likely to surpass 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius) on Friday and bone-dry vegetation from a five-year California drought were stoking flames.

The rapidly expanding blaze 150 miles (241 km) north of Los Angeles has destroyed 100 structures, including homes, outbuildings and detached garages, authorities said.

Another 1,500 structures are threatened. The estimated size of the fire jumped from 8,000 acres (3,237 hectares) early on Friday to more than 19,000 acres (7,689 hectares) before noon local time.

A contingent of 600 firefighters was battling the blaze with hundreds more en route, according to the government fire tracking website InciWeb.

The blaze, which was 0 percent contained, was one of several large Californiawildfires burning in parched California.

To the south, firefighters were struggling to manage the so-called San Gabriel Complex fire in the foothills of Los Angeles County.

As of Friday, it had burned over 5,600 acres (2,266 hectares) of chaparral and short grass, and containment lines were drawn around 30 percent of its perimeter, according to InciWeb.

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