California wildfire: Irvine, Silverrado, California fires issue evacuation order for about 60,000 people
“The fire started in the Canadian city of Silverado, with helicopters and standard wing aircraft arriving,” Mayor Christina Shia said in a statement. “The wind makes it move so fast.”
Videos posted by Power ignite fires in high winds.
Silverdo fire, state and region are prone to major fire hazards from hot, dry weather. Nearly 34 million people in California and southwest, including San Francisco, Sacramento, Los Angeles and Las Vegas, are under the red flag alert.
In particular, there is an extreme level 3 of 3 fire levels across the mountains outside Los Angeles, where the wind is more likely to blow than the hurricane force.
Dry conditions, low humidity and windy weather are triggering a power outage and a call for readiness as the fire season continues in California.
The National Weather Service has forecast winds of up to 80 mph in mountainous areas in LA and Ventura districts, and warned of power outages, fire conditions and delays at local airports.
Utility Southern California Edition operated a public safety power outage (BSPS) at 7:30 a.m. Monday for 3,677 customers in the Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino counties. As the Santa Ana wind blows across the area, another 123,000 customers will be able to use BSPS.
SCE has a total of 5 million customers, and it says electricity will be restored to affected accounts within 24 hours of the wind event.
Dave Hennan of CNN contributed to this report.