Massive Bush Fire Breaks Out in Southern California

A massive bush fire has broken out across huge swathes of southern California in the past 24 hours.

Images being seen on television across the state and the wider U.S. now show smoke billowing thousands of feet into the air as flames make their way across open bushland and up into the surrounding hills of Lake Hughes, a small community around 100km north of Los Angeles.

Reports now say that the fire broke out mid-afternoon Wednesday and it is feared that the flames will start to affect the Angeles National Forest, an area 2,650 km2 in size and home to a wealth of wildlife including cougars, black bears and coyotes.

Local firefighters are already tackling the worst affected areas with over 6,000 acres already having burnt in just the first few hours after the flames took hold according to officials in the area.

Soon after the area affected had increased to 10,000 acres with the Los Angeles County Fire Department soon after receiving requests from its men on the ground to increase the number of “strike teams” fighting the fires to around 20.

It is understood that the local National Forest authorities already had in place restrictions on campfire use with all other cooking devices also prohibited before the fires started, and with no rains forecast through the weekend and into the early part of next week it is anticipated that an increased response will be brought to the fore by state authorities.

Lisa Conklin

Lisa is an Eastender from London in her second year in Taipei where she teaches English, and in her spare time writes poetry. She is a practicing vegan and lover of yoga who lives 'off-grid' as much as possible. She is our weekend editor.