LOS ANGELES _ A large brush fire erupted in Simi Valley early Wednesday and was quickly burning toward neighborhoods, triggering mandatory evacuations amid strong Santa Ana winds.
The Easy fire started near the 118 Freeway and Madera Road shortly after 6 a.m. Over the course of two hours, the fire has chewed through 407 acres of dry, dense brush. The fire, aided by winds gusting from the west, is advancing toward the 23 Freeway, said Ventura County Fire Capt. Brian McGrath.
The mandatory evacuation area was encompassed by the 118 Freeway to the north, Olsen Road/Madera Road to the south, Madera Road to the east and Highway 23 to the west. A voluntary evacuation order was issued for the area bordered by Highway 23, Moorpark Road, Read Road and East Olsen Road.
A shelter has been set up at the Thousand Oaks Community Center at 2525 N. Moorpark Road.
It is not clear how the fire started.
The blaze is burning near the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. Thick smoke choked the hillside where the large building _ a repository of presidential records from former President Ronald Reagan's administration _ is perched among dense brush. Flames burned on both sides, but the library has not yet sustained damage, officials said.
Video footage from the scene showed wind-whipped flames rapidly consuming a large swath of hillside in the area as residents fled from their homes. All Simi Valley public schools were closed because of the fire.
A second destructive wildfire broke out in the Riverside County town of Nuevo in the 26000 block of Water Avenue shortly after 7 a.m. Cal Fire said multiple structures have been burned and authorities have called for more fire engines to help battle it.
The blaze comes amid dangerous weather conditions and the threat of more blackouts as utility companies attempt to reduce wildfire risk.
In the area of the Easy fire, gusts of about 30 mph from the northeast were reported nearby around 8 a.m., National Weather Service meteorologist Lisa Phillips said.
"We are expecting the winds to strengthen," Phillips said.
Later in the day, the weather service forecast sustained winds of 20-30 mph and gusts of up to 50 mph. They're expected to ease slightly around 4 p.m., with sustained winds 15-25 mph and gusts up to 45 mph.
Relative humidity levels are expected to fall to as low as 4% _ critically dry, parching rain-starved vegetation and making it even more prone to ignition.
Forecasters say the gusty winds will be the strongest to hit the region in recent memory and triggered urgent preparations for more potential fires and evacuations. The winds are expected to continue through Thursday.
"The magnitude of the wind gusts really are going to be a concern," said Daniel Swain, climate scientist with UCLA and the National Center for Atmospheric Research. "The actual winds that people experience really will be quite extreme in a lot of places, really everywhere except for the wind-sheltered parts of downtown L.A. and central L.A."
The forecast of extreme Santa Ana winds prompted Southern California Edison to say it could shut off power to more than 340,000 customers in Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara, San Bernardino and Riverside counties.
To the north, Pacific Gas & Electric Co. said it could shut off power to well over 1 million people in its latest bid to reduce wildfire risk.
The blackout would cover more than two dozen Northern California counties and would come just days after a much larger power shut-off that left more than 2 million people in the dark over the weekend.
Fire danger from power lines was underscored Tuesday when L.A. officials said a Los Angeles Department of Water and Power line hit by a tree branch sparked the Getty fire.
