A fast-spreading wildfire has caused multiple injuries, forced mandatory evacuations and drawn firefighting planes from as far away as Canada.
The fire started just as a severe heat wave, which is expected to last for several days, hit Southern California.
The Route fire, as it has been named by authorities, began near Castaic, about 40 miles northwest of Los Angeles on Wednesday, Aug. 31 around noon, initially burning about 60 acres, according to Cal Fire data.
By Thursday morning the fire had jumped in size to more than 5,000 acres, almost eight square miles, with 12% containment.
Half a dozen firefighters were taken to hospitals suffering from heat related injuries, the Los Angeles Times reported. Temperatures in the area reached 110 degrees during Wednesday afternoon. In addition, the area is extremely mountainous.
Mandatory evacuations have been ordered in the area.
The fire forced the closure of Interstate Highway 5, the main north-south freeway in the state for several hours, prompting detours of hundreds of miles. Some lanes of the freeway had reopened in each direction as of Thursday morning.
Social media showed planes from as far away as Quebec, Canada were brought in to fight the blaze.
California and much of the western U.S. are expected to see severe hot weather through the Labor Day weekend with temperatures expected to exceed 100 degrees in much of Southern California.
California's electrical grid operator has ordered a Flex Alert for Thursday, calling for voluntary electricity conservation "due to continuing extreme temperatures pushing up energy demand and tightening available power supplies."
Wildfires are a common occurrence throughout California during summer and fall. In recent years they have been made more intense because of sustained drought conditions that have dried out trees and ground cover in much of the state.
