Thousands forced to evict following California wildfires

The emergency services in Southern California say they’re fighting a total of eight wildfires.

The worst has been raging unchecked in very dry thick brush .. just north of the city of San Bernadino, driven by strong winds, gusting to over one hundred and ten kilometres an hour.

One thousand firefighters are battling the blaze .. which has been named the Blue Cut fire .. after a trail in a narrow gorge where it started on Tuesday.

The have already destroyed an unknown number of houses near a major road connecting Los Angeles with Las Vegas and officials say more than thirty thousand homes remain under threat.

The road .. Interstate 15 .. was partially closed.

More than eighty thousand people have been told they must leave their homes – a mandatory evacuation.

Mass evacuation amid new California fire https://t.co/RPRFLVGRie

— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) August 17, 2016

Nearly one thousand kilometres northwest of there the authorities say .. the so-called Clayton Fire is now partially contained.

It has destroyed one hundred and seventy five homes and businesses and someone has been arrested and charged with arson over that blaze.

Euronews