LOS ANGELES (AP) A new large wildfire broke out today in Southern California amid gusty winds, forcing the evacuation of the Ronald Regain Presidential Library and nearby homes.
The brush fire started just before dawn in the Simi Valley area north of Los Angeles, Ventura County officials said.
They tweeted that the fire was large without providing details on its size and said it was burning between the cities of Simi Valley and Moorpark. Officials did not immediately say how many people were subject to evacuation orders.
Meanwhile, frustration and anger mounted across Northern California as Pacific Gas & Electric Co., the states largest utility, began the third round of sweeping blackouts in a week aimed at preventing its electrical equipment from being fouled by wind-whipped branches or toppling and sparking wildfires.
PG&E said Tuesdays blackouts would affect about 1.5 million people in some 30 counties including the Sierra foothills, wine country and San Francisco Bay Area. They included 1 million still without power from a shut-off over the weekend.
With no electricity for the fourth straight day, chef and caterer Jane Sykes realized she would have to throw out $1,000 worth of food, including trays of brownies, cupcakes and puff pastry.
She also had little hope of getting a good nights sleep there was no way to run the machine she relies on to counter her apnea.
I dont think PG&E really thought this through, she lamented.
PG&E officials said they understood the hardships caused by the safety blackouts but continued to insist they were necessary.
In wine country north of San Francisco, firefighters coped gusts while tackling a wildfire that has burned 86 homes and charred an area more than twice the size of San Francisco. About 90,000 buildings remained threatened. More than 150,000 people were under evacuation orders.
Winds topped out at 70 mph (112 kph) north of San Francisco Bay and began to ease early Wednesday, but forecasters said fire danger would remain because of continuing breezes and very dry air.
In Southern California, Santa Ana winds developed more slowly Wednesday than expected but were topping 50 mph (80 kph) in some areas before dawn.
The National Weather Service said the strongest winds were to the west of the section of Los Angeles where a wildfire destroyed a dozen homes on Monday.
About 9,000 people, including Arnold Schwarzenegger and LeBron James, remained under evacuation orders.
That fire was caused when a dry branch from a eucalyptus tree was flung 30 feet (9 meters) by high winds into a city Department of Water and Power line, which short-circuited and sparked, the utility and Fire Department announced Tuesday.
