Officials in several Southern California counties urged residents to be on watch for fast-spreading blazes, power outages and downed trees during the latest round of notorious Santa Ana winds. Santa Anas are dry, warm and gusty northeast winds that blow ...

Southern California Edison has temporarily shut-off power in high-risk service areas across Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino counties — impacting approximately 38,016

California is bracing for another round of powerful winds that will cause humidity levels to drop and raise the risk of wildfires in much of the state.

A Southern California wildfire has destroyed 132 structures, mostly homes, in less than two days, fire officials said as raging winds were forecast to ease. The fire started on Wednesday morning in Ventura County and has grown to about 32 square miles (83 square kilometres) at 5% containment.

California was lashed by powerful winds Wednesday that fed one fast-moving wildfire near multimillion-dollar properties along the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu while hundreds of residents fled another fire farther north as forecasters warned of the potential for “extreme and life-threatening” blazes.

An out-of-control wildfire fueled by heavy winds was tearing through a community northwest of Los Angeles for a second day Thursday after destroying dozens of homes and forcing thousands of residents to flee when it exploded in size in only a few hours.