Southern Californians weathered a second straight day of devastation yesterday as wind-blasted wildfires destroyed hundreds of homes, shut down major freeways, and forced thousands of residents in the path of flames to flee to safety.
A fire whipped by hurricane-force winds has destroyed 165 houses in the foothills of Los Angeles and was threatening the power supply to the city last night. The wildfire was Los Angeles's most destructive in 10 years, said Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, warning that it could engulf power lines into the city.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency in Los Angeles as Santa Ana winds continued to whip the fires in unpredictable ways.
The Sayre Fire, which started Friday at 10:29 p.m., had jumped I-5 and burned close to 8,000 acres by Saturday night, forcing the closure of I-5 and Interstate 210 and numerous interchanges in the path of destruction.
More than 10,000 people were under orders to evacuate the area around the edge of the San Fernando Valley as the intense blaze continued to spread and firefighters battled to stop it reaching Santa Clarita, a dormitory town of 180,000 people 40 miles from the centre of Los Angeles.
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