SAN DIEGO: Unrelenting winds fanned towering flames today in southern California, where hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to flee multiple devastating fires in the Los Angeles area and new outbreaks near San Diego.
Hundreds of structures including multi-million dollar mansions have been destroyed as thousands of firefighters battle wind-fueled wildfires on six different fronts.
Black smoke billowed through the region, gagging residents who ventured outdoors.
Since erupting in Ventura county late Monday, the so- called Thomas fire has ravaged 132,000 acres, an area nearly triple the size of Washington DC.
With gusts of up to 60 miles per hour, the turbulent Santa Ana winds whipped the fire today, spitting embers and creating "extreme fire danger." Despite the fires' intensity, authorities have reported only one fatality so far, an unidentified person whose body found overnight, according to Tim Lohman of the Ventura County Sheriff's Office.
Further south in San Diego county the "Lilac" fire was ballooning at a dangerous rate, charring more than 4,000 acres after igniting Thursday morning and triggering a new wave of evacuations as it encroached on the university town of Santa Barbara.
The plumes of smoke and flame left at least four people in the area injured from burns or smoke inhalation.
Flames also claimed the lives of more than two dozen racehorses after tearing through eight barns at the normally serene San Luis Rey training center, where some 500 horses were stabled, the California Horse Racing Board said in a statement.
Firefighters, meanwhile, got something of a handle on the Skirball fire, which had spewed rivers of flames over 500 acres in the densely populated area of Bel Air, producing apocalyptic scenes as the inferno engulfed entire hillsides.
Multi-million dollar mansions were destroyed in Bel Air, home to many celebrities. Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch has a USD 30 million estate, the Moraga Bel Air Winery, there.
Another Los Angeles county blaze, the Rye fire, has consumed more than 6,000 acres and was 35 per cent contained, while the Creek fire -- the largest wildfire menacing the LA region -- had grown to more than 15,000 acres and devastated some 60 structures, half of them homes.
The Liberty wildfire in Riverside county east of Los Angeles, America's second largest city, has scorched 300 acres and was just five percent contained.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said Thursday that portions of the evacuation zone would soon re-open, but tens of thousands residents in the metropolitican area remain under mandatory evacuation orders.
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) resumed operations at its sprawling campus Friday east of the blaze, as did the acclaimed Getty Center art museum.