Wildfire forcing evacuation of 25,000 residents.
Two firefighters were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries as they battled the Bond fire, which spread to more than 6,000 acres.
The following written content by Neil Vigdor and Kwame Opam
Exacerbated by wind gusts of up to 70 miles per hour and extremely dry conditions, a fast-moving wildfire spread to more than 6,000 acres in Southern California on Thursday, forcing the evacuation of 25,000 residents, officials said.
Two firefighters with the U.S. Forest Service were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries on Thursday while trying to contain the Bond fire, which had begun the previous night in the Santa Ana Mountains of Orange County, southeast of Los Angeles, the authorities said.
The mountains share the name of the Santa Ana winds, hot winds from the desert that descend on the Pacific Coast area around Los Angeles and often fuel wildfires, according to the National Weather Service. Fire officials attributed the spread of the Bond fire to the winds.
The blaze began as a house fire in Silverado, about 50 miles from Los Angeles, and quickly spread to the surrounding area, fire officials said. The cause was under investigation.
As of 3 p.m. on Thursday, about 25,000 people had been evacuated in several communities northeast of Irvine, according to emergency responders. Because of more accurate mapping, the size of the Bond fire was adjusted to 6,400 from 7,200 acres by early Friday morning, officials said, adding that the fire was 10 percent contained.
“We know that a number of houses have been damaged, potentially destroyed,” Brian Fennessy, the Orange County Fire Authority chief, said during an afternoon news conference. Read more from The New York Times.
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