The Great Smoky Mountain Journal

Staff, Wire Reports

Posted: Sunday, January 21, 2018 07:27 PM

Major Freeway Closed In Southern California As Wildfires Rage

VENTURA, Calif. (FNC) -The relentless wind-whipped wildfires ravaging Southern California are expected to worsen Thursday, as dangerous winds are forecast to fan the flames in different directions and force more evacuations from a region where more than 200,000 people have already fled.

Winds on Thursday morning topped 50 mph in the greater Los Angeles area, keeping residents across the region wary after seeing nearly 200 homes and buildings destroyed since the fires broke out late Sunday.

“We are in the beginning of a protracted wind event,” Ken Pimlott, director of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, told the Los Angeles Times. “There will be no ability to fight fire in these kinds of winds.”

The Skirball Fire, which erupted Wednesday morning, has burned about 500 acres so far near large estates in the ritzy Bel-Air neighborhood of Los Angeles and is only five percent contained.