Multiple wildfires in Southern California have burned a combined 20,000 acres, forced more than 1,000 evacuations over the weekend and, according to the California Highway Patrol, briefly shut down Interstate 5 on Sunday night.
The Lost Hills fire, in Kern County, had burned about 500 acres by Sunday night and was zero percent contained, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
Several fires that broke out in Kern and San Luis Obispo counties on Saturday were blamed on critical weather conditions and dry lightning over the weekend, Kern County officials said in a statement. The National Weather Service’s Los Angeles bureau said on Saturday that the heat wave scorching the Western United States would increase the risk of fire, and that “any new fire will grow very quickly.”
One fire started on Saturday in Tejon Ranch, a well-known, 270,000-acre private property in Kern County, and by Sunday night had burned about 9,950 acres and was 40 percent contained, officials said. The blaze, known as the Rancho fire, has forced the evacuation of more than 1,000 people from the nearby Stallion Springs and Bear Valley Springs communities, the Kern County Fire Department said.
About 20 miles away, the White fire, which began just before noon on Saturday near the community of Twin Lakes, has burned over 5,000 acres, according to Cal Fire, and led to 30 evacuations, the Kern County Fire Department said. It was 10 percent contained on Sunday afternoon.
In neighboring San Luis Obispo County, the Hurricane fire has burned about 12,678 acres and was about 20 percent contained on Sunday afternoon, according to Cal Fire.
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