California Wildfires Update: Easy Fire Erupts Outside Los Angeles, Over 700,000 Customers Could Lose Power

Another brush fire has broken out near Los Angeles on Wednesday, adding to the wildfires already raging across California.

The brush fire broke out in Simi Valley by northwestern Los Angeles around 6 a.m. Wednesday morning, quickly engulfing the area in flames. It has since been tagged as the Easy Fire and burned through 1,300 acres by 10 a.m. behind winds from Santa Ana. It has reportedly put 6,500 homes in the area at risk, along with Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

“Right now we have all of our crews and engine companies that will be down of Tierra Rejada,” Ventura County Fire Capt. Dan Arnold told Los Angeles CBS-affiliate, KCBS. “We have homes that are directly impacted that are requiring immediate structure defense.”

Local fire departments have ordered mandatory evacuations of the area. “We’ve evacuated everybody from the library and all the structures down below,” Arnold said.

An “extreme red flag warning” was also put into effect for Southern California due to a combination of extreme winds and wildfires. Gusts have been reported to be nearly 80 mph for areas of Los Angeles and Venture counties, which officials fear would cause the Getty Fire to spread.

“This all adds up to an extreme fire weather threat, meaning that conditions are as dangerous for fire growth and behavior as we have seen in recent memory,” the National Weather Service posted on its official website.

As a precaution, the Southern California Edison warned that it could possibly shut down power to over 300,000 customers. Pacific Gas & Electric also said it cut services to over 430,000 customers across Northern California.