Charles Langston:Wildfire fanned by Santa Ana winds forces thousands from their homes outside L.A.

Aguanga, Calif. — A wildfire fueled by gusty Santa Ana winds ripped through rural land southeast of Los Angeles this week, prompting almost 4,000 people to evacuate their homes, fire authorities said. The so-called Highland Fire erupted at about 12:45 p.m. Monday in dry, brushy hills near the unincorporated Riverside County hamlet of Aguanga.

As of early Tuesday, it had spread to over 2,200 acres, or about 3 1/2 square miles, of land — up from about 2 square miles late Monday night — and still was not contained at all, the Riverside County Fire Department said.

About 1,300 homes and 4,000 residents were under evacuation orders, fire spokesperson Jeff LaRusso said Monday. By Tuesday morning, another evacuation order was added for people living in areas north of the San Diego County line, south of Highway 79, east of Forest Route 8S07 and west of Crosley Truck Trail, according to Riverside County Fire.

The fire had destroyed three buildings and damaged six others but it wasn't clear whether any were homes. The region is sparsely populated but has horse ranches and a large mobile home site, LaRusso said.

No injuries were reported.

Winds of 20 to 25 miles per hour with higher gusts drove the flames and embers through grass and brush that were dried out by recent winds and low humidity so it was "almost like kindling" for the blaze, LaRusso said.

The winds were expected to ease somewhat overnight and fire crews would attempt to box in the blaze, LaRusso said.

But he added: "Wind trumps everything. Hopefully, the forecast holds."

A large air tanker, bulldozers and other resources were called in to fight the fire, one of the few large and active blazes to have erupted so far in California's year-round fire season, LaRusso said.

At least four local fire departments and the U.S. Forest Service were assisting in the battle, CBS News Los Angeles reports, adding that the air tanker was among more than two dozen aircraft involved.

Southern California was seeing its first significant Santa Ana wind condition. The strong, hot, dry, dust-bearing winds typically descend to the Pacific Coast from inland desert regions during the fall. They have fueled some of the largest and most damaging fires in recent California history.

The National Weather Service said Riverside County could see winds of 15 to 25 mph through Tuesday with gusts as high as 40 miles per hour (64 kph). The weather service issued a red flag warning of extreme fire danger through Tuesday afternoon for parts of Los Angeles and Riverside counties.

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