Authorities in Southern California ordered the evacuation of 82,000 people on Tuesday after a wildfire broke out in a mountain pass and rapidly engulfed 15,000 acres (6,000 hectares) of terrain.
Officials said about 700 firefighters were battling to control the blaze in an area called the Cajon Pass, the latest in a series of wildfires that have blackened nearly 300,000 acres (120,000 hectares) of the drought-parched U.S. West.
"It is a very fast-moving fire; it has wind behind it," said U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Lyn Sieliet.