Yahoo Finance Firefighters Battle Wildfires Amid Heatwave
A wildfire raging out of control in California is consuming houses like a "freight train", it has been warned.
More than 1,600 firefighters are battling the blaze which has torn through at least 51 square miles of drought-parched canyons, devastating at least 18 homes and threatening thousands more.
With a heatwave set to make conditions even more difficult, Los Angeles County deputy fire chief John Tripp said: "All the experience we've had with fires is out the window."
He described the fire as "consuming houses" like a "freight train".
County fire Chief Daryl Osby added: "For this time of year, it's the most extreme fire behaviour I've seen in my 32-year career".
Helicopters have released fire retardant around the perimeter of the fire in a bid to halt its devastating path.
US Forest Service spokesman Nathan Judy said: "The fire's just doing what it wants right now.
"We have to stick back, let it do what it wants to and attack it where we can."
More than 1,500 homes have so far been evacuated.
One person has already been found dead within the fire zone and his death is being investigated.
Juliet Kinikin lives with her husband and two children in the Sand Canyon area of Los Angeles County told how the family began to panic as the sky became dark and the flames closed in.
"Then we just focused on what really mattered in the house," she said, adding that they had gathered important documents before fleeing with their two dogs and three birds.
About 300 miles up the coast, firefighters are battling a fire spanning more than 17 miles which has already destroyed six homes and is threatening another 1,650.
Santa Clarita, one of the areas in California affected by the fire, was bracing itself for temperatures topping 40C in the coming days.
David Robinson, New Jersey state climatologist at Rutgers University, said the high temperatures are still expected for the next two weeks at least.
However, he also said there was a chance of normal to above normal levels of rain.
