Evacuation orders have been given to 13,000 people in California as fire-fighters struggle to contain some 20 wildfires.
According to state fire officials, fire-fighters worked on Monday, in steep terrain and other rugged conditions to fight California’s rocky fire, one of nearly two dozen wildfires that have torched more than 134,000 acres of the parched state this year.
On Monday afternoon, the fire jumped a highway that had been containing it.
At least 24 homes were destroyed as the blaze was whipped up by winds that fuelled the flames.
The fire, which is in Lake Yolo and Colusa counties northwest of Sacramento, was 12 per cent contained, the agency said.
“This has been a very fast-moving wildfire, with the dry conditions and the weather not really cooperating with us over the past week,” Cal Fire spokesman, Daniel Berlant told CNN.
More than 6,000 properties currently lie in the path of the flames.
Four years of drought in the western US have left the landscape tinder dry. Coupled with unseasonably humid conditions, lightning strikes and gusting winds, this has posed a severe challenge for fire fighters and water-dropping aircraft.
While some progress has been reported in tackling the blazes, partially due to a slight fall in temperatures, there is no rain forecast.
