Thousands are on wildfire evacuation orders in LA
- 00:01:37
- ITN
Thousands are on wildfire evacuation orders in LA
Thousands of Southern Californians have returned home to find their houses burned to the ground after a firestorm swept through the part of the state. Officials have begun lifting evacuation orders for more than half the estimated 50,000 people who fled at the height of the fires but firefighters said it would take days to extinguish all the blazes. Brittney Fowler, 23, from Orange County said: "It was really hard when we first got here. It was shocking. We were all crying." Arnold Caudill, 69, had to bury two of his five cats in the backyard of his fire-ravaged home in Yorba Linda. He said: "There's not a whole lot to save. All of our mementos are melted. "This big wall of flames came right over the house and before you knew it, the flames were in our face." Wildfires have scorched more than 20,000 acres since Thursday night in foothills north of Los Angeles, in Orange County canyons to the south-east, and Montecito near Santa Barbara, to the north. Hot winds and record temperatures are forecast to ease off but several fires are still burning. Mobile homes, apartments and multimillion dollar mansions were among the estimated 1,000 homes destroyed. No deaths or major injuries have been reported and the cause of the fires was not known.
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