Hundreds of firefighters battled a series of southern California wildfires Thursday that have burnt at least thirty homes and forced the evacuation of the San Onofre nuclear power plant; dpa reported. According to Cal Fire, the state firefighting authority, the wind-whipped blazes have burnt more than 3,600 hectares since igniting Wednesday in record high temperatures for this early in the year. Huge clouds of black smoke hung over much of San Diego County where the worst blazes were burning Thursday, driven by the hot Santa Ana winds which blow strong gusts in from the desert. "In San Diego County, what we're experiencing over the last several days is high temperatures, low humidity and very high winds. That's a weather pattern that we usually see in the fall," Cal Fire spokesman Daniel Berlant said at a press conference. "All it took was the spark of a fire." The Los Angeles Times reported that non-essential employees were evacuated from the nuclear facility south of Los Angeles due to a nearby brush fire. The plant has been offline since 2012 and there was no safety threat to the power station, officials said. The destroyed homes were in the community of Carlsbad, an affluent coastside town just north of San Dego, where more than 15,000 people were forced to evacuate. -- SPA 21:06 LOCAL TIME 18:06 GMT تغريد
