Thousands evacuate as wildfires rage outside Los Angeles and Reno

FRANCE 24 English

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00:00It's all hands on deck to control the blaze that is tearing through the San Bernardino

00:05forest east of Los Angeles.

00:08Dubbed the Line Fire, the flames were sparked following several days of triple-digit temperatures

00:13and prompted the evacuation of over 6,000 residents in the mountain areas.

00:17However, some are still resisting the call to leave.

00:21We're kind of waiting to see if we're going to leave or not.

00:24If the air quality stays the way it is and we don't see the flames coming over the ridge,

00:29we'll probably stay.

00:30Temperatures from the Line Fire are so high they are generating lightning strikes and

00:34gusts of wind.

00:36Furthermore, the firefighters are struggling to contain the flames, in part due to the

00:41challenging terrain.

00:43The terrain is very difficult terrain, some inaccessible areas for the crews to reach

00:47to be able to fight this fire aggressively and safely.

00:52Firefighters we had three injuries but those firefighters now are safe and they're at home

00:58and expected to make a full recovery.

00:59Cool weather is expected from Tuesday, which local authorities hope to use to gain the

01:04upper hand on the blaze.

01:06Meanwhile in Orange County, 1,000 personnel have been deployed and are using bulldozers,

01:11helicopters and airplanes to control another rapidly spreading wildfire which broke out

01:16close to an airfield on Monday.

01:18The fire spread to about 8 square kilometres in only a few hours and had charred more than

01:2321 square kilometres by Monday night.

01:27The blazes are just two of several wildfires burning across the west of the US, including

01:32in Idaho, Oregon and Nevada, spurred by the summer heat waves.

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