SHOTLIST:

Chico, California - 13 June 2008

1. Wide of smoke rising in the distance

2. Mid of smoke

3. Road closed, smoke in distance, pan to traffic and fire trucks driving on highway

4. Mid of a sign reading (English) "Closed, All Roads To Paradise"

5. Wide of a church being used as a shelter for fire evacuees

6. board showing the (English) "Shelter Rules"

7. SOUNDBITE: (English) Brenda Morris, American Red Cross shelter manager:

"Right now we have about 150 people here at the shelter. We have people with some special needs, elderly people. Everybody in the community is doing really well, helping donate."

8. People at the check-in are of the shelter

9. SOUNDBITE: (English) Loretta Olesky, Paradise Resident:

"Oh, it's outrageous. It's something that we thought might happen one day, but we didn't think it was going to be here."

10. Tracking shot of fire trucks lined up to help in the firefighting effort

11. Prisoners brought in to help fight the fires walking in a line under police supervision

12. Various of prisoners walking in line

13. Mid of fire vehicle

14. Wide "Butte College" sign, where a firefighting command post has been set up

15. Fire fighter walking into temporary bathroom

16. Wide of tents set up for firefighters to sleep in

STORYLINE:

Firefighters on Friday were battling several wildfires across Northern California, with one wind-whipped blaze in Butte County destroying at least 20 homes and forcing thousands of residents to flee.

Authorities in Butte County closed all roads to Paradise, a town of about 30-thousand residents some 90 miles north of Sacramento, and ordered nine-thousand residents to leave their homes.

An evacuation shelter was set up in nearby Chico.

A woman, whose identity was not immediately released, suffered a heart attack during the evacuation and died, said Ruben Grijalva, director of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

It's the only fatality associated with Northern California fires this month.

The fire, which started on Wednesday, had grown to more than 20-thousand acres and threatened 4,600 structures, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

Twenty homes were confirmed to be destroyed, but officials said that number likely could double once crews were able to better assess the damage.

More than 1,500 firefighters were trying to contain the blaze, which was only 16 percent contained by Friday morning.

Fed by strong, erratic winds on Thursday, the fire spread to the hills of the Butte College campus, where officials had set up an incident command centre, said Cal Fire spokesman Joshpae White.

Firefighters, however, needed to move quickly.

Winds from the southwest were expected to pick up in the afternoon, which could push the flames closer to Paradise, said White, who was one of the firefighters injured a day earlier.

In recent days, hot temperatures, steady winds and tinder-dry vegetation have fuelled a series of destructive blazes from Butte County to the San Francisco Bay area to the Los Padres National Forest.

But 900 firefighters in Santa Cruz County caught a break Friday as cooler temperatures and increased cloud cover helped them battled a wildfire that had destroyed at least 10 homes in the Bonny Doon community, according to Cal Fire.

It was 25 percent contained on Friday morning and had scorched 600 acres.

More than 1,500 residents have been told to evacuate their homes in the heavily forested hills about 10 miles northwest of Santa Cruz since the fire broke out Wednesday afternoon.

California State Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency in Santa Cruz County early on Thursday to free up additional firefighting resources.

He declared one in Butte County late on Wednesday.

SHOTLIST:

1. Smoke plume rising from fire zone along ridge line

2. Fire and smoke

3. Close shot of fire

4. Wide shot of fire and smoke

6. Mid shot of fires

7. Firefighters dousing burned out area with water

8. Wide shot of horses in ranch compound near burned out area

9. SOUNDBITE: (English) Connie Collins, Resident:

"If you picture the world ending, this is what it looks like. It just come around the corner - smoke, flames - just fire department, everything. You're thinking, god I hope everybody gets their animals out, everybody gets themselves out. And it was just absolutely.... horrific."

10. Burned out area

11. Downed power lines

12. Worker on power line tower

13. Water dropping aircraft flying overhead

14. Fire fighters inspecting burn zone

15. SOUNDBITE: (English) Captain Vince Agapito, Firefighter:

"A lot of this fuel has not been burned for a long time. Drought puts a stress on the fuel which causes a lot of downed dead fuel. And so we have this mixture and it's creating a bunch of problems. In addition to that we have a nice, I shouldn't say nice, but we have an extremely hot, dry summer and when you have fuels and weather mixed like that if there's a fire then it really gets erratic and hot."

16. Burned out area

17. Brush fire

18. Burn zone

STORYLINE

Firefighters continued to battle patches of wildfire burning in rural areas 60 miles (96 kilometres) northeast of Los Angeles on Wednesday.

So far, the Crown Fire has burned across more than 10,000 acres (4,047 hectares) after erupting late on Tuesday and raging through the area during the night.

About 2,000 firefighters were battling the blaze that was about 25 per cent contained by Wednesday morning.

So far officials say the Crown Fire has destroyed a mobile home, an abandoned house and bridge.

Meanwhile, firefighters have gained the upper hand on two other large wildfires in the area, allowing weary crews to be transferred to the Crown Fire.

The area is thick with thousands of dead juniper and pine trees that were ravaged by six years of drought and an infestation of bark beetles.

Winds gusting up to 25 miles per hour (40 kilometres per hour) and temperatures in the high 90s degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius) pushed flames past ranch homes between Acton and Palmdale California, about 60 miles (96.56 kilometres) north of downtown Los Angeles.

The hot, dry weather has helped spread a series of southern California fires in the past week.

Threatened communities have so far avoided the large-scale loss of homes that occurred during wildfires last fall (autumn), but officials warned that the fire season is young.

SHOTLIST:

1. Wide pan of street with thick smoke in background

2. Helicopter dropping water on fire

3. Resident standing on roof of house

4. Wide shot of residents battling flames with garden hoses

5. Various of residents using garden hoses to battle flames

6. SOUNDBITE (English): Eric Bruton, resident:

"They haven't been able to bring in any fire crews but the helicopters are doing a really good job knocking it down. So we're just trying to keep the hillside wet so we can keep it away from the houses which are right here about 50 feet (15 metres) away."

7. Helicopter dumping water on fire

8. Group of residents watching fire

9. SOUNDBITE (English): Wendy Kuns, resident:

"Well I woke up around five o'clock this morning and I smelt smoke. I live on a street a couple of streets over and the fire trucks started showing up and the helicopters but they contained it over in our area. So then I went up higher to help the people that were in jeopardy and we've been wetting down their houses."

10. Wide pan of house and smoke behind

11. Various of firefighter with hose

12. SOUNDBITE (English): Tom Weathersby, resident:

"Well, the most intense part was when a neighbour said the eucalyptus trees were on fire, and that's when I kind of freaked out. But it was a false alarm. It didn't get much closer."

18. Helicopter dumping water on fire

STORYLINE:

Pushed by fierce winds, a wildfire in the US state of California tripled in size to nearly 1,500 acres on Friday and crept toward large hillside homes where residents were told to stand by for possible evacuation.

The blaze was reported around 3:30 am (1130 GMT) in the School Canyon area between Ventura and Ojai, about 60 miles (km) northwest of Los Angeles, fire officials said.

By midmorning, a wall of flames as high as 30 feet (10 metres) snaked along hillsides and thick, black smoke hovered over homes.

In just a few hours, the fire grew from 500 acres to 1,487 acres in the hilly, rocky area containing numerous oil pumps.

Despite strong winds, water-dropping helicopters were called in to assist hundreds of firefighters who were protecting the neighbourhoods.

But the shifting winds and gusts up to 45 mph (72 kph) posed problems for fire crews.

From the air, firefighters could be seen dousing the foliage surrounding some homes as flames closed in.

Most of southern California was under a red flag warning, which advises of warm, windy and dry conditions that could lead to explosive fire growth.

SHOTLIST:

1. Wide shot of helicopter dropping water on fire zone

2. Brush fire area

3. Wide shot of helicopter dropping water on fire zone

4. Wide shot of firefighters watching water drop

5. Close shot of firefighter

6. Water drop on fire zone

7. Wide shot of helicopter over fire zone

8. SOUNDBITE: (English) Captain Mark Whaling, Los Angeles County fire fighter:

"You have the air show, with the helicopters dropping water or retardant depending upon what's needed at that location. And then you have the hand crews. Hand crews at the top are going to work their way down. We've got hand crews at the bottom. They're going to work their way up and they're hopefully going to pinch it off."

9. Helicopter picking up water

10. Close shot of helicopter carrying water

12. Firefighters

13. Map, pullout to close shot of firefighters

14. Close shot of firefighters discussing firefighting operations

15. Firefighters

16. Fire truck pulling away

17. Wide shot of burned out area

18. Close shot of burnt tyre

19. Wide shot of burned out area

20. SOUNDBITE: (English) Captain Mark Whaling, Los Angeles County fire fighter:

"If that wind comes up it has the potential to blow fire embers down below where the crews are working and cause the fire to flare up again."

21. Close shot of water bucket connected to helicopter being filled in pond

22. Wide shot of helicopter hovering over pond

23. Helicopter flying away

24. Wide shot of homes near fire zone

25. Home near fire zone

26. Wide shot of helicopter dropping water over fire zone

STORYLINE:

Firefighters near Los Angeles used water-dropping helicopters to help beat back a stubborn wildfire burning 30 miles (48 km) north of the city.

Local fire officials say the foothill fire burning near the city of Santa Clarita is now approximately 39 per cent contained, after scorching more than five-thousand acres of parched brush land over the weekend.

More than 1,500 firefighters were battling the foothill fire, with three treated at hospital for minor injuries.

Fire crews were working along a mountain ridge on Monday morning to prevent a flare up along the front lines where the fire was halted.

They were working to save hundreds of homes threatened by the stubborn wildfire that broke out in tinder-dry brush and raced over hillsides and through canyons in northern Los Angeles County.

Although no structures have been lost, nearly 1,600 homes have been evacuated since the fire began on Saturday.

The fire was ignited when a hawk flew into a power line, was electrocuted and its flaming body fell into brush left dry by years of little rain.

The foothill fire was one of several burning across more than 40,000 acres of California from eastern San Diego County to Yosemite National Park.

SHOTLIST

++music/video/performance rights must be cleared++

AP Entertainment

Los Angeles, 24 January 2008

1. Wide Staples Center

2. Medium Staples Center sign

3. Wide musician Garth Brooks at podium

4. Camera operators

5. SOUNDBITE: (English) Garth Brooks/Musician, on why he's raising money for California firefighters:

"I'm from Oklahoma. I know a lot about grass fires. I know a lot about wind and fire. I've never, ever seen wind and fire like I saw on the television, and the fact that these guys are not fighting on a flat surface like we do at home. Just much respect, and these guys need all the help that they can get. So, I feel very lucky to be a part of this."

6. UPSOUND: Brooks presented with hat

7. Camera operators

8. (Reporter: I'm just wondering if preparing for the shows has given you the bug to do more shows. Any kind of plans for that?)

SOUNDBITE (English) Garth Brooks/Musician:

"No, you know, just a quick, quick, rundown -- real quick: 2001 we announced our retirement, delivered our last record. 2005, Wal-Mart found us in our retirement in Oklahoma, wanted to go in the vault. I thought it would be easy. I gotta tell you, it's been the longest two years of my career, because they stuck you back out there and all of a sudden you go, 'I'm competing. My name's on it.' And you start to go to work again. So, it's been really tough, because new stuff is easier to promote than old stuff, so this was twice as hard. We delivered our last piece of project for them this Christmas, '07, promised them that we would support all the way 'til the first of February. So, we're getting ready to now drop off the face of the earth musically. Charity-wise, it never stops. So, with Teammates, you'll see us out and doing stuff for that. So, no, our youngest is 11. So, we've probably got another 10 years. I graduated high school when I was 22. I'm hoping she gets out a little sooner, and then we'll see what happens after that."

9. Wide Brooks on stage.

BROOKS BENEFIT CONCERTS

Garth Brooks has announced a series of five concerts over two days to benefit victims of the 2007 Southern California wildfires.

"I'm from Oklahoma," the country-music superstar said at a press conference Thursday morning at the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles. "I know a lot about grass fires. I know a lot about wind and fire. I've never, ever seen wind and fire like I saw on the television, and the fact that these guys are not fighting on a flat surface like we do at home. Just much respect, and these guys need all the help that they can get. So, I feel very lucky to be a part of this."

All proceeds from the five concerts over two days, "Garth Brooks Live In L.A!" at Staples beginning Friday, Jan. 25, will be donated to an organisation known as the "Southern California 2008 Fire Intervention Relief Effort (F.I.R.E.)." The money will go to agencies helping victims and the first responders of the wildfires in addition to providing financial assistance to California firefighting departments.

To raise his children, Brooks, 45, retired in 2001. But even he admitted you wouldn't know he'd ever stopped working. "In 2005, Wal-Mart found us in our retirement in Oklahoma, wanted to go in the vault. I thought it would be easy. I gotta tell you, it's been the longest two years of my career, because they stuck you back out there and all of a sudden you go, 'I'm competing. My name's on it.' And you start to go to work again. So, it's been really tough, because new stuff is easier to promote than old stuff, so this was twice as hard."

On Nov. 6, 2007, the latest Brooks compilation set, "The Ultimate Hits," was released. At the press conference, it was announced that "Hits" had been certified five-times platinum (for more than 2.5 million units sold).

"We delivered our last piece of project for (Wal-Mart) this Christmas, '07," Brooks continued. "(We) promised them that we would support all the way 'til the first of February. So, we're getting ready to now drop off the face of the earth musically. Charity-wise, it never stops. . . . So, no, our youngest is 11. So, we've probably got another 10 years. I graduated high school when I was 22. I'm hoping she gets out a little sooner, and then we'll see what happens after that."

All five Brooks Staples Center shows sold out in less than an hour, organisers said, noting that was a record. Brooks will perform two shows Friday and three shows Saturday with only about an hour between each performance.

The first hour of the first concert will broadcast live on CBS, with viewers encouraged to call in and make pledges to F.I.R.E.

SHOTLIST:

1. Various of flames and smoke on hillside

2. Wide of heavy smoke and flames on hillside, zoom-in to firefighters' helicopter flying overhead

3. SOUNDBITE: (English) Mark Savage, Fire Information Officer:

"The fire moved aggressively, even more so than even was expected and we've been dealing with some of that. But yesterday, particularly, was a lot of movement of the fire. It actually moved a mile (1.6 kilometres) north in 24 hours, which is well within our containment line, but we had to look at it and take a look and say then 'it is coming faster than we expected so let's put some things into action', it's bumped up our time lines and put us in what we would say is a more aggressive mode."

4. Various of flames on hillside

5. Various of firefighters cutting back excess brush as fire approaches

6. Zoom-out from signs to firefighters

7. Firefighters' truck arriving

8. SOUNDBITE: (English) Mark Savage, Fire Information Officer:

"We wished we had a better weather forecast, but we know that we are going to be challenged in the next few days in those areas, so we really need to get a bigger buffer for us, and that's the plan. But with the fire spotting, it can spot up to a half, to three-quarters of a mile (1.2 kilometres), embers are falling and igniting outside of, in some of our containment lines and some areas, we are able to pick it up with aircraft, but that certainly is a challenge for us as well and it's happening on all areas of the fire."

9. Helicopter dropping water on fire

10. Plane dropping fire retardant on fire

11. Flames and smoke

12. Plane dropping fire retardant

13. Various of homes destroyed by fire

14. Destroyed home with remnants of oven in background

15. Remnants of oven

16. Various of destroyed home

STORYLINE

Cooler weather on Sunday helped US fire crews attacking a two-week-old blaze that has destroyed 22 homes in the tourist town of Big Sur, at the northern end of California's Los Padres forest.

AP Television footage showed firefighters battling the flames from helicopters, planes and from the ground.

Fire Information Officer Mark Savage told AP Television how hard the fire crews have been working against the fire.

"The fire moved aggressively, even more so than even was expected and we've been dealing with some of that. But yesterday, particularly, was a lot of movement of the fire," he said.

"It's bumped up our time lines and put us in what we would say is a more aggressive mode," he added.

Savage explained that the days ahead would still present big challenges for his crews.

"We wished we had a better weather forecast, but we know that we are going to be challenged in the next few days in those areas, so we really need to get a bigger buffer for us, and that's the plan," he said.

Meanwhile, cooler weather gave a boost to crews battling an enormous wildfire on California's central coast that was threatening nearly 2,700 homes.

The four-day-old fire in the Los Padres National Forest near Santa Barbara, which had blackened about 13 square miles (34 square kilometres), spread slightly during the night but firefighting crews were able to keep up with it, a county spokeswoman.

As of Sunday morning, the fire in the area of the town of Goleta was 28 percent contained, the spokeswoman said.

And with lower wind and higher humidity forecast for Sunday, crews were optimistic they could get more acreage under control.

Wildfires have charred more than 800 square miles (2,000 square kilometres) of forest, brush and grass and have destroyed at least 69 homes throughout California, mainly in the northern part of the state, in the past two weeks.

One firefighter died of a heart attack.

According to state forestry officials, at one time there were more than 1,700 active fires, but about 1,400 had been contained, leaving more than 330 still out of control on Sunday morning.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who on Saturday visited a command post in Santa Barbara County, has ordered 400 National Guard troops trained to help fight the blazes.

He also urged lawmakers to adopt his budget plan for a 70 (m) million US dollar emergency surcharge on home and business insurance policies to buy more firefighting equipment.

Nearly 2,700 homes in Santa Barbara County remained under mandatory evacuation orders on Sunday and residents of 1,400 others were warned to be ready to flee.

The fire, fuelled by 15-foot (4.6-metre)-high, half-century-old chaparral, still had the potential to roll through a hilly area of ranches, housing tracts and orchards between the town of Goleta and Santa Barbara, keeping firefighters on their toes.

Investigators think the fire, which began on Tuesday, was human-caused.

California's signature parks along the Big Sur coastline that draw thousands of daily visitors were closed on Tuesday as one of the state's two major wildfires threatened the scenic region at the height of the summer tourism season.

The Big Sur fire threatened a long stretch of pristine, forested mountains hugging the coast and sent smoke billowing over the famed Pacific Coast Highway, which remained open with few if any flames visible to motorists but a risk that the blaze could reach beloved campgrounds, lodges and redwoods near the shore.

The park shutdowns came as a fire that started Friday just north of Big Sur grew Tuesday to 36 square miles (93 square kilometres) but was just 10 percent contained. Twenty homes have burned in the zone, residents of 300 more were ordered to evacuate and more than 2,000 firefighters were trying to douse the blaze.

California's signature parks along the Big Sur coastline that draw thousands of daily visitors were closed on Tuesday as one of the state's two major wildfires threatened the scenic region at the height of the summer tourism season.

The Big Sur fire threatened a long stretch of pristine, forested mountains hugging the coast and sent smoke billowing over the famed Pacific Coast Highway, which remained open with few if any flames visible to motorists but a risk that the blaze could reach beloved campgrounds, lodges and redwoods near the shore.

The park shutdowns came as a fire that started Friday just north of Big Sur grew Tuesday to 36 square miles (93 square kilometres) but was just 10 percent contained. Twenty homes have burned in the zone, residents of 300 more were ordered to evacuate and more than 2,000 firefighters were trying to douse the blaze.

California's signature parks along the Big Sur coastline that draw thousands of daily visitors were closed on Tuesday as one of the state's two major wildfires threatened the scenic region at the height of the summer tourism season.

The Big Sur fire threatened a long stretch of pristine, forested mountains hugging the coast and sent smoke billowing over the famed Pacific Coast Highway, which remained open with few if any flames visible to motorists but a risk that the blaze could reach beloved campgrounds, lodges and redwoods near the shore.

The park shutdowns came as a fire that started Friday just north of Big Sur grew Tuesday to 36 square miles (93 square kilometres) but was just 10 percent contained. Twenty homes have burned in the zone, residents of 300 more were ordered to evacuate and more than 2,000 firefighters were trying to douse the blaze.

Carmel Highlands, California - July 26, 2016

1. Firefighters watch fire on the mountain

2. Flames burning trees and brush

3. Firefighters on watch

4. SOUNDBITE (English) David Seibert, Carmel Valley resident:

"It's pretty devastating. It's got residents on pins and needles to be honest with you. It's over 20,000 acres and it's still going. And it may go for another few weeks. We don't know. There's a lot of uncertainty."

5. Helicopter water tanker in flight

6. Bulldozer and fire engine drive on charred mountain

7. Firefighter walks through burned field of brush

Salinas, California - July 26, 2017

8. SOUNDBITE (English) Richard Cordova, California fire captain

"We're in five-year drought conditions, and vegetation is very dry. Even though we've had rain this past year, it's still not enough to recover from that drought."

Carmel Highlands, California - July 26, 2016

9. Charred bushes with smoke rising behind

10. Fire engine driving through burned landscape

11. Helicopter flies overhead

12. Homes next to rocky coast

13. Jim Newby walks on beach with granddaughter

14. Carmel River state beach sign

15. SOUNDBITE (English) Jim Newby, tourist:

"We wanted to see more of the ocean. We didn't see a whole lot of it unfortunately, and it's a beautiful, beautiful stretch. Like I said, we had travelled it several times before and we wanted to show our grandchildren. They were coming all the way over from Germany, so it was a little disappointing."

Salinas, California - July 26, 2017

16. Gary Helming and other officials give fire update

17. Map showing fire zone

18. SOUNDBITE (English) Gary Helming, US Forest Service fire management officer:

"If the state parks are open, we're going to have an influx of people trying to come in and recreate in those areas. Even though we're having some luck with the fire we still have a fire that's growing exponentially daily. So for public safety and ease of us to do our job, it's just a way for us to control the situation as far as the number of people in the area."

19. Pan of fire trucks at fire base camp

20. Caravan of fire trucks drive by

FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: apus060142

California's signature parks along the Big Sur coastline that draw thousands of daily visitors were closed Tuesday as one of the state's two major wildfires threatened the scenic region at the height of the summer tourism season.

The Big Sur fire threatened a long stretch of pristine, forested mountains hugging the coast and sent smoke billowing over the famed Pacific Coast Highway, which remained open with few if any flames visible to motorists but a risk that the blaze could reach beloved campgrounds, lodges and redwoods near the shore.

The park shutdowns came as a fire that started Friday just north of Big Sur grew Tuesday to 36 square miles (93 square kilometers) but was just 10 percent contained. Twenty homes have burned in the zone, residents of 300 more were ordered to evacuate and more than 2,000 firefighters were trying to douse the blaze.

FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: apus060142

California's signature parks along the Big Sur coastline that draw thousands of daily visitors were closed Tuesday as one of the state's two major wildfires threatened the scenic region at the height of the summer tourism season.

The Big Sur fire threatened a long stretch of pristine, forested mountains hugging the coast and sent smoke billowing over the famed Pacific Coast Highway, which remained open with few if any flames visible to motorists but a risk that the blaze could reach beloved campgrounds, lodges and redwoods near the shore.

The park shutdowns came as a fire that started Friday just north of Big Sur grew Tuesday to 36 square miles (93 square kilometers) but was just 10 percent contained. Twenty homes have burned in the zone, residents of 300 more were ordered to evacuate and more than 2,000 firefighters were trying to douse the blaze.

Carmel Highlands, California - July 26, 2016

1. Firefighters watch fire on the mountain

2. Flames burning trees and brush

Salinas, California - July 26, 2017

3. Gary Helming, U.S. Forest Service fire management officer

"If the state parks are open, we're going to have an influx of people trying to come in and recreate in those areas. Even though we're having some luck with the fire we still have a fire that's growing exponentially daily. So for public safety and ease of us to do our job, it's just a way for us to control the situation as far as the number of people in the area."

Carmel Highlands, California - July 26, 2016

4. Firefighters on watch

5. Fire trucks

6. Fire trucks driving on road

7. Soundbite (English): David Seibert, Carmel Valley resident and artist who hasn't been evacuated but is worried about his home

"It's pretty devastating. It's got residents on pins and needles to be honest with you. It's over 20,000 acres and it's still going. And it may go for another few weeks. We don't know. There's a lot of uncertainty."

8. Dry, burnt hillside

9. Firefighting helicopter

Salinas, California - July 26, 2017

10. Soundbite: Richard Cordova, California fire captain

"We're in five-year drought conditions, and vegetation is very dry. Even though we've had rain this past year, it's still not enough to recover from that drought."

Carmel Highlands, California - July 26, 2016

11. Bulldozers on dry, charred hillside

12. Firefighting helicopter

13. Soundbite: Jim Newby, Phoenix-area tourist who drove along Pacific Coast Highway with family and was disappointed it was so smoky

"We wanted to see more of the ocean. We didn't see a whole lot of it unfortunately, and it's a beautiful, beautiful stretch. Like I said, we had traveled it several times before and we wanted to show our grandchildren. They were coming all the way over from Germany, so it was a little disappointing."

14. Carmel River state beach sign

15. Burnt trees

16. Fire truck in dry, burnt area

California's signature parks along the Big Sur coastline that draw thousands of daily visitors were closed Tuesday as one of the state's two major wildfires threatened the scenic region at the height of the summer tourism season.

The Big Sur fire threatened a long stretch of pristine, forested mountains hugging the coast and sent smoke billowing over the famed Pacific Coast Highway, which remained open with few if any flames visible to motorists but a risk that the blaze could reach beloved campgrounds, lodges and redwoods near the shore.

The park shutdowns came as a fire that started Friday just north of Big Sur grew Tuesday to 36 square miles (93 square kilometers) but was just 10 percent contained. Twenty homes have burned in the zone, residents of 300 more were ordered to evacuate and more than 2,000 firefighters were trying to douse the blaze.

California's signature parks along the Big Sur coastline that draw thousands of daily visitors were closed Tuesday as one of the state's two major wildfires threatened the scenic region at the height of the summer tourism season.

The Big Sur fire threatened a long stretch of pristine, forested mountains hugging the coast and sent smoke billowing over the famed Pacific Coast Highway, which remained open with few if any flames visible to motorists but a risk that the blaze could reach beloved campgrounds, lodges and redwoods near the shore.

The park shutdowns came as a fire that started Friday just north of Big Sur grew Tuesday to 36 square miles (93 square kilometers) but was just 10 percent contained. Twenty homes have burned in the zone, residents of 300 more were ordered to evacuate and more than 2,000 firefighters were trying to douse the blaze.

Carmel Highlands, California - July 26, 2016

1. Firefighters watch fire on the mountain

2. Flames burning trees and brush

3. Firefighters on watch

4. Soundbite: David Seibert, Carmel Valley resident and artist who hasn't been evacuated but is worried about his home

"It's pretty devastating. It's got residents on pins and needles to be honest with you. It's over 20,000 acres and it's still going. And it may go for another few weeks. We don't know. There's a lot of uncertainty."

5. Helicopter water tanker in flight

6. Bulldozer and fire engine drive on charred mountain

7. Firefighter walks through burned field of brush

Salinas, California - July 26, 2017

8. Soundbite: Richard Cordova, California fire captain

"We're in five-year drought conditions, and vegetation is very dry. Even though we've had rain this past year, it's still not enough to recover from that drought."

Carmel Highlands, California - July 26, 2016

9. Charred bushes with smoke rising behind

10. Fire engine driving through burned landscape

11. Helicopter flies overhead

12. Homes next to rocky coast

13. Jim Newby walks on beach with granddaughter

14. Carmel River state beach sign

15. Soundbite: Jim Newby, Phoenix-area tourist who drove along Pacific Coast Highway with family and was disappointed it was so smoky

"We wanted to see more of the ocean. We didn't see a whole lot of it unfortunately, and it's a beautiful, beautiful stretch. Like I said, we had traveled it several times before and we wanted to show our grandchildren. They were coming all the way over from Germany, so it was a little disappointing."

Salinas, California - July 26, 2017

16. Gary Helming and other officials give fire update

17. Map showing fire zone

18. Soundbite: Gary Helming, U.S. Forest Service fire management officer

"If the state parks are open, we're going to have an influx of people trying to come in and recreate in those areas. Even though we're having some luck with the fire we still have a fire that's growing exponentially daily. So for public safety and ease of us to do our job, it's just a way for us to control the situation as far as the number of people in the area."

19. Pan of fire trucks at fire base camp

20. Caravan of fire trucks drive by

Over 1,300 firefighters were battling the so-called Blue Cut fire raging in the San Gabriel Mountains in northern Los Angeles county, California, on Wednesday.

Twelve fixed-wing aircraft and 15 helicopters were assisting firefighting teams in fighting the blaze roaring through the canyons.

Authorities said 82-thousand people were under evacuation warnings but it wasn't immediately clear how many homes were destroyed in the first furious hours of the fires.

Officials estimated that more than 34-thousand homes were in the way of the flames.

According to US Forest Service spokesman Jake Rodriquez the flames were moving east toward Summit Valley and east toward the town of Wrightwood.

The fire erupted late Tuesday morning in Cajon Pass, a critical highway and rail corridor through mountain ranges that separate Southern California's major population centers from the Mojave Desert to the north.

Phelan, California - 17 August 2016

1. Wide of smoke rising into sky from burning forest

2. Various of firefighters hosing down smoldering wreckage of semi-trailer

3. Various of burning structures and smoke

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Jake Rodriguez, US Forest Service spokesman:

"We're going to be up against 'red flag' conditions again today with temperatures in the mid to upper 90s (Fahrenheit, 32 Celsius). We're going to see wind gusts of up to 40 miles (64 kilometres) per hour, low relative humidities in the five percent range. So, again, we're expecting to see some spotting and some more extreme fire activity. We're going to be using the aircraft that are at our resources, as well as the ground troops to try and get a handle on this thing as best as possible."

5. Burning gas line from under water heater

6. Burned out vehicles

7. Pan of destroyed motor shed

8. SOUNDBITE: (English) Jake Rodriquez, US Forest Service spokesman:

"This morning, we're sending our damage assessment teams out into the various areas to initiate the damage assessment process along with sending out cadaver dogs to search and see if there are any who weren't able to escape, who may have perished."

9. Smoldering ruins of farm implement shed

10. Burned out school bus

11. Wide of smoke rising from San Gabriel Mountains

12. Smoke rising from valleys

13. Wide of mountain range and smoke

SHOTLIST

++MUST COURTESY JOSEPH SOUZA++

AP TELEVISION - NO ACCESS NAMERICA/INTERNET

++NIGHT SHOTS++

Santa Barbara, 14 November 2008

1. Various of flames, burning houses and helicopter

AP TELEVISION

Santa Barbara, 14 November 2008

2. SOUNDBITE: (English) Larry Williamson, property damaged by fire:

"And I opened the front door and it was just like a waterfall of fire and sparks coming down. I've never seen anything like it."

3. Various of burnt out car

4. Damaged property

5. Close of flame

6. Various of debris from fire

7. Burnt out car, tilt up to home

8. SOUNDBITE: (English) Kevin Wallace, Montecito Fire District:

"The sundowner winds blew embers all over and it's just something that mother nature is in control and we aren't."

9. Westmont College entrance

10. Burnt out car

11. SOUNDBITE: (English) Jordan Evans, Westmont College Student:

"It was shocking to see the flames right outside the gym, where all of us were huddled in there, it was surprising to see how fire could get that close to us."

12. Wide shot of fire fighters

13. Flames on hillside

14. SOUNDBITE: (English) Chief John Scherrei, Santa Barbara Fire Department:

"I'm surprised we haven't lost 500 homes at this moment, the wind was so strong last night it knocked your door and pinned your door against the car."

15. Fire fighters on hillside

16. Smoke rising

17. Helicopter dropping water on hillside

STORYLINE

US fire officials on Friday said 111 homes had been confirmed destroyed in a celebrity-studded enclave of northern California and that the burned area had expanded to 18-hundred acres (728 hectares).

A Montecito fire spokeswoman said another 15-hundred homes in Montecito were threatened, but that wind conditions in the evening had been relatively mild.

Fierce winds were blamed for fanning the flames that quickly spread across Montecito on Thursday night and into Friday.

The fire began early in the evening on Thursday before it chewed through multi-million US dollars homes whose shattered windows glowed like jack-o-lanterns as they blazed through the night.

Thirteen people were injured in the blaze, which more than one thousand firefighters tried to contain.

A state of emergency was declared in Santa Barbara County and about 54-hundred homes were evacuated in Montecito, a town of 14-thousand where Los Angeles-weary celebrities rub shoulders with friendly locals.

Fuelled by vast stands of oil-rich eucalyptus trees - which exploded when lit - and decades of chaparral and other growth, the fire quickly spread to about 15-hundred acres (607 hectares) - more than two square miles (five square kilometres) - by Friday.

Santa Barbara's county deputy fire chief asked for patience from residents as crews tried to catalogue the devastation in remote hilly areas accessible only by winding roads.

Blistering winds gusting to 70 miles per hour (115 kph), dry brush and oil-rich eucalyptus trees helped turn an ordinary brush fire into an exploding inferno that quickly consumed rows of luxury homes and part of a college, where students spent the night in a gymnasium shelter.

Some one-thousand students were evacuated at Westmont College, a Christian liberal arts school, as another 300 spent the night on cots in the gym.

Wildfires whipped by powerful winds swept through California wine country on Monday, killing at least 10 people and injuring at least 100.

True colour images taken by equipment aboard NASA's Aqua satellite showed columns of smoke from the wildfires clouding the skies over the state.

The flames destroyed 1,500 homes and businesses and sent thousands fleeing, according to authorities.

The fires broke out nearly simultaneously and then exploded overnight, sending residents fleeing as embers rained down and flames raged around them.

Two hospitals in Santa Rosa, the largest city in the region with 175,000 people, were forced to evacuate patients.

Later in the day, fires from ruptured gas lines dotted the smoky landscapes of blackened Santa Rosa hillsides.

The large majority of the injured were treated for smoke inhalation, according to St. Joseph Health, which operates hospitals in the Santa Rosa area.

The number of injured was expected to climb as information comes in for all the other areas affected by the firestorm consuming the state.

The flames were unforgiving throughout Santa Rosa, torching block after block with little to salvage.

Hundreds of homes in the Fountain Grove area were leveled by flames so hot they melted the glass off of cars and turned aluminum wheels into liquid.

The fires throughout the region were among the deadliest in California history, and fire officials expected the number of fatalities to increase.

Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency in Napa, Sonoma, Butte, Lake, Mendocino, Nevada and Yuba counties.

Authorities imposed a sunset-to-sunrise curfew in Santa Rosa, saying they were on the lookout for looters.

NASA - MUST COURTESY NASA

California - 9 October 2017

1. STILLS (2x) Satellite images of smoke from wildfires over California

2. STILL Satellite image of smoke from wildfires, annotated with placenames

Wildfires whipped by powerful winds swept through California wine country on Monday, killing at least 10 people and injuring at least 100.

True colour images taken by equipment aboard NASA's Aqua satellite showed columns of smoke from the wildfires clouding the skies over the state.

The flames destroyed 1,500 homes and businesses and sent thousands fleeing, according to authorities.

The fires broke out nearly simultaneously and then exploded overnight, sending residents fleeing as embers rained down and flames raged around them.

Two hospitals in Santa Rosa, the largest city in the region with 175,000 people, were forced to evacuate patients.

Later in the day, fires from ruptured gas lines dotted the smoky landscapes of blackened Santa Rosa hillsides.

The large majority of the injured were treated for smoke inhalation, according to St. Joseph Health, which operates hospitals in the Santa Rosa area.

The number of injured was expected to climb as information comes in for all the other areas affected by the firestorm consuming the state.

The flames were unforgiving throughout Santa Rosa, torching block after block with little to salvage.

Hundreds of homes in the Fountain Grove area were leveled by flames so hot they melted the glass off of cars and turned aluminum wheels into liquid.

The fires throughout the region were among the deadliest in California history, and fire officials expected the number of fatalities to increase.

Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency in Napa, Sonoma, Butte, Lake, Mendocino, Nevada and Yuba counties.

Authorities imposed a sunset-to-sunrise curfew in Santa Rosa, saying they were on the lookout for looters.

NASA - MUST COURTESY NASA

California - 9 October 2017

1. STILLS (2x) Satellite images of smoke from wildfires over California

2. STILL Satellite image of smoke from wildfires, annotated with placenames

Top Trump administration officials toured the fire-ravaged town of Paradise, where they met with local officials and pushed for more aggressive forest management to lessen the damage of increasingly fierce wildfires.

U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue were in the town of Paradise on Monday. Zinke said he has never witnessed such devastation, and costs associated with a deadly Northern California wildfire will likely be in the billions.

The Camp Fire killed at least 88 people and destroyed nearly 14,000 homes in the town of Paradise and surrounding communities. It was fully contained over the weekend after igniting more than two weeks ago.

The U.S. government has distributed more than $20 million in assistance for people displaced by the catastrophic wildfire in Northern California, a Federal Emergency Management Agency official said Monday as hundreds of searchers kept looking for more human remains.

FEMA spokesman Frank Mansell told The Associated Press that $15.5 million has been spent on housing assistance, including vouchers for hotel rooms. During an interview in the city of Chico, he said disaster response is in an early phase but many people will eventually get longer-term housing in trailers or apartments.

FEMA also has distributed $5 million to help with other needs, including funeral expenses, he said.

About 17,000 people have registered with the federal disaster agency, which will look at insurance coverage, assets and other factors to determine how much assistance they are eligible for, Mansell said.

Meanwhile, the list of people who are unaccounted for has dropped from a high of 1,300 to the "high 200s" Monday, Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said. He said the number of volunteers searching for the missing and dead has been reduced to about 200 Monday from 500 Sunday after many of those reported missing were found over the weekend.

Secretary Perdue suggested donating timber from the nearby Plumas National Forest to rebuild Paradise.

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Magalia, California - 26 November 2018

1. U.S. Secretaries Perdue and Zinke listen to forest service official

2. Perdue, Zinke and other officials on tour of area not badly damaged by wildfires

Paradise, California - Nov. 26, 2018

3. SOUNDBITE (English) Ryan Zinke, U.S. Interior Secretary

"Let's work on making sure this doesn't happen again. It's just unsustainable. The president was here. He's engaged on it. And obviously we're here because the president's priority is, let's fix it."

4. Burned ruins of buildings in business district of Paradise

5. SOUNDBITE (English) Ryan Zinke, U.S. Interior Secretary

"In my mind no doubt the temperatures are getting hotter, the season is getting longer. We're in drought conditions with the moisture content is much lower because of the drought. Now taking that as a backdrop, it doesn't relieve you of the responsibility to do what you can to mitigate the fires. And mitigating the fires is prescribed burns late in the season, removing the fuel loads. Getting diseased timber earlier rather than having millions of acres with disease and dead and dying trees"

6. Burned ruins of buildings in business district of Paradise

Magalia, California - Nov. 26, 2018

7. Perdue, Zinke and other officials on tour of area not badly damaged by wildfires

Paradise, California - Nov. 26, 2018

8. SOUNDBITE (English) Sonny Perdue, U.S. Agriculture Secretary:

"Someone did mention that there's an awakening. I think some of the people that have litigated against good forest management techniques are now saying that the pristine forest that they imagine are no longer pristine, when they're burned. And that's the we can see well groomed, well manage forests, protect and prohibit and preclude the type of devastation we see here."

9. Perdue, Zinke meet with local, state and federal officials in Paradise

10. Burned storefront in Paradise business district

11. SOUNDBITE (English) Sonny Perdue, U.S. Agriculture Secretary

"It's not clear cutting. It's coming in and thinning those forests. Logging has become a pejorative term of just massive hillsides of clearcutting and that's not what we're talking about. That's not what reducing fuel load is all about. We're talking about commonsense provisions of prescribed burning at the right times and coming and reducing all this chaparral and fuel load on the ground so you don't have these fires of rage."

12. Perdue shaking hands with locals

Culver City, California, 10 November 2018

1. Tilt up of Guest of Honor Amy Adams on red carpet

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Amy Adams, Actress on wildfires in Southern California:

"Thankfully it's not affected me personally, it's affected people I know and my thoughts are with them but we have not been in the path of the fire."

3. SOUNDBITE (English) Jennifer Garner, Actress on how she talks to her kids about wildfires:

"Kids are so wise, sometimes you feel like they're explaining it to you. But you just tell them they're safe, and there are a lot of helpers in the world, and you gaze toward light."

4. Medium of Olivia Munn posing

5. SOUNDBITE (English) Olivia Munn, Actress on wildfires:

"(Coughs) Well I live near Griffith Park so there was the other fire over there. (Reporter: The zoo?) Right. So, That's in my air and the smoke, and I've had this cough now because I was like right next to it. But then, you know, with the big fires, thankfully that's not close to my home but I have a lot of friends who are there."

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Jenna Dewan, Actress on helping others affected by wildfires:

"So we're opening our doors, or staying with friends, we're helping out with meals, we're doing whatever we can to you know, be there, which is what we have to do when there is something you can plan for it and there's a disaster such as this, you all have to come together that's what life is."

7 . SOUNDBITE (English) Amy Adams, Actress on balancing charity, work and family:

"Well I think that one of the best things we ways we can give back is with time. Our investment of time is so important and it's just one of my priorities."

8. Wide of Darren Le Gallo, Amy Adams, Sam Taylor-Johnson and husband Aaron Taylor-Johnson posing for pictures

Layna Rivas returned to her home Thursday to find nothing but smoldering rubble after a massive Northern California wildfire burned across her property, killing her chickens and snatching her dream of creating an artists' community in the mountains.

Thousands of people have been driven from their homes by the blaze that has chewed through more than 100 square miles of dry brush and trees.

The flames mowed down some properties and left others untouched near Clearlake Oaks, California, about 100 miles north of San Francisco.

Forty-three homes have been destroyed with 13,000 people ordered or warned to evacuate.

"It's hard to know what's the sign or what sign to look for, what's it all mean?" Rivas wondered as she picked through the rubble of her home that she was turning into a retreat for artists and musicians. "It rages one side and rages here and takes away your home and not another home and it's hard, it's hard to decipher all that but just going to have to keep going with the grace of God."

Firefighters had the blaze at least 40 percent contained by late Thursday. It is the largest of 23 fires statewide and takes up nearly a third of the 10,000 firefighters dispatched in drought-stricken California.

Layna Rivas returned to her home Thursday to find nothing but smoldering rubble after a massive Northern California wildfire burned across her property, killing her chickens and snatching her dream of creating an artists' community in the mountains.

Thousands of people have been driven from their homes by the blaze that has chewed through more than 100 square miles of dry brush and trees.

The flames mowed down some properties and left others untouched near Clearlake Oaks, California, about 100 miles north of San Francisco.

Forty-three homes have been destroyed with 13,000 people ordered or warned to evacuate.

"It's hard to know what's the sign or what sign to look for, what's it all mean?" Rivas wondered as she picked through the rubble of her home that she was turning into a retreat for artists and musicians. "It rages one side and rages here and takes away your home and not another home and it's hard, it's hard to decipher all that but just going to have to keep going with the grace of God."

Firefighters had the blaze at least 40 percent contained by late Thursday. It is the largest of 23 fires statewide and takes up nearly a third of the 10,000 firefighters dispatched in drought-stricken California.

AP TELEVISION

Clearlake Oaks, California – August 6, 2015

1. Layna Rivas walks on her property where she lived and had been creating an artists community in the mountains, pointing out where a music studio once stood with a piano, hoisting piano from ashes

2. Burned rubble of studio building

3. Rivas walks up stairs that now lead to nowhere

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Layna Rivas, lost home to wildfire:

"There was a music studio, made out of straw bale, and the inside was all plaster finished and it even had gold lining in it. A beautiful baby grand sat right in the middle overlooking this valley and it was beautiful."

5. Various of burned structures, Rivas and friend picking through rubble

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Layna Rivas, lost home to wildfire:

"It's hard to know what's the sign or what sign to look for, what's it all mean? It rages one side and rages here and takes away your home and not another home and it's hard, it's hard to decipher all that but just going to have to keep going with the grace of God."

7. Rivas digging through rubble

8. Various of burned truck on property

9. Rivas walking her property, pointing out where her kitchen had been (UPSOUND: "This was my kitchen … ")

10. Various of rubble that was her kitchen

11. SOUNDBITE (English) Layna Rivas, lost home to wildfire:

"Keep on keepin' on, and to all those other families out there, my heart goes out to you, as well. We feel you. We are all in this together."

12. Rivas and friend walking on rubble of home

Top Trump administration officials toured the fire-ravaged town of Paradise, where they  met with local officials and pushed for more aggressive forest management to lessen the damage of increasingly fierce wildfires.

U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue were in the town of Paradise on Monday. Zinke said he has never witnessed such devastation, and costs associated with a deadly Northern California wildfire will likely be in the billions.

The Camp Fire killed at least 88 people and destroyed nearly 14,000 homes in the town of Paradise and surrounding communities. It was fully contained over the weekend after igniting more than two weeks ago.

The U.S. government has distributed more than 20 million US dollars in assistance for people displaced by the catastrophic wildfire in Northern California, a Federal Emergency Management Agency official said Monday as hundreds of searchers kept looking for more human remains.

FEMA spokesman Frank Mansell told The Associated Press that 15.5 million US dollars has been spent on housing assistance, including vouchers for hotel rooms. During an interview in the city of Chico, he said disaster response is in an early phase but many people will eventually get longer-term housing in trailers or apartments.

FEMA also has distributed 5 million US dollars to help with other needs, including funeral expenses, he said.

About 17,000 people have registered with the federal disaster agency, which will look at insurance coverage, assets and other factors to determine how much assistance they are eligible for, Mansell said.

Meanwhile, the list of people who are unaccounted for has dropped from a high of 1,300 to the "high 200s" Monday, Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said. He said the number of volunteers searching for the missing and dead has been reduced to about 200 Monday from 500 Sunday after many of those reported missing were found over the weekend.

Secretary Perdue suggested donating timber from the nearby Plumas National Forest to rebuild Paradise.

Magalia, California - 26 November 2018

1. U.S. Secretaries Perdue and Zinke listen to forest service official

2. Perdue, Zinke and other officials on tour of area not badly damaged by wildfires

Paradise, California - Nov. 26, 2018

3. SOUNDBITE (English) Ryan Zinke, U.S. Interior Secretary

"Let's work on making sure this doesn't happen again. It's just unsustainable. The president was here. He's engaged on it. And obviously we're here because the president's priority is, let's fix it."

4. Burned ruins of buildings in business district of Paradise

5. SOUNDBITE (English) Ryan Zinke, U.S. Interior Secretary

"In my mind no doubt the temperatures are getting hotter, the season is getting longer. We're in drought conditions with the moisture content is much lower because of the drought. Now taking that as a backdrop, it doesn't relieve you of the responsibility to do what you can to mitigate the fires. And mitigating the fires is prescribed burns late in the season, removing the fuel loads. Getting diseased timber earlier rather than having millions of acres with disease and dead and dying trees"

6. Burned ruins of buildings in business district of Paradise

7. SOUNDBITE (English) Ryan Zinke, U.S. Interior Secretary

"And on this fire I don't want to ever see a community being shattered like this again. It's unacceptable. It's un-American. And if there is mitigating things we can do to invest. We're just talking about how much it costs. It's going to be billions of dollars."

Magalia, California - Nov. 26, 2018

8. Perdue, Zinke and other officials on tour of area not badly damaged by wildfires

Paradise, California - Nov. 26, 2018

9. SOUNDBITE (English) Sonny Perdue, U.S. Agriculture Secretary:

"Someone did mention that there's an awakening. I think some of the people that have litigated against good forest management techniques are now saying that the pristine forest that they imagine are no longer pristine, when they're burned. And that's the we can see well groomed, well manage forests, protect and prohibit and preclude the type of devastation we see here."

10. Perdue, Zinke meet with local, state and federal officials in Paradise

11. SOUNDBITE (English) Sonny Perdue, U.S. Agriculture Secretary

"We can't stop the fires, but we can prevent the carnage we see in these kinds of fires, and some of the litigation that's occurred has been responsible. We need to reduce the fuel load."

12. Burned storefront in Paradise business district

13 SOUNDBITE (English) Sonny Perdue, U.S. Agriculture Secretary

"It's not clear cutting. It's coming in and thinning those forests. Logging has become a pejorative term of just massive hillsides of clearcutting and that's not what we're talking about. That's not what reducing fuel load is all about. We're talking about commonsense provisions of prescribed burning at the right times and coming and reducing all this chaparral and fuel load on the ground so you don't have these fires of rage."

14. Perdue shaking hands with locals

Officials say progress is being made in some of the largest wildfires burning in Northern California but that the death toll is almost sure to surge.

Fire Chief Ken Pimlott, with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said the number of dead was 26 as of Thursday.

Pimlott said crews made significant progress against blazes in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada and that they were being redirected to wine country.

He says the fires blackening California's wine country are threatening dozens of communities and larger cities and that erratic wind gusts are expected in the area starting Friday.

More than 8,000 firefighters are battling the blazes and additional manpower and equipment was pouring in from across the country and as far as Australia and Canada.

In the hills above Sonoma, peppered with multi-million dollar homes and vineyards, flames danced from tree to tree as fire fighters hurriedly beat them back.

Ally May, who lives near the Sebastiani winery, rushed to pack her and husband's truck with belongings.

Police told homeowners on her block that there was now a mandatory evacuation order.

She said some people are staying but have to tell police why they choose to remain.

"We saw that they were blocking off the street and so we just dashed in to grab some last minute things, that's it," May said

Helicopters carrying water and flame retardant doused fires all day long in the foothills above.

At the same time, firefighters went along meandering roads between the dry chaparral landscape putting out hot spots and creating breaks to prevent an already disastrous situation from spreading.

Sonoma, California – 12 October, 2017

1. Fire truck passing along roadway

2. Various of firefighter spraying water on flames

3. Helicopter flying

4. Helicopter dropping water

5. Various of road block

6. Sculpture in a park (with mask and sign)

7. Close of sign

8. Close of sculpture

9. Local resident Ally May loading up truck

10. Close of water sprinkler on roof

11. SOUNDBITE (English) Ally May, Sonoma resident:

"And when we came back we saw that they were blocking off the street, and so we just dashed in to grab some last minute things, that's it." (Reporter off-camera: You've got the sprinkler going on.) "We've got the sprinkler going on, we just wet down everything and all of our neighbour's stuff that we could reach with our hoses."

12. Sonoma Police officer speaking to residents

13. Various of local resident Darlene Fish outside

14. SOUNDBITE: (English) Darlene Fish, Sonoma resident

"We already moved out a couple of days ago" (Reporter off-camera: How concerned are you….) "Oh we sure don't want to lose our property. we've lived here since 1960. We don't want to lose it, if at all possible."

15. Various of firefighters putting out hotspots

16. Helicopter flying away from pond after loading up with water

Raked by ferocious Santa Ana winds, explosive wildfires northwest of Los Angeles and in the city's foothills burned a psychiatric hospital and scores of homes Tuesday and forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of people.

One of the blazes broke out Monday in Ventura County and grew wildly to more than 70 square miles (180 square kilometers) in a matter of hours, county Fire Chief Mark Lorenzen said. It was fanned by winds clocked at well over 60 mph (96 kph) that grounded firefighting helicopters and planes.

A smaller fire erupted on the northern edge of Los Angeles, threatening the Sylmar and Lakeview Terrace neighborhoods, where residents scrambled to get out as heavy smoke billowed over the city, creating a health hazard for millions of people.

Just weeks ago, wildfires that broke out in Northern California and its famous wine country killed 44 people and destroyed 8,900 homes and other buildings.

Fires aren't uncommon in Southern California this time of year before the winter rains set in, when the vegetation is tinder dry and winds blast the region.

The early official count was that at least 150 structures burned in the Ventura County fire, but it was sure to go higher. Mansions and modest homes alike were in flames. The Vista del Mar Hospital, which treats patients with mental problems or substance abuse, including veterans with post-traumatic stress syndrome, smoldered after burning overnight.

Aerial footage showed dozens of homes in one neighborhood burned to the ground and a large subdivision in jeopardy as the flames spit out embers that could spark new blazes.

More than 27,000 people were evacuated and one firefighter suffered bumps and bruises in a vehicle accident in Ventura County. Authorities initially reported one death, but then retracted that, saying a dead dog but no person was found in an overturned car.

The fire erupted near Santa Paula, a city of some 30,000 people about 60 miles (97 kilometers) northwest of Los Angeles known for its citrus and avocado orchards and farm fields along the Santa Clara River.

Ventura County, Calfornia - December 5, 2017

1. Wide view of home and cars in driveway burning

2. Various of home burning

3. Various of structure burning

4. Close view of firefighter attaching hose to fire hydrant

5. Close view of fire truck

6. Medium view of fire truck

7. Wide view of firefighter spraying water onto structure

8. Close view of firefighter

9. Wide view of firefighters

10. Various of fire damage to structure

11. Wide view of hospital burned (pan)

12. Various of hospital burn damage

13. View from car showing wildfire smoke plume

The same vicious winds that made three Southern California wildfires so destructive are also making the firefight itself more difficult.

The water-dropping planes and helicopters essential to fighting massive fires have been mostly grounded because it's too dangerous to fly in the strong gusts.

Commanders hoped to have them back in the air on Wednesday morning, but all indications are the winds will be whipping then too.

The blazes brought evacuation orders for nearly 200,000 people, destroyed nearly 200 homes and have remained mostly out of control.

A national weather service meteorologist says the winds should slow down some by Wednesday.

Ventura, California - 5 December, 2017

1. Evacuee Margo Eidson with small horses, second woman with dogs

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Margo Eidson, Evacuated from Upper Ojai:

"I have these two dogs plus three more dogs that my husband has right now. And the three horses, the two Minis and Georgia."

3. Eidson with horse

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Margo Eidson, Evacuated from Upper Ojai:

"I saw that it was going down into Santa Paula, but it could also, the winds could change with the Santa Anas very quickly and come west to us because it's done that before and it moves so fast you barely have time to get out."

5. Eidson pets horse

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Todd Derum, California Fire Incident Commander:

"So for tonight what I have to report, a lot of things continue to change with the extreme fire behavior and the predicted winds that we have been experiencing should be continuing. They continue to challenge us. Our fire is over 50,000 acres and still, is still growing. We have a mandatory evacuations in the areas around the entire fire."

7. Evacuees with horse, dogs

8. SOUNDBITE (English) Rich Thompson, National Weather Service Meteorologist:

"We had wind gusts this morning, anywhere from 35 to 50 miles per hour across the fire area. Relative humidity has dropped down anywhere between thee and ten percent. So it's a combination of those gusty Santa Ana winds, and the very low humidity which led to the explosive fire growth which you see now, as the commander said, now over 50,000 acres as we speak. Forecast wise for tonight and tomorrow we're expecting the Santa Ana winds to decrease in intensity, probably looking for gusts around maybe between 20 and 35 miles an hour tonight and tomorrow."

++ENDS ON SOUNDBITE++