About 60,000 residents of the city of Irvine, in Orange County, in the southwest of the US state of California, are being evacuated due to a wildfire that broke out on Monday.
Over 200 acres of land has already gone up in flames in just a few hours, local authorities report, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The fire is threatening parts of the city of Irvine, which is home to approximately 210,000 people, according to the latest 2010 census. Strong wind ensures that the fire can spread very quickly.
How the fire originated is still unclear.
California has been hit hard this year by wildfires that burned some 1.6 million acres of nature and reduced buildings to ashes.
A record amount of $ 229 million (195 million euros) in damage was done.