The wind-fuelled Ventura wildfire has spread across about 10,000 acres in Ventura County, forcing hundreds to evacuate their homes, according to officials.
One person is reportedly killed in a traffic accident on a road closed due to the Ventura wildfire and two buildings are also reported destroyed.
Strong winds are pushing the wildfire southwest toward Santa Paula and Ventura, leading to fresh evacuations and reports of power outages.
Susan Cox, spokeswoman for Southern California Edison said. More than 260,000 people in the two counties were without power.
Terrifying video shows firefighters desperately trying to tackle the wildfire as flames engulf huge areas in eyeshot from residential areas.
Four helicopters attempted to takeoff to tackle the blaze, however, two were forced to land at Santa Paula Airport due to 50-mph winds.
Officials on Twitter said: “Waiting for winds to slow down so we can get back in the fight.”
Ventura County firefighter Jason Hodge said: “We’re really just trying to catch it around the edges and just pinch it off as quickly as possible.
“It’s always difficult and somewhat dangerous to fly at night, so depending on different conditions and the geographic challenges is how they evaluate whether or not they can operate at night.”
Ventura County Fire has drafted in an extra 100 or so extra firefighters in anticipation of strong winds that triggered warnings across Ventura and Los Angeles counties.
Weather officials said those regions could see wind gusts of 50 to 70 mph Monday night into Tuesday.
VCFD PIO has announced that twitter that they expect the Ventura wildfire to “impact the city of Ventura this evening”.