Southern California wildfire forces 60,000 Orange County residents to evacuate

A fast-moving, wind-whipped wildfire forced about 60,000 residents of a Southern California suburb to evacuate on Monday, while huge swaths of the Golden State went without power in an effort to prevent further fires, officials said.

The Silverado Fire had charred at least 2,000 acres in and around the bedroom community of Irvine, about 50 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles, by 11 a.m. PT, the Orange County Fire Authority said.

About 60,000 people in range of the fire were ordered to evacuate.

Unseasonably warm, dry temperatures and high winds throughout California have led to planned power outages to curb the threat of electrical wires sparking wildfires.

About 300,000 homes and business were in the dark on Monday, impacting more than a million Californians, officials said.

This is a developing story, please refresh here for updates.

The Associated Press contributed.

source: nbcnews.com