New blaze erupts in wildfire-plagued southern California

Firefighters were providing structure protection as helicopters flying in darkness made water drops on the flames on the east side of the pass.

Hundreds of homes burned in the area during the famous Bel Air Fire of 1961.

The Getty Centre art complex, on the west side of the pass, employs extensive fire protection methods.

Elsewhere, use of firefighting aircraft has been constrained by the same winds that have spread the fires.

The water-dropping planes and helicopters essential to taming and containing wildfires have been mostly grounded because it is too dangerous to fly them in the strong wind.

Tuesday saw gusts of more than 50mph.

Commanders hoped to have them back in the air on Wednesday, but all indications were that the winds will be whipping then too, fanning the flames that spurred evacuation orders for nearly 200,000 people, destroyed nearly 200 homes and remained mostly out of control.

"The prospects for containment are not good," Ventura County fire chief Mark Lorenzen said. "Really, Mother Nature’s going to decide when we have the ability to put it out."

Southern California’s Santa Ana winds have long contributed to some of the region’s most disastrous wildfires.

They blow from the inland towards the Pacific Ocean, speeding up as they squeeze through mountain passes and canyons.

The largest and most destructive of the fires, an 85-square mile wildfire in Ventura County north-west of Los Angeles, had nearly reached the Pacific on Tuesday night after starting 30 miles inland a day earlier.

The wildfire jumped the major artery US Highway 101 to a rocky beach north-west of Ventura, bringing new evacuations, though officials said the sparse population and lack of vegetation in the area meant it was not overly dangerous.

The fire had destroyed at least 150 structures, but incident commander Todd Derum said he suspects hundreds more homes have already been lost, though firefighters have been unable to assess them.

Lisa Kermode and her children returned to their home on Tuesday after evacuating on Monday to find their home and world in ashes, including a Christmas tree and the presents they had just bought.

"We got knots in our stomach coming back up here," Ms Kermode said. "We lost everything, everything, all our clothes, anything that was important to us. All our family heirlooms - it’s not sort of gone, it’s completely gone."

Mansions and modest homes alike were in flames in the city. Dozens of houses in one neighbourhood burned to the ground.

John Keasler, 65, and his wife Linda raced out of their apartment building as the flames approached, then stood and watched the fire burn it to the ground.

"It is sad," Mr Keasler said. "We loved this place. We lost everything."

Mrs Keasler said they were just glad to be alive despite losing so much.

"Those things we can always get back," she said. "The truth is it is just things and thank god no-one died."

While the blazes brought echoes of the firestorm in northern California that killed 44 people two months ago, no deaths and only a handful of injuries had been reported.

In the foothills of northern Los Angeles, 30 structures burned.

Mayor Eric Garcetti said the gusty winds expected to last most of the week had created a dangerous situation and he urged 150,000 people under mandatory evacuation orders to leave their homes before it is too late.

"We have lost structures, we have not lost lives," he said. "Do not wait. Leave your homes."

Fires are not typical in southern California this time of year but can break out when dry vegetation and too little rain combine with the Santa Ana winds.

Hardly any measurable rain has fallen in the region over the past six months.

In LA County, television shows with large outdoor sets including HBO’s Westworld and CBS’s S.W.A.T. halted production because of worries about the safety of cast and crew.

The Los Angeles Rams, of the NFL, whose workouts are held near the Ventura County fire, cancelled practice.

AP