A wildfire, dubbed the Springs Fire, in Ventura County has burned more than 6,500 acres and shut down a 9-mile stretch of the Pacific Coast Highway.
NPR member station KPCC is live-blogging. They report that at around 1 p.m. ET., authorities ordered the evacuation of an area that includes "California State University, Channel Islands, where students were notified by text, email and by the campus-wide speaker system to evacuate."
The Los Angeles Times reports that four homes in the Jurupa Valley were burned. The paper adds:
"Hundreds of firefighters have made some progress on the flank of the wind-driven fire, Ventura County Fire Department spokesman Bill Nash said. But the blaze remained uncontained because crews have been unable to get in front of it, he said.
"Helicopters were being used in the attack, but fixed-wing aircraft had been grounded because of the weather conditions, the Ventura County Fire Department said.
"Television footage showed numerous motor homes burning in a parking lot along with some type of agricultural building."
NBC Los Angeles spoke to Capt. Mike Lindberry, of the Ventura County Fire Department, who said that after a slow couple of summers, this fire has woken them up.
"We're chasing it, but we can't stay ahead of this — it's moving so fast," said Lindberry. "We haven't seen anything like this in a while."
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