Los Angeles authorities say about 100,000 people have been ordered to evacuate their homes because of a wildfire on the northern edge of the city in the San Fernando Valley area.
Authorities say the wind-driven wildfire burning along the northern tier of the city has damaged at least 25 homes and that 23,000 residences are under evacuation orders.
Police Chief Michel Moore says the evacuation encompasses about 100,000 people.
Fire Chief Ralph Terrazas says the fire broke out around 9 pm Thursday and exceeds 7 square miles (18 square kilometers) Friday morning.
There is zero per cent containment and the fire continues to threaten homes in the city as well as unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County.
Terrazas told reporters that a man died of cardiac arrest but he did not have any details of the circumstances.
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Schools and colleges in the area are closed and key freeways are shut down.
Water dropping helicopters that worked through the night have been bolstered by firefighting airplanes since daybreak.
A wildfire is raging along the northern border of Los Angeles as powerful Santa Ana winds sweep Southern California.
The Los Angeles Fire Department estimates 12,700 homes are under evacuation orders early Friday in neighborhoods along the northern tier of the San Fernando Valley at the foot of the Santa Susana Mountains.
The Fire Department says homes have been destroyed but there's no estimate of the number.
It's the latest of several destructive that have erupted in Southern California amid critical fire weather conditions.
In the inland region east of Los Angeles, a wind-driven fire raged through a mobile home park in the city of Calimesa, destroying 74 structures and damaging others.
Don Turner's 89-year-old mother was missing Thursday night after a wind-driven wildfire sparked by burning trash swept through a Southern California mobile home park, destroying dozens of residences.
Lois Arvickson called her son from her cellphone to say she was evacuating shortly after the blaze was reported in the Calimesa area, Turner said while with family members at an evacuation center.
He says his mother said she was getting her purse and getting out. But then the line went dead.
A short time later the neighbours saw the garage on fire, but they don't know if she'd managed to escape.
Riverside County fire officials say they're still trying to determine if anybody is unaccounted for after 74 structures were decimated.