More than 3,000 firefighters are battling a wildfire burning across a 17,000-acre swathe of suburban Los Angeles.
The blaze, which erupted on Wednesday, has forced the evacuation of hundreds of homes.
Officials of Los Angeles and neighbouring Ventura counties declared states of emergency in parts of the fire-stricken zones in order to unblock disaster funds to help fight the blaze and house evacuees.
The fire erupted near the San Fernando Valley suburb of Chatsworth, which lies about 50km northwest of downtown Los Angeles. The inferno spread quickly as high winds fanned the flames.
Catastrophic wildfires ripped through large swathes of the state in October 2003, obliterating nearly 3,000 square kilometres of land and forcing more than 100,000 people out of their homes.
